History
Since the 1980’s several teaching and research initiatives within the area of Women’s Studies were developed at Maastricht University. The Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Platform (Interfacultair Vrouwenstudies Overleg - IVO) used to coordinate these activities. In 1996, the IVO proposed to secure a firmer basis for women’s studies at Maastricht University by aspiring towards an institute for gender studies.
On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the feminist monthly Opzij had in the mean time decided to establish a special gender studies chair ‘Power and Strategy’ at a Dutch university. Opzij wanted to cooperate with the UM for the first five years on the condition that the Opzij professor would be firmly rooted within an interdisciplinary centre for women and gender studies. Dr. Wies Weijts and Dr. Mineke Bosch of the IVO seized upon this opportunity to establish a proper centre at the UM. Their plan was approved of in October 1997 and the first Opzij professor, Dr. Maaike Meijer, started on March 1st 1998. Shortly after that, Meijer also acquired the position of full professor of gender studies. With the arrival of an Associate Professor, Dr. Mineke Bosch, the Centre for Women and Gender Studies could open its doors on September 1, 1998. Meijer became its first director. Following the general trend of opening up of the field of women’s studies to the study of masculinities and to other adjacent crucial differences, the Centre changed its name into The Centre for Gender and Diversity in 1999.
The Centre was based at the Faculty of General Sciences (FdAW) at first. The experimental character of this faculty offered room for new initiatives and guaranteed an independent and interdisciplinary position for the Centre. When the FdAW developed an exclusive focus on informatics and computer sciences, the Centre moved to the Faculty of Arts and Culture on January 1, 2001.
The Centre was initially established for a period of five years. It was evaluated in 2003, with positive outcome. The Executive Board of the university decided that the Centre was to be embedded within the UM on a permanent basis. The Board also expressed the wish that the Centre would be more integrated more closely into the Faculty of Arts and Culture (now Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences). In the same year, the Opzij Foundation Board decided to continue the special Opzij Chair at the Centre.
