U.S. History: Discipline Analysis. Women in the Curriculum Series.

This essay examines the ways in which U.S. history, as a discipline, has been influenced by feminist scholarship in the field and by research on gender and sexuality. It notes that the recognition that gender matters revolutionized the thinking of scholars who forged the field of women's history. Feminist scholars have expanded the definition of historically significant topics to include the private domain of family, domesticity, reproduction, sexuality, and public activities such as voluntary social service. Studies of women, particularly working-class women and women of color, are central to reconceptualizing the actors, events, sources, chronologies, and vocabularies in U.S. history. The essay also wonders whether women have "experienced" the great events of the nation's past in the same way as men, asking whether women did in fact have an American Revolution, an Age of Jackson, or a Reconstruction. Also noted are two issues in the experiences of women that continue to be debated: the first is the question of continuity versus change; the second is that of commonality versus differences. A 71-item bibliography contains information on works cited in the essay; selected readings for faculty on frameworks and overviews, work, politics, conquest and colonization, and women and revolution; selected readings for students; electronic resources; and other resources. (MDM)