Women's Studies Program

G. G. Weix (Associate Professor, Anthropology), Director

Women's Studies, as an interdisciplinary academic discipline, focuses on women's experience in the analysis of human culture, examines the contributions and status of women, and explores the dynamics of sex roles and gender ideals past and present. The curriculum provides options for studying women's cultural, historical, and contemporary lives through a range of courses crosslisted with other departments, such as anthropology, communication studies, English, foreign languages and literatures, history, Native American studies, philosophy, psychology, sociology and others. Women's Studies explores topics such as the experience of women and gender relations in various periods of history and cultures; women and artistic expressions; the impact of race, ethnicity, class, age, and sexual orientation on women's lives; sex roles and differences in political, economic, legal, and social status; and biological, sociological and psychological influences on women and gender.

The program is administered by the director in consultation with the Women's Studies Steering Committee, an interdisciplinary group of faculty with teaching and research interests in women. Students may choose an option in Women's Studies within the Liberal Studies major (see Liberal Studies) or may elect to complete the Women and Gender Studies minor. To be admitted to either program, students register with the Women's Studies advisor, who will explain option or minor requirements and supervise their program.

Special Degree Requirements

For the Women's Studies option under the Liberal Studies major, the following requirements must be met (not necessarily in sequence):

1) Completion of Liberal Studies core curriculum. (See the Liberal Studies section of this catalog.)

2) Completion of WS 119H.

3) A minimum of 32 credits of course work in relevant, advisor-approved courses numbered above 299. At least 18 of those credits must be from Group I, "focus" courses; the other 14 credits may be from Group II, "significant content" courses. Each semester a list of cognate "focus" and "content" courses is published at pre-registration by the Women's Studies program office, LA 138A, 243-2584. Typical choices are listed below, but may vary from year to year.

Group I: Focus Courses

ANTH 327 Anthropology of Gender

ART 480H Women Artists and Art History

COMM 380 Gender and Communication

COMM 455 Feminist Rhetoric

ENLT 321-324* Women's Literature

ENLT 422* Theoretical Approaches to Women's Literature

ENLT 430*/LS 455* Studies in Comparative Women's Literature

HIST/LS 370H Women in America: to the Civil War

HIST/LS 371H Women in America: Civil War to the Present

HIST 388H Women and Ethnic Minorities in the Middle East

HIST 470 Women and Slavery

HIST 471 Sosuthern Women in Black and White

HIST 420L* History through Women's Literature

HIST 495* Special Topics: Women in History

LS/FLLG 320 Women in Antiquity

LS 461*/ENLT 421* Feminist Critical Theory

LS 381* Women and Film

MGMT 495* Women in Business

NAS 342H Native American Women

PHIL 429E Feminist Ethics

PHIL/EVST 504* Ecofeminism

PSC 395* Women's Human Rights: International and Comparative Perspectives

PSYC 355 Psychology of Sex Roles

RELS 370* Mysticism: Women Mystics

SW 323 Women and Social Action in the Americas

SW 324 Gender and the Politics of Welfare

SW 395* Domestic Violence

SOC 300 Sociology of the Family

SOC 421 Issues in Sociology of Family

SOC 475 Gender, Economy and Social Change

SOC 495* Feminist Theory

Group II: Content Courses

AAS 325 Sexism and Racism

AAS 326 Violence and Nonviolence in Human Relationships

AAS 327 African American Family

ANTH 330H Peoples and Cultures of the World

ANTH 340H Cultures of Asia

ANTH 342 Economic Anthropology

ANTH 430 Social Anthropology

ANTH 480E Ethics and Anthropology

DAN 334 20th Century Dance

ENLT 301* Applied Literary Criticism

ENLT 321-324* Literature (with content on women)

ENLT/NAS 329 Native American Literature

ENLT 395* Gay and Lesbian Literature

FLLG 302H/HIST 302H Classical Greece II: Individual, Family and Civic Life in Ancient Greece

FREN 311L French Literature: Medieval, Renaissance, and 17th Century

GERM 441 19th Century German Literature

HIST 300* The Historian's Craft

HIST 350* Human Rights

HIST 351* Colonial America

HIST 361 The American South: From Slavery to Civil Rights

HIST 384 Work, Workers, and the Working Classes in America

HIST 387 Iran Between Two Revolutions

HIST 394 Modernity and Identity in Latin America

HIST 395* Families in Early America

HIST 485 Piety and Power in Latin America and Imperial Spain

HHP 370 Introduction to Peer Health Education

LS 395* Lesbian and Gay Studies

LS 461/ENLT 421* 20th Century Critical Theory

PHIL 477 Philosophy of Society and Culture

PHIL 502* Philosophy of Law

PSC 343 Politics of Social Movements

PSC 463S Development Administration

PSC 472 Constitutional Law II: Civil Rights and Liberties

PSYC 385 Psychology of Family Violence

RELS 336* Medieval Christian Thought

SW 420S Child Abuse and Child Welfare

SW 395* Celebrating Spiritual Diversity

SW 410E Ethics and the Helping Professions

SOC 322 Sociology of Poverty

SOC 370S Social Change and Global Development

SOC/FOR 424 Social Forestry

SOC 470 Society and Environment

*These are generic courses. The specific course focus must be on women, as listed here. Check with the Women's Studies director before enrolling.

Other courses not listed here may be applied toward the option or the minor if approved by the Women's Studies director.

Requirements for a Minor

The Women and Gender Studies minor is available to all students. It consists of 18 credits including WS 119H, WS 275S, three 300-level or 400-level courses outside of the student's major that are cross-listed with other departments as Women's Studies option courses (one must be a writing course), and the capstone seminar WS 494.

Courses

U=for undergraduate credit only, UG=for undergraduate or graduate credit, G=for graduate credit. R after the credit indicates the course may be repeated for credit to the maximum indicated after the R.

U 119H Philosophical Perspectives on Women in the Western Hemisphere 3 cr. Offered autumn. Same as LS and PHIL 119H. Introduction to the discipline and scope of Western philosophy focusing on women as the subject rather than men. A chronological study following the ideological development in the West of social attitudes and scientific theses.

U 275S Gender and Society 3 cr. Offered autumn. Same as SOC 275S. Exploration of the social construction of gender, especially in western, post-industrial societies such as the U.S. How gender ideologies affect the social definition and position of men and women in work, family, sexual relationship, sexual divisions of labor, and social movements.

U 396 Independent Study Variable cr. (R-12) Offered intermittently.

U 397 Research Variable cr. (R-6) Offered intermittently.

U 398 Cooperative education Experience Variable cr. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of director. Extended classroom experience which provides practical application of classroom learning during placements off campus. Prior approval must be obtained from the faculty supervisor and the Cooperative Education Office.

U 493 Omnibus Variable cr. (R-6) Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of instr. Independent work under University omnibus option. See index.

U 494 Seminar in Women and Gender Studies 3 cr. Offered every term. Prereq., WS 119H, WS 275S, or consent of instr. Capstone course for the Women and Gender Studies minor.

U 495 Special Topics 1-6 cr. (R-6) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

U 496 Independent Study Variable cr. (R-9) Offered intermittently.

U 497 Research Variable cr. (R-6) Offered intermittently.

Women's Studies Steering Committee/Faculty

Professors

Betsy Bach, Ph.D., University of Washington, 1985 (Communication Studies)

Mary Birch, M.S.W., Columbia University, 1966 (Social Work)

Bari Burke, J.D., University of California, Davis, 1979 (Law)

Juliette Crump, M.A., George Washington University, 1975 (Dance)

Maureen Curnow, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1975 (French)

Deni Elliott, Ed.D., Harvard University, 1984 (Philosophy)

Kay Unger, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1974 (Economics)

Katherine Weist, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1970 (Anthropology)

Lois Welch, Ph.D., Occidental College, 1966 (English)

Associate Professors

Elizabeth Ametsbichler, Ph.D., University of Maryland at College Park, 1992 (German)

Jill Belsky, Ph.D., Cornell University, 1991 (Sociology)

Ione Crummy, Ph.D., Stanford University, 1992 (French)

Janet Finn, Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1995 (Social Work)

Christine Fiore, Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, 1990 (Psychology)

Linda Rutland Gillison, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1975 (Classics and Liberal Studies)

Sara Hayden, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1993 (Communication Studies)

Deborah Slicer, Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1989 (Philosophy)

Rita Sommers-Flanagan, Ph.D., The University of Montana, 1989 (Educational Leadership)

Ruth Vanita, Ph.D., Delhi University, 1992 (Liberal Studies)

G.G. Weix, Ph.D., Cornell University, 1990 (Anthropology)

Assistant Professors

Barbara Andrew, Ph.D. State University of New York at Stonybrook, 1997 (Liberal Studies/Philosophy)

Irene Appelbaum, Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1995 (Philosophy)

Hiltrudis Arens, Ph.D., University of Maryland, 1997 (German, Visiting)

Patricia Garrido Camacho, Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1995 (Spanish)

Ramona Grey, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, 1991 (Political Science)

Anya Jabour, Ph.D., Rice University, 1995 (History)

Eva Legido-Quigley, Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1997 (Spanish)

Pamela Voekel, Ph.D., University of Texas, 1997 (History)

Jennifer Waltz, University of Washington, 1993 (Psychology)

Kelly Ward, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 1995 (Educational Leadership)

Celia Winkler, Ph.D., University of Oregon, 1996 (Sociology)

Instructor

Judith Johnson, M.F.A., The University of Montana, 1990 (Liberal Studies, Visiting)

Pat Ojo, M.A., Harvard University, 1973 (English, Visiting)