Best states for a history professor

Expert opinions on the best states for history professors

• Are there any particularly good places in the United States for history professors to find work opportunities?

  Jan Wilson

  Associate Professor of History, University of Tulsa

  WGS programs train students to recognize and make visible the gender systems and beliefs that undergird undemocratic institutions, asymmetrical power relations, and systemic forms of oppression. Now more than ever, we need WGS graduates in positions where they can apply feminist analyses to the economic, social, and political systems that are producing and reproducing the inequalities that the pandemic is throwing into stark relief. The overwhelming evidence of COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on women and girls will hopefully lead to the recognition that WGS graduates — working in policy organizations, law firms, rights organizations, NGOs, elected office, businesses, education, engineering, science, health care, and many other fields — need a bigger voice in planning the solutions.
  
  There are positive signs that opportunities for WGS graduates to fill these gaps may be increasing. According to the UN, leaders across the world are urging “governments to put women and girls at the center of their efforts to recover from COVID-19.”
  That starts with women as leaders, with equal representation and decision-making power in all of our institutions, and a commitment to advancing the wellbeing of all women and girls.
  Women’s organizations in several countries have claimed for decades that workplace reorganization, flexible work hours, and remote work are needed to enable employees to better combine their jobs with care responsibilities. The COVID-19 crisis is finally forcing companies and institutions to create alternative and flexible approaches to the traditional workplace. Many are recognizing that jobs can be performed effectively from employees’ homes.
  The reorganization of work during the pandemic demonstrates that we can transform rigid institutions and create new systems that are flexible and better attuned to women workers, who very often have to balance a job with family responsibilities. Flexible and alternative approaches to work and workplaces also benefit many individuals with disabilities.
  
  The current crisis has also necessitated an online learning experiment that has highlighted many socioeconomic inequalities but also demonstrated the possibilities and benefits of flexible and alternative approaches to education. This experiment could lead to the permanent establishment of hybrid learning environments that blend physical and virtual engagement in class discussions and group projects.This would provide more opportunities and access to education for those who face challenges participating in traditional learning environments, such as those with disabilities or sensory issues, student parents, and students who have full or part-time jobs. As we consider the future of campuses, we should embrace and improve on this experiment to be more inclusive and to design classroom spaces that meet the needs of all learners. This will increase student success rates, particularly for women and students from marginalized groups.
  
  A small but growing number of policymakers at the state and federal level in this country are now calling for a “feminist” approach to the pandemic. A feminist approach seeks to reconceptualize the idea of “national interest” by shifting away from prioritizing military security, profit, dominance, and competition and toward putting people’s health and personal safety, peace and inclusion first. It’s an approach that invests in public health, lifting up and caring for the most marginalized, and it emphasizes collaboration and learning. Hawaii became the first state to call for a feminist economic recovery, as its State Commission on the Status of Women called for a “big cultural change” that prioritizes the care economy and the health and wellbeing of the most marginalized: Indigenous women, women of color, incarcerated people, aging women, domestic violence survivors, and LGBTQIA+ people. A feminist approach means recognizing the public responsibility for social welfare through measures such as a higher minimum wage, universal health care, and paid family and medical leave; subsidized child care; and a robust social safety net for every American citizen. Students trained in WGS, given the opportunity, could be the architects of a feminist approach to the current crisis and can lead the way toward more structural changes in the future.