Women’s and Gender Studies, BA

The Women’s and Gender Studies Major provides an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the social and cultural constructions of gender that shape the experiences of women and men in society. The curriculum offers a solid foundation in Women’s and Gender Studies, facilitating graduate study and careers involving gender justice and preparing students for leadership roles in diverse workplaces and communities.

Through our partnership with the Jane Kopas Women’s Center and other community-based organizations and agencies, the Women’s and Gender Studies program offers students the opportunity to integrate theory and practice to develop leadership skills. The department works to create a learning community for students enrolled in its programs that integrates curricular and extra-curricular programming and encourages life-long learning and civic engagement.

While the degree offers students direct career paths to work in the non-profit, government, and private sectors for organizations that focus on women’s issues, the degree also aims to prepare students for a life of civic engagement and commitment to justice. Furthermore, the degree prepares students for graduate study in law, counseling, social work, and any field in the humanities or social sciences. Pre-medicine and allied health field students as well as business students find Women’s and Gender Studies to be helpful in preparing them to understand both their clients and their own lives as professionals.

As an inter- and multi-disciplinary field of study, Women’s and Gender Studies courses are drawn from departments across the University. All courses available for Women’s and Gender Studies credit have been reviewed and approved by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program Steering Committee. Women’s and Gender Studies courses focus on women’s experiences in history, society, and culture, and examine their reaction to such experiences; examine institutional structures/modes of authority/analyses of power, especially considering their implications for women; and incorporate one or more feminist analyses/scholarly works (recognizing that there are multiple, and even conflicting feminist perspectives).

For more information about the Latin American Studies and Women’s Studies (LA/W/S) department, visit its website.

Major Requirements

A minimum of 10 courses (30 credits), distributed as follows, is required for the Women’s and Gender Studies major:

1. Foundational/Praxis courses (6 credits minimum)

These courses provide the foundation of Women’s and Gender Studies by introducing students to the complexity of feminisms, in both theory and practice, and discussing the relationship between the two. Students must take one course from group A AND one course from group B.

A. PHIL 218 - (P,D) Feminism: Theory and Practice OR PHIL 231 - (P,D) Philosophy of Women

B. WOMN 215 - (D) Feminism and Social Change /SOC 315 - (D) Feminism and Social Change OR SOC 220 - (S,D) Social Stratification

2. At least 1 course (3 credits) must be taken in each of the three areas listed below (9 credits minimum)

A. Area A: Historical Knowledges (material, cultural, social)

This area grounds students in the general field of women’s history. In keeping with the contemporary scholarly focus on pluralistic “histories” rather than on the more reductive and globalizing notion of “history,” this area’s approach will expose students to Western and non-Western, transnational, and transcultural histories and thus to diverse historical experiences of women. To this end, courses will not focus solely on U.S. American history, nor will they pertain exclusively to the academic field of history. Rather, this multidisciplinary area will allow students to investigate historical developments through multivalent approaches. As a result, students will attain a more complex knowledge of the evolution of women’s histories as they examine the historical evolution of the concept of “woman” across national, social, cultural, and political boundaries. Moreover, through courses featuring historical accounts of the emergence of international women’s movements and changing perspectives on gender, women, and feminist issues over time, students will gain an understanding of the richness and diversity of feminisms as well and of the historical roots of contemporary feminist concerns.

Listed courses:

GERM 320E/320F - (W,D) Sex in the City: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Germany (T)
HIST 238 - (CH,D) History of American Women: From Colonization to Mid-Nineteenth Century
HIST 239 - (CH,D) History of American Women: From Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present
T/RS 218 - (P,D) Women in Christianity

B. Area B: Social and Behavioral Sciences:

Courses in the social and behavioral sciences will provide students with an understanding of the contemporary reality of women’s lives and gender relations and enable them to analyze the concept of gender critically. Students will use institutional, structural, and behavioral analyses to assess gender relations and women’s status in various societies. Cross-cultural, global, and intersectional perspectives will connect gender inequality to other categories of oppression and allow students to comprehend the diversity of women’s experiences. Students in these courses will gain a critical understanding of how various research tools, including quantitative and qualitative methodologies, are used to study women and gender. Students will learn how feminism has informed social research, and how social research has informed feminist theory.

Listed courses:

COMM 229 - (D) Gender and Communication
LA/WS 395 - (S,D) Women and Development in Latin America  (T)
PS 216 - (D,S) Women’s Rights and Status
PS 227 - (D,S) Women, Authority and Power
PS 335 - (D) Women in the Global Community
PSYC 228 - Health Psychology
SOC 210 - (W,EPW,D) Marriage and the Family
SOC 224 - (S,D) Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 230 - Sociology of Globalization
SOC 317 (EPW,D) Family Issues and Social Policy

C. Area C: Representations and Expressions (creative, literary, and visual arts)

Courses in the literary and visual arts demonstrate the various methods women have employed to achieve voice and visibility. Such efforts at representation lead to critical points about the attainment and negotiation of power and agency. These courses will also expose the reality of women’s lives and concerns, including their social and/or political views, issues of sexuality, and the relationship between the personal and the political. Analyzing multiple texts of women’s lives in such detail necessitates an examination of the cultural and/or global diversity of feminist perspectives and feminist political/social/cultural movements. Ultimately, students will emerge from these courses with an enhanced ability to express themselves critically on the subject of creative and culturally diverse texts that address women.

Listed courses:

ARTH 210 - (CA,D,W) Women in the Visual Arts
ARTH 311 - (W,D,CA) Medieval and Renaissance Women
ENLT 225 - (CL,D,W) Writing Women
ENLT 251 - (CL,D,W) Borderlands Writing
ENLT 260 - (CL,D, EPW,W) Women of Color: Literature & Theory  (T)
ENLT 341 - (CL,W) Shakespeare: Special Topics
FREN 430 - Women Writers of the Francophone World
LIT 207 - (CL,D,W) Literature of American Minorities
LIT 220E/220F - (EPW,D,CL) Fairytales
LIT 221E/221F - (EPW,CL,D) Italian Women’s Writing  (T)
LIT 323E/323F - (EPW,D) Topics in French and Francophone Cinema
LIT 325E/325F - (W) Gender in Italian Cinema
SPAN 430 - (CL,D) Hispanic Women Writers

3. Electives (15 credits)

All Women’s & Gender Studies (WGS) designated courses including additional area and praxis courses beyond those required count as electives.  Students must complete 5 elective courses. Students wishing to specialize or concentrate in a particular area (e.g., humanities or social/behavioral sciences) may focus the remainder of their WGS courses in a given area or discipline. Students are strongly encouraged to complete a community-based internship related to their work in Women’s and Gender Studies and/or volunteer or work at the Jane Kopas Women’s Center (JKWC).

Listed courses:

CHS 337 - (W, D) Counseling Girls and Women
NURS 111 - (D) Women’s Health
PHIL 326 - (P,D) Advanced Topics in Feminist Philosophy  (T)
PHIL 331 - (P) Feminist Philosophy of Science  (T)
WOMN 380-381 - Women’s Studies Internship

4. Theory intensive courses

Of the 10 courses necessary for completion of the major, students must take at least one theory intensive course beyond the foundational/praxis courses. Any approved area or elective Women’s and Gender Studies course may be flagged as theory-intensive, if it fits the WGS criteria and has been approved for such designation by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program Steering Committee. Such courses are designated in the list of WGS courses by a (T).

Listed courses:

ENLT 260 - (CL,D, EPW,W) Women of Color: Literature & Theory  (T)
GERM 320E/320F - (W,D) Sex in the City: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Germany  (T)
LIT 221E/221F - (EPW,CL,D) Italian Women’s Writing  (T)
LA/WS 395 - (S,D) Women and Development in Latin America  (T)
PHIL 326 - (P,D) Advanced Topics in Feminist Philosophy  (T)
PHIL 331 - (P) Feminist Philosophy of Science  (T)

Women’s and Gender Studies Curriculum

	Department and Number - Description Title of Course	Fall Cr.	Spr. Cr.
First Year
MAJOR	WOMN 215 - (D) Feminism and Social Change /SOC 315 - (D) Feminism and Social Change – WOMN Elective	3	3
COGNATE	Cognate Elective		3
GE WRTG/SPCH	WRTG 107 - (FYW) Composition – COMM 100 - (FYOC) Public Speaking ^*	3	3
GE C/IL	C/IL 102/102L - (FYDT) Computing and Information Literacy ^*	3
GE HUMN/GE S	ENLT 140 - (CL) English Inquiry /S or Q	3	3
GE PHIL-T/RS	PHIL 120 - Introduction to Philosophy – PHIL 210 - Ethics	3	3
GE FSEM	First Year Seminar ¹
		15	15
Second Year
MAJOR	PHIL 218 - (P,D) Feminism: Theory and Practice or PHIL 231 - (P,D) Philosophy of Women	3
GE NSCI	NSCI Elective		3
MAJOR	WOMN Electives (AREA A and B)	3	3
GE HUMN-S/BH	GE Electives	3	3
GE PHIL -T/RS	T/RS 121 - Theology I: Introduction to the Bible – T/RS 122 - Theology II: Introduction to Christian Theology	3	3
GE QUAN -S/BH	QUANT-S/BH Electives	3	3
		15	15
Third Year
MAJOR	WOMN ELECT AREA C – WOMN ELECT	3	3
MAJOR	WOMN ELECT – Theory Intensive	3	3
COGNATE	COGNATE ELECT – GOVT/Public Policy Elective	3	3
GE ELECT	Electives	3	3
GE ELECT	Electives	3
GE ELECT	Electives	3	6
		18	18
Fourth Year
MAJOR	MAJOR Electives	3
MAJOR	WOMN 380-381 - Women’s Studies Internship		3
COGNATE	COGNATE Electives	3	6
COGNATE	HUMN-S/BH Electives	3	3
GE ELECT	Electives	6	3
		15	15
Total: 126 Credits

¹The selection of a First Year Seminar is likely to fulfill requirements both for the First Year Seminar and a General Education Requirement. Thus, the First Year Seminar will not add to the total credits for the semester. Talk with your advisor if you have any questions.

*An approved 3-credit EP Foundation Course may be substituted for COMM 100 and C/IL 102/102L -C/IL 104 . In this case, the total needed for graduation in this major may be reduced. Consult with your advisor if you have questions.

Women’s and Gender Studies, BA

Major Requirements

1. Foundational/Praxis courses (6 credits minimum)

2. At least 1 course (3 credits) must be taken in each of the three areas listed below (9 credits minimum)

3. Electives (15 credits)

4. Theory intensive courses

Women’s and Gender Studies Curriculum

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

Total: 126 Credits