In the early 1970's courses in Women's Studies began to appear on many campuses across the country, encouraged in part by the success of Black Studies. As the whole area of women and religion is a particularly complex and significant field, courses on women began to appear in religion as well as in psychology, literature, history, sociology and even natural science departments.

It was hard to know where to begin in organizing a course on “Women in Religion.” Most teachers felt some attention must be given to both Old and New Testament studies, church history, church law, non-Western religions, moral theology, and the role women play in contemporary churches; then secular history, literature, education and psychology must all be tapped to show parallels, causes and effects. People teaching in Women Studies programs tended to do a lot of sharing of experiences and resources.