Woman, you see, is an object of such a kind that study it as much as you will, it is always quite new.

So said 19th century Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy.

In 21st century China, something quite new is being attempted with Women's Studies becoming a college major for the first time.

Women's Studies is described as interdisciplinary research that puts women and gender at the centre of inquiry.

Beijing-based China Women's University announced last week that with the approval of the Ministry of Education, it would admit undergraduates who would major in the subject.

"I'm really glad that the study has finally gained public recognition," said Han Henan, the university's professor on Women's Studies who had been doing research on the topic for about 20 years.

She told China Daily that teaching of the subject began in the United States in the early 1970s, and it has developed so rapidly that in the late 1990s, more than 600 colleges were offering about 30,000 courses.

"But in China, no college offers a major in this field, except for some elective courses. We are at least 20 years behind the world in this field," she said.

As a liberal arts major, the subject entails studying women from the perspective of differences between sexes. Han said the curriculum would also examine ways that ethnicity, race and sexuality shape representations of women as well as the unbalanced allocation of resources based on gender.

Courses to be offered include Introduction to Women's Studies, Gender and Women's History, Women in Contemporary China, Feminist Methodology and Women's Psychology.

Han said the course has a close relationship with China's social and economic reform, as gender equality still remains a problem in China, especially in the western areas where women are still considered inferior to men.

"Studying the subject will help achieve greater gender equality and form a favourable gender culture, thus creating a harmonious society," she said.

While it is the first time the course is being offered as a major, many students in the university began to take Women's Studies as an elective subject in 2004.

Zhang Li, a senior law student who has just finished the course, said it "has opened my eyes to new ways of thinking and offered me new perspectives to examine social phenomena."

The school says it will take in 25 students this fall, but all of them will be women as it accepts only female students.

Besides Women's Studies, 24 other new majors will also be offered this year in the country, including International Cultural Trade, Landscape Architecture, Mongolian Medicine, Grain Processing and Coal Mine Methane Projects.

(China Daily 04/06/2006 page1)