Academics
Insert general "Academics" content here.
01:988:497-498 Honors Research in Women's and Gender Studies (3,3)
Individual research project to be written as honors thesis. Open only to seniors who are candidates for honors in women's and gender studies. Permission of undergraduate director required. Both semesters required.
01:988:493,494 Independent Study (3,3)
Independent study project under the guidance of a faculty supervisor. Permission of associate director required.
01:988:492 Seminar: Special Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (3)
Selected interdisciplinary topics in women's and gender studies. Past topics included sexuality, popular culture, women and religion, and women and the arts. Prerequisite: 01:988:301 or 302 or 303 or by permission of instructor.
01:988:491 Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies (3)
Advanced course on a selected topic in women's and gender studies. Paper is required. Pre-requisite: 01:988:301 or 302 or 303 or by permission of instructor.
01:988:490 Seminar: Women and Contemporary Issues (3)
Intensive reading and discussion; designed for graduating seniors. Topic changes annually. Pre-requisite: 01:988:301 or 302 or 303 or by permission of instructor.
01:988:487 Language of Women's Health and Health Policy (3)
Examines the creation of narratives of women's health and health policy; through visits from health care experts, considers the impact of these narratives on practice. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 201 or 202 or 235 or permission of instructor.
01:988:486 Gender, Development, Environment: Policies, Politics, Perspectives (3)
Using ethnography and gender as a category of analysis examines the experiences and implications of transnational development and environmental policies in specific localities. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 201 or 202 or 235 or permission of instructor.
01:988:485 Motherhood: Nature and Culture, Policy, and Politics (3)
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Investigates how motherhood is shaped by intentional public policies and social, economic, political, and cultural forces in the United States and globally. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 201 or 202 or 235 or permission of instructor.
01:988:482 Feminism, Policy, and the Poor (3)
Explores the contributions of feminist analysis, advocacy, and policymaking to antipoverty policy and social justice politics. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 201 or 202 or 235 or permission of instructor.
01:988:481 Feminism and Visual Culture (3)
Examines the history of cultural contexts of visual narratives that address gender and sexuality and their influence on cultural policies. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 201 or 202 or 235 or permission of instructor.
Undergraduate Program
Undergraduate Director:Dr. Yana Rodgers
Sr. Department Administrator: Monique Gregory
The Women's & Gender Studies undergraduate program, founded in the early seventies, is one of the oldest in the nation. Currently, the program has over 200 majors and minors and serves over 1900 students annually in a wide array of core and cross-listed courses. The major, approved in 1984, introduces students to significant issues and debates in feminist scholarship, theory, and activism.
“Women’s & Gender Studies seek to enrich traditional disciplinary approaches not simply by including women but by transforming the categories, through which knowledge is produced and disseminated.”
All courses are interdisciplinary and each considers the complex dynamics among race, ethnicity, locality, class, gender, and sexuality. The readings and discussions in each class represent a wide variety of women's perspectives concerning issues such as: the conceptualization of difference, the production and recreation of femininity and masculinity, language and gender, the division of labor, women and poverty, sexual violence, reproductive rights, gay and lesbian theory, gender and popular theory, and contemporary feminist politics. Ultimately, we strive to ground both research and theory in the everyday realities of feminist activism around the globe. Women’s & Gender Studies program faculty, students and staff are active members and leaders of academic and community women’s organizations.
The WGS alumnae pursue their professional career in various fields. One-fifth of our graduates continue their education in graduate programs in different fields (political science, English, law) around the country. Many alumnae also engage in work in the area of health and pharmacy (about one fourth). Others choose law (one-fifth of the alumnae), education (one fourth) media or computer studies. Many WGS graduates continue their activist work in non-governmental organizations that engage with women and work, international politics and women’s leadership.
Graduate Program
The Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers the Ph.D., the M.A. , and a Graduate Certificate Program. The graduate program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is the joint enterprise of a diverse Graduate Faculty comprising more than 100 scholars. Our students benefit from the rich resources of the larger feminist community at Rutgers which includes 27 Ph.D. students, 21 M.A. students, and over 100 Ph.D. students in other departments who are pursuing certificates in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In addition, the many Rutgers institutes and centers devoted to feminist research -- the Institute for Women's Leadership, the Center for American Women and Politics, the Center for Women's Global Leadership, the Center for Women and Work and the Institute for Research on Women -- enrich the opportunities for our students to gain practical skills and to broaden their knowledge of feminist research and politics.