A significant barrier the students experienced to their learning while in the women studies program was the lack of support from male professors who did not see it as relevant. They indicated to the students that the program was more of a fad and would soon be out of vogue. Often, the students' families did not understand their reasons for wanting to study women. On the other hand, students stressed the wonderful encouragement they received from their female professors and the close relationships and greater understanding they experienced with their peers in the program.

Another interesting finding was that the older women had been active in women's issues before they had enrolled in university, whereas the younger women were less aware of such politics, being more involved with young children and other family relationships. However, one younger student stressed that her courses had made her realize that "it's not enough just to be a feminist. ... It's not just being aware of the inequalities in the world, it's working to change things."

Student Experiences in Women's Studies
The respondents talked about having the "space to speak" in their classes and about the mutual respect, trust and the sense of community they experienced. They found themselves empowered by the new knowledge they were gaining. One student expressed this well, saying "it was such a feeling of empowerment to realize that other women felt the same way, felt angry about the same things, had experienced some of the exact same things as I did."

All the students talked about the pain and anger they experienced that related to their, and other women's, oppressive experiences in our society. But they talked also about the validation of themselves as women that they gained through their studies: "All of a sudden I had value ... there was acceptance in my classes. The program consolidated a lot of things. Like it's okay to be a woman. And up to then, I wasn't quite sure."

They informed me about changes that had occurred in their relationships and personal lives, in their marriages, and in relating to their mothers and significant others. They gained new ideas about relationships, a better understanding of feminism in general, and began to see how society is structured to oppress women as a group. They also learned to articulate their frustration: "I was angry at finding out why things were like they are," and "In a lot of my courses I would relate what they were talking about to a lot of my experiences. I would get so angry." One student said that her courses in women's studies "illuminated things that I took for granted before." She explained that there had been certain things "in her head" but it was not until she started taking women's studies courses that she felt justified in her anger at the inequality she experienced.

Several of the students had undergone the "click" of connecting the personal to the political in their lives, and they related this to the knowledge gained while in the women's studies courses. One student summarized her views by saying: "The biggest thing I can think of is understanding why things are the way they are. ... I have a lot more ideas about it and a lot more understanding about it than I did before."

Feminist Courses /Feminist Teaching
The respondents had taken a wide and comprehensive range of feminist courses while in women's studies. Overall, they had experienced the joy of learning about women and the excitement of gaining a comprehensive knowledge about the history of women in all of the disciplines, notably in the social sciences and humanities.

There were many positive responses from the students regarding feminist teaching. They liked the seminar approach to teaching instead of the traditional lectures. They enjoyed the discussions and the sharing of experiences in the classrooms. They found that feminist teaching enhanced their learning and enabled them to be active participants in that process.

The respondents also found that the courses they took had their own singular importance. They said it had been very difficult to choose one above the other because they all dealt with different aspects of women's lives. One student found the courses were "all helpful as they enabled me to took at the same problem from a variety of different issues."

Most of the respondents were uncomfortable with men teaching feminist courses. They did not believe that men could do it as well as their female professors, if at all. "A women teaching women's studies can relate to her own experiences being a woman," explained one student, "and a man cannot. So he is not as sure on his feet as a woman. He's trying to explain, 'this is how I believe it is' as opposed to how it is." Another student found that one male teacher was "feminist from the neck up. He's still very much into classical theory and it's done in a very patriarchal way."