In response to our last column, one reader posed the age-old question: “Why is there no Men’s Center?” At our weekly intern meeting, we laughed at the question. Exasperated and frustrated, we were amused by its inanity. It’s a question that we’ve all heard before, one we’ve had to answer again and again, and here I am, answering it yet another time.
The Duke Women’s Center was born out of student activism. In 1987, the Coalition for a Women’s Center at Duke, composed of 12 students, submitted a proposal for the founding of a center focused on women. The proposal cited student testimonials calling for such a center, research on how other schools better met women’s needs and a lack of administrative support for women at Duke. The Duke Women’s Center was subsequently founded in 1989 under the leadership of its first director, Martha Simmons.
The original proposal is deeply enlightening and instills a greater appreciation for the work that the Women’s Center has done and continues to do here at Duke. The proposal states that the Women’s Center is to be founded on the principles of womanism—a term coined by Alice Walker to describe black feminism. In her words, a womanist is a woman who is “outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful,” a woman who “loves herself, regardless.” True to its founding, the Women’s Center upholds these womanist ideals to this day. The Women’s Center challenges and empowers Duke women to be bold, loving and confident. It is a supportive space that has inspired me, countless women before me and will continue to inspire countless women after me to be the best versions of ourselves.
The Women’s Center is also a space for Duke students to find female role models, another goal laid out by the original proposal. It is currently operated by six powerful, wise, nurturing senior staff members. I have learned so many invaluable lessons from them, including how to meet someone where they are, how to practice self-care and how to command a room. Their mentorship has been absolutely formative to my Duke education and I’m so much better for it.
In my three-year career at Duke, only a quarter of my classes (6 out of 24) have been taught by female professors, and only one has been taught by a female professor of color. My personal experience reflects the disturbing national reality that women, especially women of color, are sorely underrepresented in the upper echelons of academia. Thus, a space that is staffed by all women, two-thirds of who are black, is revolutionary in the best way possible. It’s not only comforting but also necessary for students who are women of color to find role models who are relatable on a personal level.
Although reading the original proposal made me proud to see all the positive change that the Women’s Center has brought to Duke, I was also disappointed to see the unsavory aspects of Duke’s culture that have persisted for over 25 years. Despite the growing national and campus dialogue surrounding feminism and women’s rights, there is still so much work to be done. The proposal laments a university in the 1980s where women felt capable in the classroom but relatively powerless in a social environment dominated by fraternity men. Unfortunately, not much has changed. The Women’s Center was also founded in part because students felt that administrators were out of touch with women’s needs on campus, a sentiment that is certainly shared by many students today.
Unlike campus social culture and administrative awareness, the Women’s Center has evolved greatly over the past quarter century. In recent years, the Women’s Center has grown to make greater efforts in engaging men in the work of gender equity. For example, our male interns run a Men’s Project dedicated to deconstructing unhealthy masculinities and involving men in feminist programming. Gender equity is not only a women’s issue: people of all genders stand to gain from supporting womanist issues. Our space, our programming and our gender violence counseling services are open to all people. If men feel uncomfortable entering the Women’s Center and utilizing our services simply because “women” is in its name, then perhaps they should reflect on how it must feel for women to enter spaces dominated by men every single day and take action to rectify their internalized sexism.
There is simply no need for a Men’s Center because men are not oppressed because of their gender. I repeat: men are not oppressed because of their gender. Women, on the other hand, are. Men are not underrepresented in many professional fields. Men do not get paid less by the labor market. Men do not live under a government that is actively trying to regulate their reproductive organs. Men do not face a 1 in 5 chance of being sexually assaulted in college. Men do not have to navigate the difficulties of being at a top tier academic institution while being suffocated by double standards that damn them no matter how smart, involved, competent or social they are.
Duke University was built by men, for men. The Women’s Center is the only space on campus that was not. And until the rest of the school learns how to appropriately value and address women’s needs, the Women’s Center will continue to do this life-giving, and life-saving, work.
This is the third column in a semester-long series written by the Women’s Center interns. Their column explores gender issues and usually runs on alternate Fridays. Emily Chen, a Trinity junior, wrote this week’s column.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.