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 Women's Studies : Requirements

Requirements for The Concentration in Women's Studies
Number of Units
Six units are required.

Required Courses
WMST 101 Introduction to Women s Studies
WMST 490 Women s Studies Seminar

Three to four core courses chosen from the following:

  • ANSO 260 Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective
  • CHIN 325 Literature of Contemporary Chinese Women Writers
  • CLAS 230 Women in Classical Antiquity (formerly "Sex, Gender and Society in Classical Antiquity")
  • ENGL 225 Literature of Women: The Historical Tradition
  • ENGL 226 Literature of Women: Modern Voices
  • ENGL 260 Women and Film
  • HIST 220 American Women s History to 1870
  • HIST 221 American Women s History Since 1870
  • POLS 255 Women and Social Movements
  • POLS 265 Feminism and Political Theory
  • POLS 310 Women and the Western State
  • PSYC 270 Feminist Psychology of Women
  • RELG 260 Women and Religion
  • WMST 140 Women and Science

    Related Courses
    If concentrators are unable to take four core courses, they may take a related course as their fourth course. These are courses that include a significant women s studies component or the opportunity to do a significant women s studies paper or project, as determined by the program director in consultation with the student and the instructor. The list of appropriate related courses changes annually, so concentrators should consult with the director. The following are regular offerings strongly suggested for concentrators:
    ANSO 220 The Family
    ENGL 260 Women and Film
    HIST 281 Family, Women and Marriage in Chinese History

    Concentrators are encouraged to take as many core courses as possible. These courses are designed to introduce students to fundamental concepts and issues in women s studies through the lens of disciplines representing the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. Through this core, students should begin to see parallels between disciplines, to develop a basic vocabulary in the field of women s studies, and to become familiar with major works, thinkers, and directions in the field.

    WMST 490, the required capstone seminar, should be taken in the spring of the junior or senior year. This course assumes knowledge of the material in the core courses and affords the chance to bring together core course work, experiential education in women s studies, and individual interests.

    Courses taken overseas and at other U.S. colleges may meet concentration requirements with the approval of the director.

    Senior Individualized Project (SIP)
    The SIP in women s studies is encouraged but not required. Any faculty member regularly teaching in the women s studies program may direct a SIP in women s studies.

    Experiential Education and Off-Campus Programs
    Women's studies, as a field, strives to unite the academic and the experiential, so concentrators are strongly encouraged to integrate their academic work in women's studies with their experiences outside the classroom, on and off campus. Internships directly related to women s studies are many and varied: domestic and sexual assault programs, women s health agencies, feminist activist organizations, research libraries on women, etc. The study abroad experience is an invaluable opportunity to study women s lives in a crosscultural context. Concentrators are encouraged to take every opportunity before departure to educate themselves about the history, culture, and position of women in the country where they will study and to explore, through the individualized cultural research project (ICRP), the experience of women and the dynamics of gender while they are abroad.