Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

What Is Women’s and Gender Studies? 

Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program that explores the intersections of gender, race, class, religion, sexuality and other identities with social structures of inequality on the lives of women. The program provides students with the tools to systematically and critically analyze identity, power and privilege. It is concerned with the global experiences of all women, with an emphasis on women of the African Diaspora. Women’s and Gender Studies provides a broad liberal arts education, developing students’ critical thinking and writing skills. The program includes a variety of disciplinary perspectives and different modalities of learning and is both flexible and dynamic to meet each student’s goals.

What Can You Do with a Minor in Women’s and Gender Studies?

A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies prepares students for graduate school as well as work in public policy, social justice, social service, non-profit, private and government organizations. A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies prepares students to:

• Interrogate and challenge inequalities
• Be advocates for social justice
• Be culturally competent, transformative leaders in local, national and global contexts

1. Identify the major themes of womanist and feminist thought and apply those themes to other academic disciplines
2. Analyze the ways in which the intersections of the construction of gender, race, class, sexuality and other identities shape women’s lives, relations and conditions in theory and lived experiences
3. Demonstrate both personal and intellectual development by describing how the intersection of a student’s personal identities, history and experiences shape their own perceptions, worldview and relations
4. Articulate one's own vision of the relationship between academic work and its impact on political change and social justice as local and global citizens, and leaders of the world
5. Demonstrate the ability to design and complete a research project that analyzes a theme, issue or problem related to women’s and gender studies

To complete a minor, students must do the following:

1. Complete all of the following courses (6 credit hours):
   1. Introduction to Women’s Studies (recommended as the first course)
   2. One theory course (HIST 3523 is suggested)
2. Complete any four of the following courses (12 credit hours):
   • ENG 3505: Women’s Literature
   • HEDU 4310: Women’s Health
   • HIST 2080: Problems in the History of Women to 1750
   • HIST 2081: Problems in the History of Women since 1750
   • HIST 3072: Women in the African Diaspora
   • HIST 3522: The Black Female Body in American Culture
   • HIST 3523: Black Feminist Thought and Feminist Thought
   • HIST 3524: Black Women and Activism
   • HIST 3525: Black Women and Slavery
   • HIST 3527: Black Women in the 20th Century
   • MSCM 2470: Diversity in the Media
   • MSCM 2450: Women in Communication
   • MSCM 3430: Media Images of African American Women
   • MSCM 3500: Film Criticism/Black Women in Film
   • POLS 4880: The Politics of Race, Class and Gender in Presidential Elections
   • POLS 4860: Beauty Gender Patriarchy
   • WGST 3660: Special Topics in Women and Gender Studies

 View the Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty

Advisors

Make an appointment with the WGST coordinator, Shauntae White, to declare your minor.

Declare Your Minor Today

Program Coordinator