Curriculum Overview

Women's and Gender Studies

Feminist theory and practice are transforming the world. This program seeks to understand these ongoing changes through a broad interdisciplinary framework. Taken together, the courses in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program offer a gendered perspective on the diversity of human and particularly women’s, experiences in historical, global and cross-cultural contexts. Attention is paid throughout to the interconnections between gender and other social institutions, such as class, ethnicity, nationality, race and sexual orientation.

A major in Women’s and Gender Studies may be arranged through the Special Studies Program described in the front of this catalog or as a Joint Major. For a joint major, see the chairperson of Women’s and Gender Studies for advice in designing a program of study and choosing an adviser. A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies consists of six courses, chosen in consultation with the chairperson: four courses in Women’s and Gender Studies chosen from at least two different divisions (humanities, natural sciences and social sciences); WGS 210; and an advanced seminar or an independent study.

Joint majors and minors in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program have studied abroad in the following programs in recent years: Advanced Studies in England Program in Bath, England; Butler University (IFSA) National University of Ireland in Galway; School for International Training in the Netherlands; Butler University Program at Flinders University in Australia; IES in Freiburg, Germany. See the International Programs section of the Catalog for further information.