Kiel, 1971: Die erste Women’s-Studies-Lehrveranstaltung der deutschen Anglistik/Amerikanistik : Überarbeiteter und annotierter Vortrag, gehalten u.a. beim CAU Frauenvortragsmarathon 2026

Summary: The University of Kiel can not only boast the first Women’s Studies course of German English and American Studies, but one of the extremely rare earliest instances across all German disciplines: Zona Suess, “Woman’s Role in America”, summer semester 1971. What is unique is the lucky circumstance that the typescript of the lectures has been preserved, together with a rich collection of materials. As Suess herself states, she relies on Betty Friedan’s “Feminine Mystique”, Simone de Beauvoir’s “Le deuxième sexe” and Kate Millett’s “Sexual Politics” for theoretical foundations. But she has also used an impressive number of further studies and press articles.

After a short general introduction, she first gives a survey of how the situation of US women and the American women’s movement have developed since the Declaration of Sentiments (1848). For her present, she distinguishes two main branches: an older generation gathering in or around Friedan’s National Organization for Women (NOW) and young, radical activists. From among the latter, she briefly highlights the New York Radical Women, W.I.T.C.H., Redstockings and The Feminists. Next she deals with important concepts (such as patriarchy, sexism and Friedan’s “feminine mystique”) as well as fields focused on by Women’s Lib. These are, above all, work and public roles of women, fights against discrimination, the first EO and affirmative action policies, on the one hand, and the controversies about abortion legislation, on the other hand. The course seems to have been very popular and on account of its pioneering may have exerted great influence on its audience.