Undergraduate

Women’s and Gender Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a cross-disciplinary program in which students may elect a minor or a major. Students majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies will receive a bachelor of arts. Women’s and Gender Studies provides an opportunity for students to examine gender roles and status in social and cultural contexts and to investigate a variety of disciplines from feminist perspectives.

What is WGS?

Women’s and Gender Studies creates an understanding that interrelated factors (e.g. race, ethnicity, class, age, disability, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation) inform knowledge of women’s history, culture, and social and gender roles.

Women’s and Gender Studies:

  • seeks to improve critical thinking and to provide students with the intellectual means to question prevailing assumptions
  • encourages students to explore the contexts and ideological origins of knowledge and to examine the relationship between knowledge and power in society
  • promotes social responsibility by examining the connections between personal experience and political activity
  • validates student contributions and voices.

WGS at ISU

Women’s and Gender Studies graduates are skilled in critical thinking, research methods, and effective communication. Because they have developed a thorough understanding of gender, race, and class, they can understand and work effectively with employers, colleagues, and clients to analyze and address complex social problems. Women’s and Gender Studies graduates acquire strong backgrounds for careers in such areas as counseling, education, human resources, public policy, politics, business, or law. The program includes core courses in Women’s and Gender Studies and cross-listed courses in anthropology, art history, classical studies, economics, English, history, health and human performance, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, speech communication, and world languages and cultures. An undergraduate major requires 33 credits of core and cross-listed courses.

Read about Sarah’s experience as a WGS major!

Degree Requirements, Catalog Information for WGS