The universalizing rhetoric of gender claimed to embrace all women when in fact it derived from the standpoint of usually middle-class white women in North America or northern Europe.” 2 Although these criticisms slightly destabilized the field, the resulting creation of intersectionality, which examines how race, class, gender, and sexuality simultaneously influence women’s lives, was an important step in constructing the stories of women’s experiences. As Eileen Boris and Angelique Janssens explained, “feminists found themselves increasingly under attack for ignoring differences of race and ethnicity. Despite the importance of these early contributions, however, I believe that the most significant progress has been made since the 1980s, after Black scholars raised critiques regarding the “implicit racism” in women’s history that systematically overlooked how race and class functioned in the lives of women of color. 1 The creation of new feminist paradigms was tremendously useful in liberating White women from scholarly neglect and oversight, and therefore a debt of gratitude is owed to the scholars who blazed the trail and took intellectual risks to create this field. Specifically within the field of history, feminist thought advocated for a woman-centered approach, and argued that there was a common sisterhood among women. As Lerner notes, the result was a proliferation of feminist scholarship in the 1980s, which placed women’s voices and experiences at the center of scholarly inquiry. Perhaps the most significant ideological influence on early women’s history was the feminist movement, which sought to overthrow male domination, patriarchy, and gender discrimination. It is important, thirty-five years later, to reflect on the ways in which the study of women’s experiences has evolved.

Gerda Lerner’s article beautifully captures the major historiographic shifts and developments in women’s history since 1969.

Rutgers word scramble