Barnard Center for Research on Women

The Women's Center opened in the fall of 1971.{{cite book|last=Gould|first=Jane S.|title=Juggling: A Memoir of Work, Family, and Feminism|year=1997|publisher=Feminist Press at The City University of New York|location=New York|isbn=1-55861-172-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jugglingmemoirof0000goul}} According to its founding charter, the aim of the Women's Center was, "to assure that women can live and work in dignity, autonomy, and equality ... to encourage the open sharing of knowledge and experience, it seeks to increase ties among diverse groups of women." The organization also served as a curriculum committee, collecting information on women's studies programs at Barnard, and eventually assisted with the development of a full women's studies major at the university which was approved in May 1977.{{Cite journal |last=Eisenstein |first=Hester |date=1978-07-01 |title=Women's Studies at Barnard College: Alive and Well and Living in New York |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/wsq/253/ |journal=Women's Studies Quarterly}} Catharine R. Stimson served as the chairwomen of the task force that created the Women's Center and was its first acting director.{{cite news|last=Brozan|first=Nadine|title=Celebrating Barnard's women's center before a conference on women and political power|newspaper=New York Times|page=B8|date=April 23, 1993}} Jane S. Gould was appointed acting director in 1972 and permanent director in 1973. Only 20 years after BCRW's founding, women's studies courses had expanded from 16 courses to more than 30,000 in the United States by 1993.{{Cite news |last=Brozan |first=N |date=April 23, 1993 |title=Chronicle: Celebrating Barnard's women's center before a conference on women and political power Jack Klugman speaks up and thrills an audience |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/108978343 |work=New York Times|id={{ProQuest|108978343}} }}

In the beginning years of the Woman's Center, it worked closely with the Office of Career Development in Barnard to support alumnae re-entering the workforce, and it has since expanded to promote social transformation and advance intersectional social justice.{{Cite web |title=BCRW @ 50: Introduction |url=https://scalar.usc.edu/works/bcrw--50/introduction?path=index |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=BCRW @ 50 |language=en}} In February of 2000, Renee Gerni took over as the director of the program to increase the Center’s accessibility to the public and to spread awareness of the resources that the Center provides to both the community and students.{{Cite web |title=Barnard Bulletin, February 9, 2000 {{!}} Barnard Digital Collections |url=https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/do/ce6a6556-a250-4413-b5b1-5d077f56b6ed#page/6/mode/2up |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=digitalcollections.barnard.edu}} The director of The Women's Center in 2024 is Premilla Nadasen. Nadasen is a professor of history at Barnard and a published feminist scholar who focuses on social change.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://bcrw.barnard.edu/home/about/#staff |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Barnard Center for Research on Women |language=en-US}} Nadasen has stated that her goals for BCRW are to maintain a space for collective thinking and action while also analyzing and expanding initiatives within a progressive movement centered on radical care.{{Cite web |title=5 Questions With … Author and Feminist Activist Premilla Nadasen |url=https://barnard.edu/news/5-questions-author-and-feminist-activist-premilla-nadasen |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=Barnard College |language=en}}

Since 1974, BCRW has hosted the annual Scholar and Feminist conference, including the 1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality. Controversy arose surrounding the 1982 Conference after Barnard confiscated thousands of copies of Politics, Pleasure, Pain: The Controversy Continues by Judith Butler, leading to the conference being picketed by Women Against Pornography (WAP).{{Cite journal |last=Corbman |first=Rachel |date=2015 |title=The Scholars and the Feminists: The Barnard Sex Conference and the History of the Institutionalization of Feminism |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/607294 |journal=Feminist Formations |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=49–80 |issn=2151-7371}} The most recent annual Scholar and Feminist Conference was held in April 2024 and focused on Anti-Colonialism, Black Radicalism, and Transnational Feminism by exploring black feminist and third-world movements since the 1940s.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-22 |title=The 49th Annual Scholar and Feminist Conference: Anti-Colonialism, Black Radicalism, and Transnational Feminism |url=https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/events-1/scholar-and-feminist-conference-49 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Center for the Study of Social Difference |language=en-US}}

They also regularly host a speaker series featuring prominent feminist speakers. Some notable speakers include Nobel Peace (1997) Laureate Jody Williams, Angela Davis, Rinku Sen, and many more.{{Cite web |last=Barnard College |title=Academic Programs and Internships |url=https://giving.barnard.edu/s/1133/campaign/interior.aspx?sid=1133&gid=1&pgid=6294 |website=Giving to Barnard}}

BCRW also has many publications ranging from books to blogs. A significant contribution is S&F Online, a triannual online peer-reviewed journal focusing on feminist topics. S&F Online is accessible to the public, allowing public access to research conducted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women.{{Cite web |title=About Us {{!}} S&F Online {{!}} Writing a Feminist's Life: The Legacy of Carolyn G. Heilbrun |url=https://sfonline.barnard.edu/heilbrun/about.htm#:~:text=S&F%20Online,%20a%20triannual,%20multimedia,relevant%20intellectual%20and%20social%20action |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=sfonline.barnard.edu}} They have also created eleven volumes of New Feminist Solutions, each containing a publicly available comprehensive resource guide focusing on solutions to current feminist issues. The most recent issue Immigrants and Refugees are Welcome Here, is centered on immigrants and refugees and was directed by Amber Holibaugh; an LGBTQ+ activist best known for writing “My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home."{{Cite web |last=X |date=2023-11-11 |title=Amber Hollibaugh, radical LGBTQ+ activist and rights advocate, dies at 77 |url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2023-11-11/amber-hollibaugh-obituary-radical-lgbt-activist-dies-at-77 |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} In addition to this, they have created a blog, the Dare to Use the F-word podcast, publish annual reports on their yearly accomplishments, and have an archive of past newsletters.

• Paradoxes of Neoliberalism: Sex, Gender, and Possibilities for Justice (2022){{Cite book |title=Paradoxes of neoliberalism: sex, gender and possibilities for justice |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-0-367-51159-3 |editor-last=Bernstein |editor-first=Elizabeth |series=Social justice |location=London New York |editor-last2=Jakobsen |editor-first2=Janet R.}}
• Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence (2004){{Cite book |title=Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=978-1-4039-8156-1 |editor-last=Castelli |editor-first=E. |edition=1st ed. 2004 |location=New York |editor-last2=Jakobsen |editor-first2=J.}}
• Class, Race, and Sex: The Dynamics of Control (1983){{Cite book |title=Class, Race, and Sex: the Dynamics of Control |date=1983 |publisher=G. K. Hall |isbn=978-0-8161-9039-3 |editor-last=Swerdlow |editor-first=Amy |series=The scholar and the feminist |location=Boston, Mass |editor-last2=Lessinger |editor-first2=Hanna |editor-last3=Kritzman |editor-first3=Janie L.}}
• The Future of Difference (1987){{Cite book |title=The future of difference |date=1994 |publisher=Rutgers Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-8135-1112-2 |editor-last=Eisenstein |editor-first=Hester |edition=5. paperback print |series=The Douglass Series on women's lives and the meaning of gender |location=New Brunswick, NJ |editor-last2=Jardine |editor-first2=Alice}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://bcrw.barnard.edu/ Barnard Center for Research on Women]
• [https://barnard.edu Barnard College]
• [http://bcrw.barnard.edu/publication-sections/sf-online/ The Scholar & Feminist Online]

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Category:Feminist organizations in the United States

Category:Barnard College

Category:Women in New York City