Albright's program in women's and gender studies introduces students to the historical and cultural factors that have shaped traditional gender roles as well as the contemporary issues and challanges facing women and men. Students will learn about global movements for gender equality and will explore how gender interacts with categories such as race, class, age and nationality to shape people's identities and lived experiences.
More specifically, women's and gender studies has the following goals:
- To develop the leadership potential of women by introducing them to women's history and their achievements in various fields.
- To offer female and male students the opportunity to study the ways in which gender arrangements affect workplaces, families and other societal institutions.
- To understand how the scholarship on gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals has transformed the field of gender studies and the paradigms of family and relationship in contemporary society.
- To identify and understand the particular circumstances of working-class and minority women and men and to understand how the forces of gender, race and class shape their social and economic lives and determine their work.
Since its inception in 1989, the women's and gender studies curriculum has incorporated a growing number of courses on men and masculinities. Although the majority of women's and gender studies courses emphasize gender in Western societies, one of the goals of this program is to provide a global context and to offer students courses which will define the roles and issues of women and men in non-Western societies.
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Co-Concentration in Women's and Gender Studies
Students interested in women's and gender studies will combine the concentration with another discipline such as English, history, political science, psychology, religious studies or sociology. As faculty from multiple departments teach courses for the program, we emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to studying women's and gender issues. We encourage students to seek advising on coursework as the course offerings vary greatly by semester and a variety of courses across disciplines may qualify for women's and gender studies credit.
Requirements:
- Sex Roles: An Introduction to Women's Studies (IDS 303)
- Seminar in Women's Studies (WMS 400)
- Five other women's studies courses (It is important to understand that students electing the co-concentration in women's and gender studies can not earn general studies credit for the courses which are part of their concentration.)
The listings and topics vary from year to year, but among the courses offered on a regular basis for either the program or the co-concentration
are:
- Sex Roles: Introduction to Women's Studies (IDS 303)
- Race, Class & Gender (PHI 135)
- Sex, Love & Friendship (PHI 206)
- Feminism & Philosophy (PHI 228)
- Women in the Biblical World (REL 244)
- Sex, Gender, Bible (REL 249)
- Women in Religion (REL 286)
- US Women's History (HIS 204)
- Women's Work (HIS 275)
- Women in Latin America (LAS 340)
- U.S. Social History: The American Family 1600-1900 (HIS 311)
- Sex, Gender and Culture (ANT 320)
- The Family (SOC 261)
- Social Stratification (SOC 262)
- Global Families (SOC 283)
- Domestic Violence (SOC 311)
- Intimate Relations (SOC 312)
- Women Writing in America (ENG 235)
- Black Women Writers (ENG 235)
- Women Writers: Africa & the Caribbean (ENG 235)
- Women's Texts (ENG 390)
- Women & Art (IDS 214)
- Men in Transition: Mad Men & Wild Men (IDS 220)
- Women, Gender & Mass Media (COM 283)
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The Women's and Gender Studies Program
Requirements:
• IDS 303
• Five other women's and gender studies courses
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Courses
WMS 400
Seminar in Women's Studies
Addressing developments in the new scholarship on women and in feminist theory and methodology, the seminar focuses on topics from different disciplines and affords students the opportunity to present their own scholarly work in the field. Topics vary from year to year and take advantage of the wide range of expertise of faculty specializing in women's studies fields. Major focus in this seminar course is on issues related to past, present and future constructions of gender in the United States.
The voices of both women and men representing various viewpoints and disciplines are reviewed and studied in order to interpret and understand the concepts of sex, gender, gender roles and gender identity (psychological based theories are emphasized). The meanings of these concepts are examined critically as a function of changing perspectives associated with biological determinism, technology, economics, politics and social construction within the Romantic, Modern and Postmodern periods of history. Special topics are researched. In addition, part of the focus is on our construction of human sexuality and the relationship among gender, sex and sexuality.
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