미국 여성학 학부 과정의 실태 및 분석 - 여성학 과정의 제도화를 위한 기초연구 -

An Analysis of Undergraduate Programs of the Women's Studies in the U.S. : A Basic Study for the Establishment of the Women's Studies Program in Korea

It has been ten years since the Women's Studies course was opened for the first time in Korea. During those ten years, Women's Studies in Korea has grown remarkably; more than 20 universities/colleges have opened Women's Studies courses, the graduate program was established at Ewha Womans University, and the Korean Association of Women's Studies was inaugurated. However, looking at the under-graduate level, one can easily see the development was made in terms of quantity. In other words, even though the number of the universities/colleges which offer Women's Studies courses has increased, the courses are taught only at an introductory level. To solidify Women's Studies as a firmly established discipline, Women's Studies courses at the undergraduate level must be taught beyond the introductory level, and comprehended in the various disciplines closely related to Women's Studies. It is a well known fact that the United States has most advanced Women's Studies programs. For the establishment of the Women's Studies programs in Korea, it is worthwhile to analyze the present situation of the United States's Women's Studies undergraduate programs. Therefore, in order to seek the ways of establishing the Women's Studies program corresponding the Korean situation, we surveyed the academic options the programs confer and the ways the programs are operated. The data for this paper were collected in the following way. 80 universities/ colleges which have various Women's Studies program were chosen from "The Women's Studies Program 1985" in the Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. XIII, and letters were sent asking about their programs. 23 universities/colleges replied, and out of them 20 universities/colleges sent pretty detailed information about their programs. This information from the 20 universities/colleges served as the basis for the analysis of this paper. The results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: All of the Women's Studies Programs of undergraduate schools in the U.S. are interdisciplinary, that is, they combined courses in various disciplines such as history, sociology, literature, language, art, political science, philosophy, psychology. Depending upon universities/ colleges, women's studies program has various degrees, that is, some offer major, minor, double major, joint major, or certificates. It seems most of the Women's Studies courses are operated by program or committee basis. Only one university, San Diego State University has an independent Women's Studies Department. Based on this survey, several suggestions are made in this paper for the establishment of the Women's Studies programs in Korea. They are enumerated from the easiest to the difficult one. Above all, it has to be emphasized that an organization is absolutely needed to control or take charge of the Women's Studies courses such as Women's Studies Departments, Women's Institutes, or Women's Centers in the universities/colleges. The first suggestion is about dividing Women's Studies course into two courses, i.e., Women's Studies Ⅰ (Introductory course) and Ⅱ (advanced course), or extending two-semester courses. By doing so, students would have a better access to the various women's issues and a deeper study on the course. The second suggestion is about making several disciplines open courses related to the Women's Studies issues. For example, the Departments of Sociology could open a course, "Sex Role Socialization," the Department of History "Women and History," Law Departments "Legal Sexism," and so on. The third suggestion is about offering a minor or certificate system. In Korea, several universities have adopted a minor system. If many courses in Women's Studies are available, the Women's Studies can be easily set up as a minor. If there is an organization which takes charge of the Women's Studies courses, that organization could give a certificate to students who take a certain number of the Women's Studies courses.