What was going on when I was born?

Using scholarship developed in the feminist movement, women in colleges and universities are questioning the fundamental tenets of academic fields ranging from history and philosophy to the natural sciences. These scholars argue that most academic disciplines reflect the cultural biases and thinking patterns of men and are based, for example, on data involving male political figures and male psychological subjects. As a result, they are challenging not only some commonly held scholarly conclusions but the underlying methods of research. Although the feminists' ''new scholarship'' has not been discussed widely enough yet to provoke much response from other scholars, some women say it is almost certain to provoke sharp controversy. Among their revisionist ideas are these: - The Renaissance, a time in which women lost many of the privileges they had in the era of chivalry, should not be viewed as a ''progressive'' era in Western civilization.

Some lawyers on the full-time staff of the New York City Transit Authority engage in private practice during working hours, according to a team of management analysts that has spent the last six months looking into the system's operations. Private legal work during working hours would be in violation of authority regulations. ''We don't feel that what is going on is simple, weekend income supplement, but work from an office, during the week, on company time,'' said Richard G. Lyon, one of the investigators for the Economic Development Council, a business group that is conducting an extensive study of the Transit Authority. Officials of the Transit Authority said they were looking into the allegations.

In a single week last July, an engineer operating Conrail commuter trains from Grand Central Terminal drew more than 19 days' pay - $1,912. Last year he made $67,225. Nine other engineers and conductors on the Conrail-operated Harlem and Hudson lines of the state's Metropolitan Transportation Authority made $55,870 to $68,646 - close to the $70,000 salary of the M.T.A.'s top rail executive. Each year hundreds of Conrail commuter employees in the New York area have added millions of dollars to their wages through special pay and work rules, according to rail officials and a recent interstate study. Employees of the Long Island Rail Road, which is also run by the M.T.A., have fewer such bonuses, in exchange for higher basic pay, officials said.

How do you figure it? The Giants had lost their last three games this season and had lost 12 straight to the Philadelphia Eagles since opening day in 1975. The Eagles entered the game with a 9-2 record, the best in the National Football League, and they were 9 1/2-point favorites. With all that, the Giants upset the Eagles, 20-10, today by scoring a field goal and a touchdown less than three minutes apart in the last quarter. The field goal came after a 9-yard punt that was supposed to be a fake except that the man who snapped the ball forgot. The touchdown came when Terry Jackson intercepted a pass by Ron Jaworski and ran 32 yards to the end zone. ''I don't think the score indicates just how bad we beat them,'' said Coach Ray Perkins of the Giants. ''We showed a lot of character and guts. We could have bit the dust and played the last five games and gone home for Christmas. I told our guys Monday that we were going to shock the world today.''

Behind the aging squat sandstone building housing Dresdner Bank's executive offices stands a new 32-story glass-andaluminum office building, neatly reflecting the bank's recent explosive growth. Dresdner, West Germany's second-largest bank, after Deutsche Bank, christened the building last year with a big public relations campaign aimed at local critics who said the expansion marred Frankfurt's traditional architectural unity. Though the bank rejects the esthetic criticism, its executives would probably agree these days that financially, at least, growth can have its drawbacks. First Time Since War Indeed, last year Dresdner cut its dividend for the first time since World War II as earnings shrank under the impact of high lending rates, a sluggish economy, mounting risks in countries such as Poland and the cost of bailing out ailing industrial customers such as AEG-Telefunken, the tottering electrical giant.

This North African country, a hawk among OPEC members, is feeling increasing pressure to lower its oil prices to prevent an exodus of American oil companies, which control 70 percent of the oil-producing technology here. The first shock to the Libyans came Nov. 12 when the Exxon Corporation announced that it was ending its operations in the country. Then the Mobil Oil Corporation said in New York that its position was ''under review.'' This meant, according to an authoritative source in Tripoli who requested anonymity, that Mobil, too, was considering withdrawing because of Libya's tough pricing policies. This source added that Mobil, which once produced about 110,000 barrels a day in Libya, currently ''is not producing anything.''

International Greece will set a timetable for the removal of American bases from the country. The timetable is the firm intention of the Socialist Government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who said in his first major policy address that his Government will also proceed to unilateral nuclear disarmament and the renunciation of the 1980 agreement that returned Greece to the military wing of NATO. The Prime Minister made it clear that he intended to carry out the broad lines of his radical election platform on which his Panhellenic Socialist Movement won a sweeping victory last month. (Page A1, Column 3.) Soviet-West German talks on arms are due in Bonn with the arrival there of Leonid I. Brezhnev, who will discuss with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt possible nuclear arms reductions in Europe. The schedule of the three days of talks was spaced to allow the 74-year-old Soviet leader long periods of rest. The basic issues are the Soviet Union's buildup of its SS-20 nuclear missiles, NATO's intention to deploy new American-made weapons to counter them, and the American-Soviet arms talks in Geneva. (A1:1-2.)

Tom Downs likes to tell the story about the schoolboy who is asked to add a list of numbers and totals it 10 times to make sure he is right. But it comes out differently each time. Unsure where the error lies, he gives his teacher all 10 answers. To Mr. Downs, the recount specialist working for the Democrats in the still uncertain race for Governor in New Jersey, the story is not a joke. Both he and his counterpart assisting the Republicans, James Schoener, know all too well that when it comes to adding votes, error is the one thing you can count on. Skilled in the business of adding correctly, the two lawyers command armies of campaign workers, statisticians, computer experts and accountants in the final, costly battle for election. Beginning with a race for governor in Michigan in 1950, they have faced each other many times in important recounts across the country for more than 30 years.

Collective bargaining settlements in industries that have historically set wage patterns are expected to be ''very moderate'' next year and are unlikely to exert the influence that they have in the past, according to an annual forecast by the Conference Board that was released yesterday. A panel of 10 labor experts from industry, unions and education predicted that first-year wage settlements would increase an average 8 percent next year, compared with first-year rises of 11.5 percent from January through September of this year. ''The economic brakes will clearly be on,'' said Audrey Freedman of the Conference Board, an independent, nonprofit business research organizaation, and chairman of the panel. ''Moderation in wage demands will not spring from job competition from the growing ranks of the unemployed, but from efforts by employers to cut labor costs. The coming year will be marked by wage freezes and reduced labor forces in many industries.''

Despite the President's objections, the House and Senate passed a $428 billion stopgap financing resolution. Mr. Reagan again threatened to veto the bill because budget cuts are insufficient. (Page A1.) Wage settlements in industries that have historically set the pattern are expected to be more moderate next year. A Conference Board panel predicts increases will average 8 percent, compared with 11.5 percent this year. Some economists say unemployment will be a major factor in moderating union demands. (D1.)

Congress today approved a $428 billion stopgap financing bill needed to avert a threatened disruption in Government services. But President Reagan said he would veto the measure, and the White House said it would begin to shut down nonessential services Monday. In an extraordinary Sunday session, the Democratic-controlled House defied Mr. Reagan and voted, 205 to 194, to approve the measure, which had been agreed upon by a conference of the House and Senate. The Republican-controlled Senate then approved the measure, 46 to 39, late tonight, setting the stage for Mr. Reagan to exercise his first Presidential veto. The President delayed his planned departure for a Thanksgiving trip to California to meet with his Cabinet Monday morning after his planned veto of the measure.

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou today announced his Socialist Government's intention to set a timetable for the removal of the United States military bases in Greece. In his first major policy address, Mr. Papandreou also announced his Government's intention to remove all nuclear arms from Greece and to revoke the 1980 agreement whereby Athens returned to the military wing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Prime Minister made it clear that he intended to carry out the broad lines of his radical election platform on which his Panhellenic Socialist Movement won a sweeping victory last month. 71-Page Government Program Emphasizing the close links between national defense and foreign policy, Mr. Papandreou declared, ''The Government will advance in stages, step by step, always taking all the facts into account and guided by the need to safeguard the necessary military preparedness and power in parallel with national defense planning and the proper deployment of forces.''