Women's Studies resources - academic

Academic Liaison Librarian: Sue Cumberpatch

What useful websites and reference sources there are for my subject

General Regional
  • Collections and directories
    • Libraries, publishers and databases
    • Internet portals and gateways
    • Electronic forums and news sites
  • Groups, societies and institutions
  • Multiple regions
  • Europe
  • Near and Middle East
  • Africa
  • South and East Asia
  • The Americas
  • Pacific/Australasia
Academic Themed
  • Rights, citizenship and activism
  • Development
  • Sexualities
  • Health
    • Reproductive and sexual health
  • Family and motherhood
  • Ageing
  • Religion
  • War, conflict and peace
  • Gender-related violence
  • Work, labour and employment
  • Media and Arts
  • Computing and cyberculture
  • Statistics

Multi-subject resources

  • Cyberculture, Identity and Gender Resources - developed by a PhD student at Amsterdam University this list provides a number of hyperlinks to different resource types on gender, culture and identity topics. Categories include online journals, authors homepages and articles.

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Feminist studies/Women's studies

Most US universities have a Women's Studies department. There is a full listing of US academic sites hosted by the University of Florida.

  • AOIFE: Association of Institutions for Feminist Education and Research in Europe - "links institutions dedicated to initiating and supporting feminist education and research in Europe." Site includes information about the ATHENA(Advanced Thematic Network on Higher Education in Women's Studies) project, looking at "European curriculum development and the use of Information and Communication Technologies in Women's Studies teaching."
  • Artemis Guide to Women's Studies in the U.S. - alphabetical directory of over 200 institutions' websites.
  • The Barnard Department of Women's Studies - established in 1977, the Barnard program defined itself as "an interdisciplinary major for students who wish to explore the basic questions raised by the new scholarship on women [such as]: sex roles, sex differences, and the concepts of femininity and masculinity; the role of women in culture and society ...; questions about the distribution of power, work, and resources in the public and private domains; and the symbolic and religious place of feminine and masculine imagery." It also has close ties to the Barnard Center for Research on Women.
  • Canadian Women's Studies On-line - directory of women's studies programs and women's organisations in Canada, plus links to other relevant sites.
  • Central European University Program on Gender and Culture - program information from this private institution based in Budapest. Site in English also includes links to other Eastern European resources.
  • Columbia Institute for Research on Women and Gender - the Institute for Research on Women and Gender is the locus of interdisciplinary feminist scholarship and teaching at Columbia University. Offering an undergraduate degree program in Women's and Gender Studies, and graduate certification in Feminist Scholarship, the Institute draws its faculty from all disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and provides rigorous training in interdisciplinary practice. Courses survey the history and theory of gender studies, preparing students for professional work or further academic engagement in the field.
  • E-Server: Feminism and Women's Studies - a collection of links to full-text documents, mailing lists and other sites, "focusing on issues of sex, gender, sexual identity and sexuality in cultural practices". Maintained by Carnegie-Mellon University (USA).
  • Finnish University Network for Women's Studies - in Finnish.
  • International Centers for Research on women - from the National Council for Research on Women, based in New York. Organizations listed in alphabetical order of country, plus other useful sections and links.
  • London School of Economics: Gender Institute - established in 1993. The Institute runs a large Masters programme with five separate degrees, attracting students from a range of different countries, and typically has 20 MPhil/PhD students researching gender concerns. The Institute serves as a focus for gender research across the LSE, and works to promote a close relationship between policy makers and the academy. From 2003, we reformed as an interdisciplinary Institute within the LSE Sociology Department.
  • National Women's Studies Association(USA) - "supports and promotes feminist/womanist teaching, learning, research, and professional and community service at the pre-K through post-secondary levels and serves as a locus of information about the inter-disciplinary field of Women's Studies for those outside the profession". Information about conferences, publications etc, plus links to other sites.
  • Newcomb College Center for Research on Women - at Tulane University, New Orleans. Includes the Nadine Vorhoff Library with a collection of women's studies books, periodicals, and databases holding some 10,000 volumes. The library's Culinary History Collection documents the food traditions of southern United States regional cooking.
  • NIKK: Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research - a forum for feminist, women's and men's studies, gender research and related activities in the Nordic countries. In Norwegian and English.
  • Women's Studies Programs, Departments and Research Centers - directory of "links to more than 450 women's studies (including "gender studies") programs, departments, and research centers around the world that have websites. Programs and departments offering graduate degrees or concentrations have this fact noted in an annotation below the link". List maintained by Joan Korenman at University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA.
  • WERRC: Women's Education Research and Resource Centre, University College Dublin - information about programmes and seminars.
  • Women's International Studies Europe (WISE) - the European association for individuals and institutions involved in women's studies, founded in 1990. "WISE seeks to further feminist critiques of knowledge, and support practices and research, which will improve the quality of women's lives. WISE aims to promote women's studies teaching, research and publication in Europe and defends the interests of women's studies on a European and international level in all appropriate institutions and organizations." Includes a discussion list. E U-funded site in English, French and German. (Users of older versions of Netscape may have problems accessing this site.
  • Women's Studies EuroMap (users of older versions of Netscape may have problems accessing these pages) - information about research and study across Europe, hosted by the University of Antwerp. Site includes

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Feminist theory

  • FEAST, the Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory - "a professional organization dedicated to promoting feminist ethical perspectives on philosophy, moral and political life, and public policy."
  • Feminist Theory Website - a comprehensive collection of bibliographies and links to other Internet resources, classified by subject area, regional origin and individual author. Created by Dr Kristin Switala, Virginia Tech University (USA).

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Humanities and arts

Art

  • The Fund for Women Artists - "Supporting art that reflects the diversity of women's lives." Based in Florence, Italy.
  • National Museum of Women in the Arts - in Washington. "The only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists."
  • Women Artists - "self portraits and representations of womanhood from the medieval period to the present. " from California Poly Pomona, USA
  • Women Children's Book Illustrators - compiled by illustrator Denise Ortakales. "Delves into the lives of more than thirty gifted female illustrators, from Anne Anderson to Tasha Tudor. Each well researched essay offers insight into the illustrator's life, work and contribution to children's literature." The site also includes a discussion of women's roles in the history of children's book publishing.

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History

UK

  • CocoaReworks: Memories of Rowntrees - "dedicated to the experiences of women who worked at the Rowntree confectionery factory in York, England." The website documents the experiences of thirteen women who were interviewed between June and July 2000 for a thesis at the Centre for Women's Studies, University of York. The website includes biographies of the women and their working lives, and a history of the factory.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt Papers 1945-1962 - the website of the Eleanor Roosevelt papers and human rights project based at the department of History George Washington University. It aims to make accessible via the Internet online resources relating to the life, political career and legacy of First Lady and human rights campaigner Eleanor Roosevelt. The site provides free access to a collection of correspondence, articles and speeches published between 1945-1962. They include 'My Day' columns. Topics covered include women and politics and human rights. A background history and biography is also provided.
  • From History to Her Story: Yorkshire Womens Lives Online, 1100 to the present - "a project celebrating women's history through the digitisation of archival material." which will interpret and present unique archive source materials, including personal diaries, private letters, and other records created as a result of the many and varied lives of Yorkshire women across the centuries. The project will first microfilm this material, in order to help in the long-term conservation of the material, and will then make digital images from the film to create the unique website about women's history, providing easy access for everyone to this wonderful collection of archival material.
  • Feminist Archive (North) - holds a wide variety of material relating to the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM) from 1969 to the present. Topics covered by FAN include the women's peace movement, women's studies, women and development, and violence against women.
  • Feminist Archive (South) - The Feminist Archive (South) in Bristol, England, houses national and international material of the second wave of feminism (roughly 1960-2000). The material includes: periodicals, books, pamphlets, diaries, calendars, conference papers, personal letters, photographs, stickers, postcards, drawings, posters, banners, badges, vinyl records, mini-disks, audio cassettes, video cassettes, a 16mm film, clothing, and various other ephemera.
  • The Genesis Project - a mapping project on women's history research resources in the British Isles, consisting of (1) A database of collection descriptions from libraries, archives and museums from around the British Isles, accessible through the web and (2) A Guide to Sources, a comprehensive list of websites relating to women's history sources, including national and international sites. Run from The Women's Library (q.v. below).
  • Her-stories - still in its early stages, this is a site where women can submit true stories about their remarkable yet ordinary lives. Her-stories is the brainchild of Mary Turner, a former history teacher turned freelance writer, who is passionate about women's history. She is the author of 'The Women's Century: a celebration of changing roles 1900 -2000' published by The National Archives. Whilst researching her book, Mary collected a number of anecdotes from ordinary women. She was struck by the way in which most of the women she talked to played down the importance of their experiences. "This website hopes to give a voice to many of those women whose stories deserve to be told."
  • History Online - Gender and Women - This resource guide was established in July 1993 by the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) UK. The IHR aims is promoting high quality resources for the teaching and learning of history in the UK. You can search by subject category, geography, time period and type of resource.
  • Sources for women's studies in the Methodist Archives - from the Methodist Archives and Research Centre, John Rylands University of Manchester Library ("documents the activities of the British Methodist Church on a national level from the early eighteenth century to the present"). Background information and a select bibliography.
  • The Women's Library (UK) - based at London Guildhall University, the Women's Library (previously known as the Fawcett Library) "exists to document the changing role of women in society, in the past, now and in the future. It seeks to collect materials relating to the changing role of women in society and to make these available to personal and to remote users, however they make contact". Site links to the on-line library catalogue, and descriptions of the Library's special collections (including visual materials and oral histories) plus information for those planning to visit. The Women's Library re-opened in February 2002 after major refurbishment. It is an educational tool to encourage young people to use their vote and participate in elections. The website provides relevant links. In November 2005, The Library launched its new Archive and Museum Catalogue
  • Women's History Network - UK association "for all people concerned with promoting women's history and encouraging women interested in history". Information about membership, activities and publications.
  • Women's History - from the International Institute of Social History in the Netherlands, which is one of the world's largest documentary and research institutions in the field of social history in general and the history of the labour movement in particular. Most of the collections are open to the public.
  • The Women's History Project: A Directory of Sources for Women's History in Ireland - part of the Irish Resources in the Humanities site. Contains information and descriptions of over 14,000 collections and sources in 262 repositories in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. The search engine indexes records from over 14,000 collections in 262 repositories in Ireland and the North of Ireland. The directory is the result of a survey undertaken by the Women's History Project. There is also a database of Women in 20th-Century Ireland: Sources from the Department of the Taoiseach, 1922-1966 on the site.
  • Women's Library Suffrage Banners - part of The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS): The AHDS Centre for Visual Arts based at The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College. Requires registration, and there are strict guidelines on use of the images.

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Rest of the world

  • American Social Hygiene Posters, 1910-1970 - based at the University of Minnesota. The collection consists of colour images of posters on a range of topics relating to social hygiene in the period 1910-1970. Bibliographic information is given such as title of the poster and the contributing organisation. The database can be searched by subject and time periods. Subjects included are: family health; hygiene; mental health; military education; prostitution; reproduction; sexually transmitted diseases; women, health and hygiene; World War 1914-1918; World War 1939-1945. The high-resolution archival copy of the images are stored off-line and can be requested for a fee from the Social Welfare History Archives.
  • American women's history: a research guide - bibliographies and links to internet resources, compiled by Ken Middleton at Todd Library, Middle Tennessee State University.
  • Don Mabry's Historical Text Archive, section on Women's History - "hundreds of examples of history research papers and reports."
  • Early Modern Women Database - put together by the Arts and Humanities librarians at the University of Maryland. It provides links to Web resources useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas. The database may be searched by keyword or browsed by subject, resource type, period, language or geographical region. Materials range from bibliographic databases to full-text resources, images, and sound recordings and have been selected for their scholarly content. Full details of the criteria are listed on the site.
  • Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition, History - "a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance." From the HEARTH Project at the Mann Library, Cornell University.
  • International Federation for Research in Women's History-Federation Internationale Pour la Recherche en Histoire des Femmes - the aim is "to encourage and coordinate research in all aspects of women's history at the international level, by promoting exchange of information and publication and by arranging and assisting in arranging large-scale international conferences as well as more restricted and specialized meetings."
  • Medieval Feminist Index - bibliographic database of 1600+ records, covering journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. Also links to other sites of interest. Maintained by the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, based at the Minot State University.
  • Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America (at Radcliffe College, a U.S. women's college associated with Harvard) - "at the library you will find letters, diaries, and other personal papers of women and families; records of women's organizations; books about women; cookbooks; women's periodicals; photographs; videotapes; and oral histories". The site links to the on-line library catalogue.
  • ViVa - "a bibliography of women's history in historical and women's studies journals", compiled at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam. Articles from European, American and Indian journals 1995-. Classified by period. Searchable. Also available at this site is the International Review of Social History, which includes a bibliography, summaries of articles and an on-line index.
  • Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775-1940 - a project of the Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender at the State University of New York at Binghamton. The website provides various entry points to a collection of more than "600 documents, more than 150 images, and 250 links to other websites." A women's history website and editorial project are highlighted every month.
  • Women's History in the IISH - sources for Women's History at the International Institute of Social History.
  • "The World Wide Web: a Primary Resource for Women's History" - an article by Phyllis Holman Weisbard published in Feminist Collections, vol.21, no.4 (Summer 2000). Includes a directory of sites described in detail.
  • WWW Virtual Library Women's History - from the excellent women's history virtual library of the International Institute of Women's History in Amsterdam.

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Literature and Language

  • African-American Women: On-line Archival Collection - part of the Digital Scriptorium Project run by Rare Book, Manuscript, Special Collections Library, Duke University, USA. The content for this website derives from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, and provides access to on-line archival collections featuring scanned pages and texts of the writings of African-American women. The Web-site also includes links to other African-American history sites.
  • A Celebration of Women Writers - biographies, bibliographies and on-line texts, browsable by author name, by period and by country. Edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom of Carnegie Mellon University (USA).
  • Feminism and Women's Literature - part of the Literary Resources collection maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers. Links to sites specifically on women's literature, feminist criticism, and gender studies. A well structured and comprehensive introduction to the history of women's writing.
  • Marge Piercy - U.S. novelist, poet and activist. Site includes a bibliography, texts, interviews, reviews etc.
  • Voices From the Gaps: Women Writers of Color - "a project that focuses on the lives and works of women writers of color in the United States and Canada". Comprises a searchable database of authors and an on-line discussion forum. Hosted by the University of Minnesota.
  • Women and Gender Studies: Literature and Culture websites - directory of texts, bibliographies and websites compiled by staff of the Association of College and Research Libraries (USA).
  • Women in German - "a democratic forum for all people interested in feminist approaches to German literature and culture or in the intersection of gender with other categories of analysis such as sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity. " Hosted by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
  • Women's Travel Writing, 1830-1930 - a Women's Studies Digitisation Project initiative at the University of Minnesota.

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Music

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Philosophy

  • Society for Women in Philosophy - allied to the American Philosophical Association. Site maintained by Cynthia Freeland, University of Houston, includes articles, information about the SWIP-L discussion list, links to other sites and a directory of women philosophers.
  • Women in Philosophy - hosted by ErraticImpact.com, "a service for the online network of worldwide philosophers". Bibliographies, biographies, online texts and links to other sites.

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Other humanities and arts

  • Gender in geography bibliography - From the Discussion List for Feminism in Geography, based at Emporia State University in Kansas, for those interested in gender issues in geography.

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Social sciences

Economics

  • Women in Economics - the Royal Economic Society's Committee for Women in Economics was established in November 1996 to promote the role of women in the UK economics profession. Members of the committee are drawn from academia, business and the civil service. The role of the committee includes a biennial investigation into the position of women in economics, to seek to improve under-representation of women in economics and to establish networks with particular concern for career entrants.
  • CSWEP The Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (USA) - an arm of the American Economic Association. "Publishes a thrice-yearly newsletter containing information that will keep you up-to-date about what is happening in our profession."

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Education

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Politics

  • ECPR Standing Group on Women and Politics - a specialist sub-group of the European Consortium on Political Research (ECPR). It specialises in research relating to women and politics, including gender representation, gender quotas and political parties in Europe, women and political participation. Its website provides information on the aims of the group and its activities. It includes free access to a research register of specialists in the field and a number of full text conference papers and recent articles from members.
  • Online Women in Politics - Asia Pacific online network of women in politics, governance and transformative leadership. Includes a useful statistics section showing proportions of women in governments etc.
  • Women in Politics Bibliographic Database - covers books and articles, searchable by subject, organisation and region. Updated regularly; developed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union with support from the United Nations Development Programme.

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Sociology

  • Sociologists for Women in Society - an international organization of social scientists--students, faculty, practitioners, and researchers--working together to improve the position of women within sociology and society in general. Hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder. Publishes "Gender and Society" journal and "Social Activism" factsheets.

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Other social sciences

  • Feminist Perspectives on Law - A project hosted by the School of Law at Reading University which is aimed at "academics and students interested in studying law from a feminist perspective." The site contains a collection of bibliographies covering different subject areas such as constitutional law, criminal law, legal education, family law, international law, jurisprudence and legal history.

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Sciences

  • Association for Women in Mathematics (USA). Directory of organizations and programs, plus biographies of notable women mathematicians, online texts etc.
  • ATHENA Project - "The Project's aims are the advancement and promotion of women in science, engineering and technology in Higher Education" (funded in part by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils). Site includes news of posts, services and publications for women scientists.
  • Central European centre for Women and Youth in Science (CEC-WYS) - aims to promote, mobilise and network women and young people in science in Central Europe, and thus to contribute to increasing gender equality and youth participation in R&D, and to structuring the European Research Area.
  • Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics - biographies and bibliographies of over 75 women physicists. Searchable site hosted by the University of California at Los Angeles.
  • The European Platform of Women Scientists - "will give European women scientists a voice in the research policy debate. The aim is to promote the understanding of the gender issue in science."
  • Gender-SET mailing list - "discussion of research on gender, science, technology and engineering (SET), including but not limited to, research on gender differences in involvement in SET occupations and education, feminist science studies and philosophical critiques of SET." Hosted by the UK Jiscmail service, with a searchable archive of messages and a directory of members.
  • The history of women and science, health and technology: a bibliographic guide to the professions and the disciplines - searchable bibliography compiled by Phyllis Holman Weisbard and Rima D. Apple.
  • Hypatia Institute - A website for gender equity in physics, astronomy, and science education with biographies of women scientists. "Including links, news, scholarships, mentors, humor, science poetry, and much, much more."
  • IEEE Women In Engineering Committee - U.S. site hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "dedicated to presenting information regarding issues and activities important to the Woman Engineer". Includes a monthly newsletter, background information plus links to other relevant websites.
  • Royal Society of Chemistry: Women Chemists Network - " actively promotes the entry and re-entry of women to the profession of chemistry as well as collecting and disseminating information about women in chemistry".
  • Society of Women Engineers- US-based "non-profit educational service organization dedicated to making known the need for women engineers and encouraging young women to consider an engineering education".
  • Tapping the Talent - "an agenda for action for business to increase the talent available to them by encouraging more young women into science, engineering and technology", from Opportunity 2000/Education Steering Group (UK).
  • UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology - the official website funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, UK as part of their Strategy for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) and includes statistics, information for employers, an expert women's database, mentoring information, courses for women in SET, help for women returning to SET and links to women's group.
  • WIGSAT: Women in Global Science and Technology - "supports global networking on critical issues in science and technology for development. This includes women's formal and nonformal science and technology practices around the world, for policy advocacy and action which promotes their S&T contributions to sustainable development." Canada-based site providing reports and background information from projects worldwide, and hosting other major resources:
  • WISE: Women into Science, Engineering and Technology - "WISE has a range of initiatives and publications to give girls and women more information about opportunities and careers in SET and construction." Site includes links to training and funding opportunities. The WISE Outlook programme is a three-day programme run at local colleges, enabling Year 9 girls (age 13/14) to experience engineering first-hand.
  • WiTEC (the European Association for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology) - "Aims: to increase the number of girls and women studying SET subjects and to help them progress to related careers; to develop women's technical and entrepreneurial skills through training initiatives and projects; to create information exchanges and networking opportunities for women in SET; to promote and support research into areas relating to women in SET; to support initiatives to promote the Gender Mainstreaming Policy; to promote regional, national and international awareness and interest in this field." Information about projects and resources developed, plus links to related sites.
  • WITI: Women in Technology International - "WITI's goal is to empower its constituents by providing access to people and content which are significantly relevant to the issues faced by women in technology." Feature stories, message boards and networking opportunities on this U.S.-based site.
  • Women and minorities in science and engineering - large classified collection of on-line documents, compiled by Ellen Spertus of MIT. She also edits a site for Women in computer science , listing on-line articles and links to other resources.
  • Women's Engineering Society - UK-based organisation, "the voice of the woman engineer" promoting the education, training and practice of engineering among women. Includes links to related sites, an electronic journal and a messageboard. Also links to Portia, a web-based community, providing links to partner organisations, information on jobs, meetings and events and a forum for airing general concerns about women in SET.

See also Health information sources and Sociology information sources: health and illness.