History of the Centre :: Centre for Gender and Diversity

History of the Centre

From the start, the Centre for Gender and Diversity has been an inter-faculty institute which was established by the Faculty Boards and with the consent of the University of Maastricht (UM) Executive Board. The final decision to establish the Centre was taken on 30th October 1997.

The Centre brought together teaching and research in the area of Women’s Studies which had been scattered over various faculties since the end of the 1980s. The Inter-Faculty Women’s Studies Council (Interfacultair Vrouwenstudies Overleg - IVO), where UM employees and persons interested in women’s studies met, initially coordinated these activities. However at the beginning of 1996, the IVO proposed in an evaluation report to secure a firmer basis for women’s studies in Maastricht by establishing a proper inter-faculty institute.

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the feminist monthly ‘Opzij’ had in the mean time decided to set up a special chair for ‘Power and Strategy’ at a Dutch university. Dr. Wies Weijts and Dr. Mineke Bosch used this as an excellent opportunity to realize a proper Centre. Opzij wanted to cooperate with the UM on condition that the Opzij professor would be firmly rooted within the university in a Centre for Women and Gender Studies. The Executive Board of the university decided to establish such a centre in 1997.

The Centre opened its doors on 1st September 1998 as Centre for Women and Gender Studies. From the beginning there was an Associate Professor, Dr. Mineke Bosch. The first Opzij professor, Dr. Maaike Meijer, who had already started in March 1998, was appointed as an Ordinary Professor and became the Centre’s Director as of 1st September 1998. It became known as the Centre for Gender and Diversity in 1999.

The Centre was initially part of the Faculty of General Sciences (FdAW). The experimental character of this faculty offered room for new initiatives and appeared to guarantee an independent and interdisciplinary position for the Centre. After the FdAW was changed into a proper beta faculty, the Centre became part of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences on 1st January 2001, which had split off from the FdAW.

Initially, the Centre was established for a period of five years and was recognized as an institute which would in principle be permanent, by mid 2003. The Executive Board of the university expressed the wish at the time for the Centre to become more incorporated into the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. In the same year, the Opzij Foundation Board decided to continue the special Opzij Chair at the Centre.