Minor in Women’s and Gender Studies

  • Women’s and Gender Studies minor is designed to increase the students’ interdisciplinary knowledge about the gendered nature of women’s experiences and the ways that gender, sexuality and other identities shape and are shaped by history, culture, and society in today’s challenging, diverse, and complex world. 

    How to Become a Minor

    Steps for Declaring a Minor:

    1. The student completes an academic minor application and return to 103 Stabley.

    2. The academic department reviews the application.

    3. Once the department approves the application, the department forwards the application to the Registrar’s Office to note the minor on the student’s transcript record.

    Women’s and Gender Studies Minor Requirements

    Application for a Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

    Rich Variety of Classes

    In order to achieve this goal, there is a rich variety of courses in the interdisciplinary field of women’s and gender studies. The courses use a variety of theories, methodologies, and disciplinary perspectives in areas such as anthropology, art, communication media, criminology, dance, English, history, journalism, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology, and writing.

    These perspectives are used to challenge the gendered hierarchies, to explore the impact of gender on the experiences of women’s contribution to multiple fields and society, to celebrate women-centered and gender-centered knowledge production and learning, and to nurture all individuals’ pursuit of freedom, independence, and empowerment.

    Analyze How Gender and Other Differences Relate

    Additionally, the program emphasizes and encourages the critical and historical intersections between gender and other dimensions of difference, such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, national origin, culture, age, ability, size, and others. Students are encouraged to challenge the traditional theories and research regarding women and gender studies, and to develop critical, multidisciplinary, intersectional, global, multicultural, and gendered views of the world.

    Re-envision the World, Raise Awareness

    Courses typically involve the students through innovative, experimental classroom experiences and writing assignments. Courses in Women’s and Gender Studies address social equity issues and encourage students to not only analyze the world, but also to imagine and re-envision it to enact change in both theory and practice, in classroom learning, and in social transformation.

    A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies strengthens and supplements very well any major or future career as students become skillful, knowledgeable, self-reflective, fair-minded, and respectful professionals. Students become critical and aware of all forms of gendered, sexualized, classed, or racialized hierarchy and injustice in one’s field, in the work place, and in society. Such knowledge and advocacy can make students assets in any position in any field to make the prospective employers be more sensitive to these diversity an equity issues and to be respectful to all individuals.

    Career Opportunities

    The career opportunities for WGS minor students’ job placement and professional advancement are multiple. Minors with such WGS perspectives, especially those who have excelled in rigorous and theoretically oriented classes, become very competitive in graduate schools in all disciplines. WGS minors may also be successfully employed in the follow positions: business account analyst, educator, counselor, employees in nonprofit organizations, staff of advocacy in women’s shelters, personnel specialist, affirmative action officer, crisis intervention specialist, family and youth service provider, legal advocate, and so forth.

    A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies can contribute to success in many fields, including communication, teaching, counseling, business, criminology, social work, art education, English education, education health, journalism, law, politics, psychology, applied sociology, and many more.