Women Thinking
Spring 2021
CRN 36638
Tuesday, Thursday, 2:15- 3:45 pm (remote)
Zoom link is available in Canvas and will also be sent via email to all students enrolled as of March 29, 2021.
Professor Ellen Herman
Department of History
University of Oregon
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Thursday, 10 am – 12 pm and by appointment (use the same zoom link as for class)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
This course explores significant themes in modern U.S. intellectual history by considering the creative work and life experiences of women who made significant contributions to American society. This term, we will consider women who spent their lives thinking about democracy, law, equality, and citizenship, especially but not only in relation to gender. Some women whose work engaged these subjects were academic intellectuals with careers in higher education and law. Some were not. Women thinkers have emerged from many occupations and roles. They have been social activists, cultural critics, journalists, and creative artists as well as academics and professionals. Many have been more than one of these things.
The course will also explore some basic questions about women thinking. Have women thought differently than men? Have they thought about different things? When and why have they brought a “gendered” lens to questions that interest men and women equally? Was their intellectual labor organized and perceived differently than men’s? What historical conditions enabled women to participate in intellectual communities and flourish as thinkers or prevented them from doing so? How did their life experiences intersect with their ideas?
The course assumes a basic working knowledge of modern U.S. history.
This course will include a few brief lectures—mostly to provide basic background and context. The emphasis, however, will be on close reading and discussion of texts, including in small groups. There may be occasional films. Students are expected to come to class prepared to talk. Active participation is the most important part of the course.
WRITING REQUIREMENTS
There are three writing assignments: 1) reading notes, 2) an 8-page essay (double-spaced, 12-point font), and 3) a take-home final exam.
Reading notes are due periodically for a few of the required readings. Due dates are noted here, on the syllabus below, and in Canvas. These notes are due before class begins. Reading notes will not be graded; you will receive credit for turning them in and no credit if you don’t. Please read the brief Guidelines for Reading Notes.
- reading notes on Democracy and Social Ethics: due April 13, 2021
- reading notes on “Jane Crow and the Law” and “Pauli Murray and the Twentieth-Century Quest for Legal and Social Equality”: due April 29, 2021
- reading notes for U.S. v. Virginia and Ledbetter v. Goodyear: due May 13, 2021
The 8-page essay will be an intellectual biography of a twentieth-century thinker. The choice of who to write about is yours. If you are uncertain about a subject, please consult with me immediately after the term begins. I would be very happy to help you select a figure that matches your interests and identify source material by and/or about her. Begin by consulting the Supplementary Resources and List of Women Thinkers for ideas. Please also read the Intellectual Biography Guidelines and Grading Rubric. You must turn in a one-page statement about the subject of your intellectual biography at the beginning of the third week of the term, on April 13, 2021. Because I expect you to do additional reading about the subject of your essay, the required reading for this course is not burdensome.
Weeks 8 and 9 of the course will be devoted to presentations about the intellectual biographies. We will devote some time, in advance, to preparing for these but please review these Presentation Guidelines. All students should expect to present their own work and serve as peer reviewers for other students. The essay itself is due on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 by 5 pm.
The final exam will consist of essay questions that integrate major themes from the course as a whole. It will be circulated during the final class and will be due on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 by 5 pm.
Please note that most of the written work required in this course is due at the end of the term. Please plan your time accordingly.
READING REQUIREMENTS
The following book is required.
Jane Addams, Democracy and Social Ethics (University of Illinois Press, 2002; originally published 1902). You can also find this book online at Project Gutenberg, where it can also be downloaded in various formats. It is available on Canvas in simple .txt format.
All of the shorter required readings listed on the syllabus are available on Canvas, grouped by week. Reading questions are linked to this syllabus and are also available on Canvas.
THINKING REQUIREMENTS AND WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
History is a discipline that requires discipline, no less than music, neuroscience, or architecture. That means you should expect this course to require real time and effort. But history repays those who devote time and effort to it many times over. If you work hard in this course, you will end the term knowing something meaningful about the chronology and significance of the various topics listed on this syllabus. You can also expect the following tangible benefits, all applicable in a wide range of occupations and careers:
- the habit of asking critical questions frequently
- improved reading, writing, and analytical skills
- the ability to recognize and evaluate primary and secondary sources, with special attention to interpreting multiple and conflicting sources of information
- practice in thinking about how economic, political, cultural, and social forces interact with individual experiences over time
My hope is that you will also experience the pleasure of learning. History promises to make us more interesting people and better, more insightful citizens of our communities and our world.
RULES
Academic Honesty
If this course is to be a worthwhile educational experience, your work must be original. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are very serious infractions and will not be permitted. Students who are uncertain about what plagiarism is, or who have questions about how to cite published, electronic, or other sources should feel free to consult with the instructor. You can also consult the section of my website titled “Resources for Students,” which includes material on plagiarism and citation, and read the UO Student Conduct Code, which includes a section on Academic Misconduct.
Lateness Policy
No late assignments will be accepted and no makeup exams will be given. Students who miss deadlines will be given an F for that assignment.
Accommodations
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon and request that the Accessible Education Center send a letter verifying your disability.
GRADES
attendance and participation: 10%
reading notes: 10%
essay: 30%
student presentations: 15%
take home final exam: 35%
Week 1 / THINKING ABOUT WOMEN THINKING
March 30, 2021: Course Introduction
April 1, 2021: Have women thought differently or about different things than men? If so, why?
Louann Br
izendine, “The Female and Male Brain” (video)
Brizendine is a neuropsychiatrist at University of California, San Francisco. She has published two books, The Female Brain (2006) and The Male Brain (2010).
Gina Rippon, “A Gendered World Makes a Gendered Brain” (video)
Rippon is a neurosientist at Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom. In 2019, he published Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience that Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain.
Thomas DiPrete & Claudia Buchmann, “The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools,” Council on Contemporary Families, briefing paper, March 13, 2013.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, chapter 1 (first published in 1929).
Reading Questions about A Room of One’s Own
Week 2 / THINKING ABOUT DEMOCRACY: JANE ADDAMS
April 6, 2021
“Much of the insensibility and hardness of the world is due to the lack of imagination which prevents a realization of the experiences of other people.”
Brief biographical profile of Jane Addams and Hull House from the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Read the following exchange between Jane Addams and pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells on the challenge that lynching posed to democracy and the rule of law.
- Jane Addams, “Respect for Law,” The Independent, January 3, 1901.
- Ida B. Wells, “Lynching and the Excuse for It,” The Independent, May 16, 1901.
Additional recommended sources on Jane Addams
April 8, 2021
Jane Addams, Democracy and Social Ethics, Introduction – Chapter 3.
Reading Questions about Democracy and Social Ethics
Week 3 / THINKING ABOUT DEMOCRACY: JANE ADDAMS
April 13, 2021
Deadline: The brief statement about the subject of your intellectual biography is due at the beginning of class
Deadline: reading notes for Democracy and Social Ethics
Jane Addams, Democracy and Social Ethics, Chapter 4 – Chapter 6.
Reading Questions about Democracy and Social Ethics
April 15, 2021
Jane Addams, “Why Women Should Vote,” Ladies Home Journal, January 1910.
The Equal Rights Amendment, 1923
Week 4 / THINKING ABOUT EQUALITY: PAULI MURRAY AND JANE CROW
April 20, 2021
“I speak for my race and my people–the human race and just people.”
Brief biographical profile of Pauli Murray from the Pauli Murray Center
“My Name is Pauli Murray,” video about forthcoming documentary from Democracy Now!
Pauli Murray, Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage (Harper & Row, 1987), excerpts: “Daughter of Agnes and Will”; “Members of Your Race Are Not Admitted…”; “The Birth of NOW.”
Pauli Murray, Dark Testament and other Poems (Silvermine, 1970), excerpts: “Hope is a crushed stalk” from Dark Testament, “Mr. Roosevelt Regrets,” and “Prophesy.”
Additional recommended sources on Pauli Murray
April 22, 2021:
U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment (ratified 1868)
Pauli Murray, “An American Credo,” Common Ground 5 (1945):22-24.
Rosalind Rosenberg, “The Conjunction of Race and Gender,” Journal of Women’s History 14 (Summer 2002):68-73.
Week 5 / THINKING ABOUT EQUALITY: PAULI MURRAY AND JANE CROW
April 27, 2021
Pauli Murray, “The Negro Woman in the Quest for Equality,” excerpt from November 14, 1963 speech to the National Council of Negro Women in Washington, DC.
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, excerpt
Pauli Murray and Mary O. Eastwood, “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII,” George Washington Law Review, vol. 4, No. 2 (December 1965):232-256.
Pauli Murray, “The Negro Woman’s Stake in the Equal Rights Amendment, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 6 (March 1971):253-259.
April 29, 2021
Serena Mayeri, “Pauli Murray and the Twentieth-Century Quest for Legal and Social Equality,” Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality 2 (Fall 2013):80-90.
podcast: North Carolina Public Radio, “Pauli Murray vs. Jane Crow,” 22 minutes, features first-person perspectives from Murray herself as well as Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Serena Mayeri, and RBG.
Deadline: reading notes for “Jane Crow and the Law” and “Pauli Murray and the Twentieth-Century Quest for Legal and Social Equality”
Week 6 / THINKING ABOUT EQUALITY: RUTH BADER GINSBURG AND THE FEMINIST LEGAL REVOLUTION
May 4, 2021
“Sex distinctions…help keep woman in her place, a place inferior to that occupied by men in our society.”
Brief biographical profile of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from Oyez
Watch the film, “RBG” from Magnolia Pictures, Julie Cohen, Betsy West, CNN, F., Storyville Films, & Participant Media (2018). RBG. This video is available for streaming on the UO library website.
Ruth Bader editorial, Highway Herald, P.S. 238, Brooklyn, NY.
Marty Ginsburg introduces RBG at the Twentieth Anniversary of Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, Georgtown Univesrity Law Center, September 25, 2003.
Additional recommended sources on Ruth Bader Ginsburg
May 6, 2021
The Equal Rights Amendment, 1972
RBG, “The Need for the Equal Rights Amendment,” American Bar Association Journal, September 1973.
Jude Ellison Sady Doyle, “How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Became the Supreme Meme Queen,” In These Times, November 4, 2015.
Week 7 / THINKING ABOUT EQUALITY: RUTH BADER GINSBURG AND THE FEMINIST LEGAL REVOLUTION
May 11, 2021
Listen to RBG make her first oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Frontiero v. Richardson, on January 17, 1973.
You will need to click on “Oral Argument,” in the blue panel on the left. Ginsburg’s argument begins at 17:10 in the audio. Her argument is approximately 11 minutes long.
This sex discrimination case originated in the early 1970s, when Air Force Lieutenant Sharon Frontiero was denied spousal benefits for her husband, Joseph. At the time, service members were entitled to an increased housing allowance as well as comprehensive medical and dental care for their dependents. Male service members were granted these benefits automatically for their wives. Female service members had to document that they provided more than half of their husbands’ support in order to qualify for the same benefits.
U.S. v. Virginia, 1996
This case was about admitting women to the male-only Virginia Military Institute. It was the first women’s rights majority opinion that Ginsburg authored after her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993. Read her opinion as well as the concurring opinion by William Rehnquist and the dissenting opinion by Antonin Scalia.
May 13, 2021
RBG, “The Role of Dissenting Opinions,” Tulane University Law School Summer Program, Paris, France, July 2013.
RBG dissent in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., May 29, 2007.
Deadline: reading notes for U.S. v. Virginia and Ledbetter v. Goodyear
Weeks 8 & 9 / Student Presentations
May 18, 2021:
May 20, 2021:
May 25, 2021
May 27, 2021
Week 10 / DEMOCRACY, LAW, EQUALITY, AND CITIZENSHIP FROM THE 19TH AMENDMENT TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY AND BEYOND
June 1, 2021
Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015, syllabus
Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020, syllabus
Reminder: Your intellectual biography is due today by 5 pm.
June 3, 2021
The take-home final will be circulated on the last day of class, June 3, 2021. It is due on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 by 5 pm.