A course on “Women and American Politics” ought to focus on the subordinate political position held by women as a class, reasons for that status, and the issues involved in the redistribution of political power to women. Students need to understand why women have traditionally been subordinated and why they are not gaining full political equality easily, even now.

A useful framework for clarifying these issues examines the structural importance of role definition in allocating power, the nature of power and the reasons for conflict as power shifts from one group to another. The American Political Science Association Women's Project units can help in the exploration of these issues in terms of their impact on women.