Is Women's Studies a Disciplinary or an Interdisciplinary Field of Inquiry?

This essay explores the question of whether Women's Studies is a discipline or an interdisciplinary activity by comparing the structure of knowledge in Women's Studies to Political Science, which is established as a discipline. The comparison proceeds by defining a discipline as an intellectual practice with several features: 1) a shared narrative of identity and community, 2) a common vocabulary and set of concepts, 3) a set of questions that guide inquiry, 4) a set of methods or strategies of interpretation, which construct what counts as evidence. The essay then makes the case for Women's Studies as a disciplined mode of inquiry that draws from an interdisciplinary knowledge base, a base embodying both social scientific and humanities analytical approaches.