The Gender Studies minor is designed to examine the ways that gender as a complex social construction intersects with class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and sexual identity; to examine the lives and experiences of groups that have been underrepresented in traditional academic work; and to acquaint students with the fundamental methodologies of women’s and gender studies. As a student, you will:
  • Learn to place gender at the center of scholarly analysis.
  • Study how gender fundamentally shapes our history and culture, in ways we often overlook.
  • Highlight gender as a driving force in social life for both women and men.
What is Gender Studies?+
The goals of the Gender Studies program are:
  • To examine gender as a system of ideas defining masculinity and femininity, delineating differences between the sexes, and regulating expressions of sexuality.
  • To provide a rich understanding of gender as a social construction that intersects with class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and sexual identity.
  • To integrate insights about gender from the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, and the arts, and to use gender as a way to interrogate the boundaries between these existing bodies of knowledge.
  • To examine the lives and experiences of groups which have been underrepresented in traditional academic work — e.g., women, ethnic and religious minorities, gays and lesbians, the poor and working class.
  • To acquaint students with the fundamental methodologies of women’s and gender studies.
How Can Gender Studies Benefit Me? +
A minor in Gender Studies can… Fuel your intellectual growth and curiosity:
  • Encounter ideologies that have been used to explain women’s and men’s natures, roles, and societal functions
  • Be exposed to new scholarship, to feminist theory, and to critiques of feminism
  • Let your coursework in Gender Studies revise and redefine scholarship in the traditional academic disciplines
Help further your career goals:
  • Receive useful preparation for training in the professions: education, law, health sciences, social work, policy studies, or management
  • Enhance your opportunities to pursue postgraduate training in the social sciences and the humanities
  • Be well-prepared for employment in management, human resources, public service and sales
Foster your personal growth:
  • Encounter a rich and flexible liberal arts education which integrates knowledge across traditional academic boundaries
  • Enhance your awareness of the subliminal messages you receive about gender in the media, in everyday conversation, in your personal relationships, and in social and educational institutions

Minor Requirements

The Gender Studies minor is 18 semester credit hours, at least 12 of which are upper-level. It consists of:

Required Foundation Courses (6 hours)

GST 2300/SOC 2300* Introduction to Gender Studies

GST 3302/HIST 3302 Gender in Western Thought (Fall semester only)

Electives (12 hours)

Twelve additional credits from at least two of the distribution areas below. As a student you may petition to count selected courses with significant gender-related content, if you commit to writing papers or completing final projects about gender-related topics. Only one course can be petitioned towards the minor; up to two courses can be petitioned for an IS concentration.
 

Gender and Cultural Production
AMS 2300* American Popular Culture (HN sections only)
AMS 2341* American Studies for the 21st Century (HN sections only)
AMS/GST 4360 Gender and Alcohol in America
ATCM 3321 Networked Identities
ATCM 4322 Disability, Technology and Media
ATCM 4323 Feminism, Technology and Media
ATCM 4325 Race, Technology and Media

Gender, Individuals, and Families
GST 3301/PSY 3324 Psychology of Gender
GST 4325/ AMS 4324 Motherhood and the Technological Womb
ISIS 3310 Childhood Sexual Abuse
PSY/CLDP 3338 Adolescence
PSY 4324 Psychology of Prejudice
PSY/CLDP 4345 Violence in the Family
PSY 4346 Human Sexuality
PSY/CLDP 4347 Marriage and Family Psychology

Gender, Society, and Politics
CRIM 3324 Gender, Crime, and Justice
GST 3303 Gender, Society and Politics
GST 4325/AMS 4324 Motherhood and the Technological Womb
HLTH 3306 Gender in Healthcare
HLTH 3310 Health Care Issues: Global Perspectives
ISIS 3312 Women in Management
ISIS 4350 International Development: Cultural Impacts
PA/SOC 3379 Diversity in the Public Sector
PPOL 4314 Family Violence and Public Policy
PSCI 3353 Law and Gender
PSCI 4357 Human Rights
PSCI 4364 Civil Rights Law and Society
PSCI 4377 Women and Politics
SOC 3343 Sociology of the Family
SOC 3352 Sex, Gender, and Society
SOC 4375 Gender and Work

Gender, Theory, and History
HIST 2384* U.S. Women from Settlement to Present
HIST 3324 Women in Modern European Society
HIST 4360 Topics in American Women’s History
HIST 4379 Topics in Women’s / Gender History

Independent Study/ Special Topics/ Honors
BIS 4V04 Internship
GST 4379 Special Topics in Gender Studies
GST 4381 Senior Honors Research
GST 4382 Senior Honors in Gender Studies
GST 4V80 Independent Study
* Lower division - can only count 6 credits toward minor

Gender Studies Course List

You don't have to be an Interdisciplinary Studies student to take gender-related courses; you can incorporate them into your current degree plan with the approval of your academic advisor.

View the entire Gender Studies course list Fall '21 Gender-Related Courses, or contact Interdisciplinary Studies for a list of Fall 2021 courses. Note: Some courses may require prerequisite or preparatory courses before you can register.