Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s Studies celebrates 20th anniversary

Former directors, students, faculty and alumni returned to the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s Studies last Thursday, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program’s inception.

“On the occasion of this happy milestone, we pause to reflect on the contributions and efforts of many who have worked tirelessly over the decades to build the Institute as well as to ponder our challenges and aspirations as we look forward to the future of the Institute,” said Virginia Caputo, director, PJIWS.

The Women’s Studies program grew out of a handful of interdisciplinary courses taught in the early 70s, the creation in 1975 of the institute’s precursor, the Interfaculty Committee on Women, to a full-fledged Institute in 1987.

It was the work of two scholars, Deborah Gorham, a distinguished research professor in the Department of History, and former chair of the Interfaculty committee, and Elinor Burwell, a former professor of psychology, that is credited with shaping the fledgling programs through the courses they delivered in the 70s.

The road from a selection of classes with a focus on women’s studies to the full-fledged PJIWS was not without challenges. The founders encountered resistance from fellow scholars who feared the politicization of research, as well as, a dearth of fellow female faculty members and leaders within Carleton’s community.

The anniversary provided an opportunity to reflect back on the progress made in gender studies at Carleton – as well as the work that remains for future scholars.

Anne Squire, a former chair of the Interfaculty Committee, juxtaposed the Institute’s trajectory against the evolution of the women’s movement in Canada which has included a struggle in the early 20th century for women to be legally counted as individuals in their own right, to a recent focus on collective activism for equality or “sisterhood”.

“The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s Studies was born at a time when it could benefit from Canada’s First Wave of Feminism, make major contributions to the Second Wave, and prepare the way for the Third Wave which we are now experiencing.”

Forecasting into the next 20 years, Squire envisions a progression to what she referred to as “neighbourhood”, in which feminists will take on environmentalism and its implications for the well-being of both men and women.

Photo Caption:

L to R – seated – Deborah Gorham, Virginia Caputo, Eileen Saunders
L to R – standing, lower row – Fran Cherry, Katherine Arnup, Fran Klodawsky
L to R – standing, upper row – Pauline Rankin, Carole Dence