When Women Ask the Questions

In When Women Ask the Questions Marilyn Boxer traces the successes and failures of women's studies examines the field's enduring impact on the world of higher education and concludes that the rise of women's studies has challenged the university in the same way that feminism has challenged society at large. Drawing on her experiences as a historian feminist academic administrator and former chair of a women's studies program Boxer observes that by working for justice-and for changes necessary to make the attainment of justice a practical possibility-women's studies ensures that women are heard in the processes and places where knowledge is created taught and preserved. The intellectual transformation behind the emergence of women's studies Boxer concludes is one of historic proportions. Like other great moments in human experience it has given rise to a flowering of art literature and science and to the challenging of previously accepted authorities of text and tradition.