The History of CEDREF
The creation of CEDREF in 1985 marked a new phase in the history of feminist studies at Jussieu. This internal unifying project in Paris 7 shows the growing importance of the Women's Studies and Feminist Studies programs at this university and its internal and external influence. Michelle Perrot was the main advocate for the institutional continuity of feminist studies at Paris 7, and kept the focus of this group on the University's teaching. There are now more than forty teachers and researchers at Jussieu, with various statuses involved in the team. The first project of this multidisciplinary unit was "Presence of Women in Contemporary Fashion: History, Status, Representation, Language, as Compared to the Development of Knowledge," DEA "Gender and Societies". The titles of these lessons show both continuity and changes at the whim of careers as opposed to recruitment, promotions, mobility, retirements. The history of CEDREF in Paris 7 fits into the larger story of Feminist Studies, with the early eighties being a time of enjoyment for the political advances of feminism and its relative fitting into the social sciences and humanities research. The late eighties was a turning point with the experience of the DEA as well as the effects of the political reflux. From 1994 onwards, after the departure of the main founders, a new position this time in woman's history arose with some disciplinary recruitment and new federative projects seeking to give a breath to CEDREF.
Pluridisciplinrity
In 1986, CEDREF was recognized as a multidisciplinary university research team positioned within the social sciences. This pluridisciplinarity and its collegial nature are reflected by the principle of co-management of CEDREF by Claude Zaidman and Marcelle Marini. The arrival of Liliane Kandel in 1988 greatly strengthened the team and among other developing editorial axis with the support of the Scientific Council of Paris 7, and the support of the Secretariat status Women's Rights. Liliane Kandel became the co-leader of CEDREF in 1994, while Marcelle Marini, retiring, became the Publication Director of the Cahiers du CEDREF.
The Multi-Training Program of CEDREF- "Gender, Science & Societies"
The scientific specificity of CEDREF and the associated teams participating in the network lies in a social and historical approach to sexual difference. In divergence to the biologizing or naturalistic vision, this program conducts its research by analyzing the mechanisms, both in imagination and in social practices, that socially define the places of men and women in different societies. All these works combine to show how the relations between the sexes, as well as gender relations, are historically and socially constructed.
One of the points that unite this multidisciplinary research group is the affirmation of the need to work together to prioritize social relations without a priori. Thus, by maintaining the question of sexual difference central, we want to approach the complexity of its entanglement with other social determinations.
