EDUCATION AND TEACHING CAREER
Joan Scott studied French history and Women’s and Gender Studies. She attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1962. After being inspired in a Western Civilizations course, Scott decided that she wanted to become a historian. She then attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she received her Masters and Doctoral degrees in History in 1964 and 1969, respectively. Very interested in French history, Scott wrote her dissertation on the impact of technological changes on the French working-class in the late 19th century. After school, Scott went on to teach history at a number of prestigious colleges such as the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of North Carolina, and Brown University.
Joan Scott in a Library
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LIFE FOCUS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Joan Scott is an activist for academic freedom, freedom of speech, and women’s rights. She analyzes conventional gender roles and studies the relationship between secularism and gender equality to explore the future of women. While working at Brown University, Scott founded the Pembrooke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, a prestigious research center for gender and ethnicity studies. Scott also fights for women’s rights in France, especially French Muslim women. In 2004, Scott fought against the law passed that prohibited students from wearing Muslim headscarves in French schools. Scott has made it clear that she is against both rules prohibiting and requiring hijabs in French schools.
Joan Scott
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PUBLISHINGS AND AWARDS
Scott has written numerous books about gender rights, such as “Gender and the Politics of History”. Her books and articles have given the world a new perspective on women and gender roles. Her writing has won several awards like the Nancy Lyman Roelker Award presented to a teacher of history who has taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives. Scott won the Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2009, presented by the American Historical Association for a lifetime dedicated to history.