The role of Women's/Gender Studies in the changing lives of British women

This paper explores the role played by part-time Women's/Gender Studies (WGS) courses in women's lives in the UK through interviews with 35 women who were among 8000 students who studied one of the UK Open University's undergraduate interdisciplinary WGS courses between 1983 and 1999. A thematic analysis of these interviews shows how these mainly working and lower middle-class, mature women were living through a time of great social change for women. The WGS course they studied helped them understand these changes and grasp the educational, social and employment opportunities that opened for UK women after 1980. The authors reflect on these social and educational changes and using Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach (2011) analyse the capabilities these women developed through their study of these courses, which helped them to change their own lives and the lives of others around them. Looking forward, the authors argue that WGS courses have the potential to develop these capabilities in a time of economic recession and reduced opportunities for women.