Academics
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01:988:397 Freud and Feminism I--Sexuality (3)
Introduces Freudian concepts, methods and terminology, and the corresponding issues and debates in feminist theory.
01:988:396 Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (3)
Selected topics in women's and gender studies. Topics vary each semester. Consult department.
01:988:395 Race, Gender, Media, and the Law (3)
Considers relationship between gender, law, and race in contemporary popular and political culture. Addresses impact of rise in televised court cases on perceptions of legal system and in stimulating public debates about justice. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 235 or 201 or 202.
01:988:394 Black Women in the United States (3)
Examines cultural stereotypes; political, economic, and social challenges confronting black women in the United States; and strategies of resistance developed by black women. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 235 or by permission.
01:988:392 Thinking Bodies (3)
Examines work of theorists questioning the subordination of body to mind in modern Western thought.
01:988:387 Feminism, Signs, and Representation (3)
Introduces major theories in contemporary critical theory including structuralism, recent critiques of structuralism. Focuses on the models and criteria to analyze cultural and social life.
01:988:372 Contemporary Feminist Activism (3)
Autonomous women's movements in the 20th and 21st centuries. Select case studies illustrate themes of gender and collective action.
01:988:371 Making Change (3)
In-depth analysis of different ways women have organized for change. Focus on three or four case studies using cross-cultural perspectives to illustrate various themes of gender and collective action by women.
01:988:370 Critical Feminist Investigation (3)
Introduces modes of knowledge production, research methods, and strategies for interdisciplinary feminist scholarship. Required for students pursuing honors in women's and gender studies. Prerequisite: 01:988:101 or 235 or 201 or 301 or 302.
01:988:369 Feminism, Space, and Visuality (3)
Examines how space and vision have been associated with historically developed concepts of femininity and masculinity.
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.