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Barnard Center for Research on Women
Formation	1971
Purpose	Feminist Research
Director	Premilla Nadasen
Associate Director	Margot Kotler
Creative Director	Hope Dector
Website	bcrw.barnard.edu

BCRW image from 40th Anniversary celebration

The Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) is a nexus of feminist thought, activism, and collaboration for scholars and activists.^[1] The BCRW regularly hosts public events and creates publications and multimedia projects focusing on social transformation while supporting the work of scholars and activists.^[2] Since its founding in 1971, BCRW has promoted women's and social justice issues to its local communities at Barnard College and within New York City and beyond. It is a member organization of The National Council for Research on Women.^[3]

History

The Women's Center opened in the fall of 1971.^[4] According to its founding charter, the aim of the Women's Center was, "to assure that women can live and work in dignity, autonomy, and equality ... to encourage the open sharing of knowledge and experience, it seeks to increase ties among diverse groups of women."^[4] The organization also served as a curriculum committee, collecting information on women's studies programs at Barnard, and eventually assisted with the development of a full women's studies major at the university which was approved in May 1977.^[5] Catharine R. Stimson served as the chairwomen of the task force that created the Women's Center and was its first acting director.^[6] Jane S. Gould was appointed acting director in 1972 and permanent director in 1973.^[4] Only 20 years after BCRW's founding, women's studies courses had expanded from 16 courses to more than 30,000 in the United States by 1993.^[7]

In the beginning years of the Woman's Center, it worked closely with the Office of Career Development in Barnard to support alumnae re-entering the workforce, and it has since expanded to promote social transformation and advance intersectional social justice.^[8] In February of 2000, Renee Gerni took over as the director of the program to increase the Center’s accessibility to the public and to spread awareness of the resources that the Center provides to both the community and students.^[9] The director of The Women's Center in 2024 is Premilla Nadasen. Nadasen is a professor of history at Barnard and a published feminist scholar who focuses on social change.^[10] Nadasen has stated that her goals for BCRW are to maintain a space for collective thinking and action while also analyzing and expanding initiatives within a progressive movement centered on radical care.^[11]

Activities

Since 1974, BCRW has hosted the annual Scholar and Feminist conference, including the 1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality.^[4] Controversy arose surrounding the 1982 Conference after Barnard confiscated thousands of copies of Politics, Pleasure, Pain: The Controversy Continues by Judith Butler, leading to the conference being picketed by Women Against Pornography (WAP).^[12] The most recent annual Scholar and Feminist Conference was held in April 2024 and focused on Anti-Colonialism, Black Radicalism, and Transnational Feminism by exploring black feminist and third-world movements since the 1940s.^[13]

They also regularly host a speaker series featuring prominent feminist speakers. Some notable speakers include Nobel Peace (1997) Laureate Jody Williams, Angela Davis, Rinku Sen, and many more.^[14]

Research and Publications

BCRW also has many publications ranging from books to blogs. A significant contribution is S&F Online, a triannual online peer-reviewed journal focusing on feminist topics. S&F Online is accessible to the public, allowing public access to research conducted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women.^[15] They have also created eleven volumes of New Feminist Solutions, each containing a publicly available comprehensive resource guide focusing on solutions to current feminist issues. The most recent issue Immigrants and Refugees are Welcome Here, is centered on immigrants and refugees and was directed by Amber Holibaugh; an LGBTQ+ activist best known for writing “My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home."^[16] In addition to this, they have created a blog, the Dare to Use the F-word podcast, publish annual reports on their yearly accomplishments, and have an archive of past newsletters.

Works

Books

Paradoxes of Neoliberalism: Sex, Gender, and Possibilities for Justice (2022)^[17]
Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence (2004)^[18]
Class, Race, and Sex: The Dynamics of Control (1983)^[19]
The Future of Difference (1987)^[20]

References

^ Barnard Center for Research on Women. "About". Barnard College. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
^ "Barnard Center for Research on Women | TransformHarm.org". transformharm.org/. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^ "Barnard Center for Research on Women". National Council for Research on Women. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gould, Jane S. (1997). Juggling: A Memoir of Work, Family, and Feminism. New York: Feminist Press at The City University of New York. ISBN 1-55861-172-X.
^ Eisenstein, Hester (1978-07-01). "Women's Studies at Barnard College: Alive and Well and Living in New York". Women's Studies Quarterly.
^ Brozan, Nadine (April 23, 1993). "Celebrating Barnard's women's center before a conference on women and political power". New York Times. p. B8.
^ Brozan, N (April 23, 1993). "Chronicle: Celebrating Barnard's women's center before a conference on women and political power Jack Klugman speaks up and thrills an audience". New York Times. ProQuest 108978343.
^ "BCRW @ 50: Introduction". BCRW @ 50. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^ "Barnard Bulletin, February 9, 2000 | Barnard Digital Collections". digitalcollections.barnard.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
^ "About". Barnard Center for Research on Women. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^ "5 Questions With … Author and Feminist Activist Premilla Nadasen". Barnard College. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
^ Corbman, Rachel (2015). "The Scholars and the Feminists: The Barnard Sex Conference and the History of the Institutionalization of Feminism". Feminist Formations. 27 (3): 49–80. ISSN 2151-7371.
^ "The 49th Annual Scholar and Feminist Conference: Anti-Colonialism, Black Radicalism, and Transnational Feminism". Center for the Study of Social Difference. 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^ Barnard College. "Academic Programs and Internships". Giving to Barnard.
^ "About Us | S&F Online | Writing a Feminist's Life: The Legacy of Carolyn G. Heilbrun". sfonline.barnard.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^ X (2023-11-11). "Amber Hollibaugh, radical LGBTQ+ activist and rights advocate, dies at 77". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
^ Bernstein, Elizabeth; Jakobsen, Janet R., eds. (2022). Paradoxes of neoliberalism: sex, gender and possibilities for justice. Social justice. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-367-51159-3.
^ Castelli, E.; Jakobsen, J., eds. (2004). Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence (1st ed. 2004 ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. ISBN 978-1-4039-8156-1.
^ Swerdlow, Amy; Lessinger, Hanna; Kritzman, Janie L., eds. (1983). Class, Race, and Sex: the Dynamics of Control. The scholar and the feminist. Boston, Mass: G. K. Hall. ISBN 978-0-8161-9039-3.
^ Eisenstein, Hester; Jardine, Alice, eds. (1994). The future of difference. The Douglass Series on women's lives and the meaning of gender (5. paperback print ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1112-2.