Gender Studies
Interdisciplinary Minor
The Gender Studies minor offers students the opportunity to concentrate on the ways gender is analyzed in a variety of fields in the social sciences and the humanities. This interdisciplinary minor consists of six courses. One course, Gender (GEN 213/SOC 213) or Sex, Gender, and Culture (GEN 215/ANT 215), is required. Five more courses may be taken as electives from regular or special topics offerings in a number of departments: Drama; English; Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; History; Philosophy and Religion; Political Science; and Sociology and Anthropology. Courses regularly offered that apply toward the Gender Studies minor include The Family (GEN 212/SOC 212), Women and Politics (GEN 321/POL 321), Philosophy of Gender (GEN 400/PHL 400), Women in Sport and Society (GEN 399), and Women's Literature (GEN 317/ENG 317). Other courses that are not cross-listed as Gender Studies may be applied to the Gender Studies minor in the case of individual students who fulfill specific requirements in that course with the approval of the instructor. Students planning to complete the Gender Studies minor should consult with the program director on their course selection.
Course Descriptions
212. The Family
Study of the family as a social institution. Comparative family systems, history of the family, and theory and research dealing with courtship, marriage, and disorganization in the modern family. Prerequisite: Sociology 101 or Psychology 202.
213. Gender
Gender as a social construction. Sex and gender. Effects of gender on individuals' statuses and opportunity structures. Focus on contemporary American responses to sex and gender. Gender roles and definitions earlier in U.S. history; in other societies. Prerequisite: Sociology 101 or Psychology 202.
215. Sex, Gender, and Culture
The study of the biological differences of sex in relationship to the cultural construction of gender. The importance of modes of production and ideology in forming gender concepts for all human societies. Cross-cultural issues of gender identity, roles, relationships, and equality or inequality. Prerequisite: Anthropology 105 or permission of the instructor.
194, 294, 394, 494. Special Topics in Gender Studies
Contents vary.
GEN 194. Intro to Women's Studies
This course serves as an introduction to the cross-disciplinary field of Women's Studies. We will explore issues relevant to women from a variety of fields, including history, politics, law, media and communication, sexuality, literature, and economics. We will also study the concepts of gender and sex from psychological, anthropological, and sociological perspectives. The class will focus mainly on the lives of women in the United States, but will pay particular attention to diversity—ethnic, racial and class—within our nation.
317. Women's Literature
A study of women writers with an emphasis on nineteenth- and twentieth-century works. Essays, fiction, poetry and drama.
321. Women and Politics
This course examines the role of women as voters, citizens, candidates, and leaders in American politics, grounded in theories of gender. Attention will also be given to the history of the women's movement and the current status of women's organizations. The course also focuses on how various public policies, including workplace issues, family issues, education issues and reproductive rights, affect women and their legal rights.
343. History of American Women
Examines the private lives and public roles of women throughout American history, from colonial settlement to the present. Social attitudes and laws and policies affecting women will be studied, as well as women's daily lives, experiences, and accomplishments. Attention will be given to women of different races, classes, and ethnic backgrounds. Topics include women's right to vote; involvement in reform movements; family life; education; birth control and abortion; and economic activities. Prerequisite: One year of introductory history required.
348. Gender in Western Civilization to 1600
A survey of the differing social roles, legal status, and day-to-day lives of women and men in Mediterranean and European societies from the earliest Near Eastern civilizations through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Prerequisite: One year of introductory history or permission of the instructor.
355. Women in Medieval Europe
A seminar exploring the lives of women and their role in society from the fifth through the fifteenth centuries. Topics include legal status, economic activity, marriage and family, and women in religion. Readings include both traditional and feminist-influenced secondary works, medieval works about and for women, and the writings of medieval women themselves. Discussion is a major component of the course. Prerequisite: One year of introductory history or permission of the instructor.
399. Gender Studies Seminar
A special topics course that offers opportunities for courses on gender that are trans-disciplinary in nature or are co-taught. Examples are Gender and Multi-culturalism, and Women in Sport and Society: 1850-present.
ART 425. Women Artists and Feminist Art History (Honors)
In recent decades, growing scholarly attention has been brought to the previously neglected productions of female artists. This seminar will examine the variety of approaches that feminist art historians have taken in studying art made by women in the modern period. We will be concerned both with the historical analysis of the visual productions of particular female artists and with an exploration of how feminist theories, practices, and political commitments have affected, and can continue to change, the discursive and institutional construction of the history—or histories—of art and visual culture. Prerequisite: Art 200 or permission of instructor.