Professors teach history of women and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies in classrooms

Women’s History Month highlights important contributions women have made to history and recognizes the impact women have had on society throughout history, and NC State professors continue these discussions about women and gender in their classes and programs.

Mandy Paige-Lovingood, a graduate student in public history and teaching assistant, said there is generally a lack of recognition of women and their contributions to history.

“One of the issues with history, in general, is it has created a large-scale erasure of women in history,” Paige-Lovingood said. “It’s been told by individuals who have had unfortunate thoughts on the way women are. It’s created a lot of absences of [women] in history.”

In an effort to accurately illustrate their contributions to history, Paige-Lovingood said she makes an active effort to include women and their achievements in her classes.

“All of my teachings in global history typically have a gender component to it, which I like to centralize in every lesson in one way or another,” Paige-Lovingood said.

This lack of discussion about women and their role in history and society has been a topic of controversy in recent years. Some say this censoring of women is a product of ignorance, but Paige-Lovingood said this phenomenon stems from gender roles.

“This erasure of women in history can be traced back to the gender roles that have existed in our binary society,” PaigeLovingood said. “While men have been in the public sphere, women were designated to the domestic sphere. Men have had the opportunities to become educated, to travel and to speak freely, while women have been confined to the home. This created an absence of women in history due to their lack of education.”

Paige-Lovingood said she sees discussing gender roles as a necessity rather than an option. She said gender should be discussed in every class to grasp the understanding of inclusivity in the classroom and material. Even though this topic is mainly disregarded, it is beneficial to discuss to succeed.

Aside from discussing gender roles in non-gender focused classrooms, a lesserknown program, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies, mainly focuses on these topics that are ignored. The program explores how every aspect of life intersects with gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, age, race and more.

Natalie Bullock Brown, an assistant teaching professor of interdisciplinary studies and filmmaker, said the program is critical to helping everyone understand the experiences they have in life and how their background ties into their perspective.

“As I’ve gotten older, I wanted to be able to unpack some of the things that I had experienced at the hands of men,” Bullock Brown said. “[Feminist readings] helped me to make sense of my life. I wanted to use what I’ve learned through film to help other Black women and girls to better understand what they were experiencing because not everyone has the opportunity or knows where to look to find the information.”

Bullock Brown said anyone with an interest in the program should start with the intro courses. They provide a great and interesting foundation without being too reading-intensive.

“The Intro to Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies course is the best place to start,” Bullock Brown said. “The way it’s taught is using a text that includes a range of issues and a range of scholars. There’s history and there’s a lot that helps students understand why Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies are important.”

Bullock Brown said now is one of the most important times to study women’s, gender and sexuality studies given the context of the political climate and homophobic or transphobic legislation being passed.

“There is a way that our politicians, whether they’re on the state or on the federal level, are really hoping to turn back the possibility of young people in particular understanding issues relating to race, gender and sexuality,” Bullock Brown said. “Because if you don’t understand those things, you’re more easily led down a particular path because you’re not able to critically think about what you’re seeing and hearing.”

Amanda Edwards, an assistant professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, said she first began teaching courses in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality program following a long interest in gender policy, especially around discrimination

“[Gender and politics] has transformed into being about all these other important things,” Edwards said. “It’s transformed into being about transgender rights, gender equity, equity in STEM and education.”

Edwards said students who have a general interest in the program, whether it be for credit or for a minor, can expect to learn and connect a lot to their major depending on which class they take.

“I think that, if you’re interested in international relations and equity, then you might take a course on global feminism because it’ll feed into that which is beneficial,” Edwards said. “If you’re in political science, you may take a class on gender and politics. And there are other courses that they just focus on a specific issue as it relates to gender.”

Edwards said the program is always evolving and growing to help match students’ needs and what topics they’re most interested in.

“My students were driving the questions about global feminisms and how that impacted gender and feminism,” Edwards said. “So when a call came from [Women’s, Gender and Sexuality] to develop a global feminism course, I applied for it saying, ‘Hey, this is what a lot of students want to learn about.’”

Both Bullock Brown and Edwards encourage students to take courses in the program that align with their degree requirements and say they’ll be able to gain new and valuable perspectives across all topics and majors.