Before 1970,
women's history was rarely the subject of serious study. As
historian Mary Beth Norton recalls, "only one or two scholars
would have identified themselves as women's historians, and no
formal doctoral training in the subject was available anywhere
in the country." Since then, however, the field has undergone a
metamorphosis. Today almost every college offers women's history
courses and most major graduate programs offer doctoral degrees
in the field.
The Women's Movement
Two significant factors contributed to the emergence of women's
history. The women's movement of the sixties caused women to
question their invisibility in traditional American history
texts. The movement also raised the aspirations as well as the
opportunities of women, and produced a growing number of female
historians. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, one of the early women's
historians, has remarked that "without question, our first
inspiration was political. Aroused by feminist charges of
economic and political discrimination . . . we turned to our
history to trace the origins of women's second-class status."
Women's history was also part of a larger movement that transformed the
study of history in the United States. "History" had traditionally meant
political history—a chronicle of the key political events and of the
leaders, primarily men, who influenced them. But by the 1970s "the new
social history" began replacing the older style. Emphasis shifted to a
broader spectrum of American life, including such topics as the history
of urban life, public health, ethnicity, the media, and poverty.
The Personal Is Political
Since women rarely held leadership positions and until recently had only
a marginal influence on politics, the new history, with its emphasis on
the sociological and the ordinary, was an ideal vehicle for presenting
women's history. It has covered such subjects as the history of women's
education, birth control, housework, marriage, sexuality, and child
rearing. As the field has grown, women's historians realized that their
definition of history needed to expand as well—it focused primarily on
white middle-class experience and neglected the full racial and
socio-economic spectrum of women.
