Bachelor of Arts in Women and Gender Studies

Women and Gender Studies examines the importance of gender and feminism in relation to issues such as race, class, sexuality, labor, colonialism, multiculturalism and globalization. Students study how bodies, families, communities and nations are gendered in specific cultural, political and historical locations, and investigate connections to their own lives, roles and contributions.

Prospective Undergraduates: Request Information

Students wishing to declare Women and Gender Studies as their major can now do so online, via Campus Solutions. A follow-up email will be sent from the department chair. Students can also make an appointment with one of the undergraduate advisors and fill out an advising form before the appointment. View our advising page to find the form you need.

Students majoring in Women and Gender Studies may enroll in WGS courses and courses focusing on women, gender and sexuality, in any other department. The choice of electives is flexible, and your advisor will assist you in devising a program appropriate to your own needs and interests. With the consent of your academic advisor, you may also use courses with a focus on women taken at other colleges and universities as part of the Women and Gender Studies major.

Women and Gender Studies majors who have completed WGS 300GW will have satisfied the University Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR).

Core (12 Units)

Select Two:

  • WGS 200: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies (3)
  • WGS 210: Introduction to Feminism and the State (3)
  • WGS 220: Introduction to Feminist Disability Studies (3)
  • WGS 280: Introduction to Feminist Science Studies (3)
  • WGS 300GW: Gender, Race, and Nation (3)
  • WGS 690: Senior Seminar (3)

 

Praxis (3 Units) 

Select One:

  • WGS 105: Feminism and Self-Care: Perspectives and Practices (1)
  • WGS 303: Women as Creative Agents (3)
  • WGS 305: Women and Gender Studies Lecture Series (3)
  • WGS 400: That's Not What I Said: Feminism, Oral History, and Research Methods in Women and Gender Studies (3)
  • WGS 602: Feminist Cultural Activism (3)
  • WGS 698: Feminist Praxis and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (3)

Body Politics (3 Units)

Select One:

  • WGS 554: Gender and Global Migration (3)
  • WGS 563 Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Disability (3)
  • WGS 591 Critical Approaches to Transgender Health, Science, and Medicine (3)
  • WGS 593: Gender, Health, and the Environment (3)
  • WGS 612: Queer Theories (3)

Power and Violence (3 Units)

Select One: 

  • WGS 160: Gender, Politics, and Citizenship (3)

  • WGS 511: Women and Violence (3)
  • WGS 513: Gender, War, and Militarism (3)
  • WGS 514: Women and the Prison Industrial Complex (3)
  • WGS 536: Gender, Globalization, and Women's Human Rights (3)

Culture, Media, and Art (3 units)

Select One:

  • WGS 304: Gender and Popular Culture (3)
  • WGS 542: Gender and Popular Music (3)
  • WGS/SXS 551: Queer Literatures and Media (3)
  • WGS 580: Feminism and the Speculative: Another World is Possible (3)

Social Movements (3 units)

Select One:

  • WGS 515: Gender, Race, and Reproductive Justice (3)
  • WGS 541: Women Writers and Social Change (3)
  • WGS 561: Women, Ethnicity, and Social Movements (3)
  • WGS 562: History of African American Women (3)
  • WGS 565: Muslim Feminisms (3)
  • WGS 578: Women, Globalization, and Ecology (3)
  • WGS 621: Feminist Theories (3)

Elective (3 units)

Select One:

  • WGS 150: Women and Gender in U.S. History and Society (3)

  • WGS355/HIST 355/ LTNS: History of Women in Latin America (3) 
  • WGS/AIS 420: Native Genders and Feminism (3)
  • WGS/GEOG 423: Geographic Perspectives on Gender (3)
  • WGS/AIS/SXS 440: Native Sexualities and Queer Discourse (3)
  • WGS/LTNS 445: Gendered Borders: Latinas and Globalization (3)
  • WGS /SXS/ PLSI 470: The Politics of Sex and Reproduction (3)
  • WGS / BECA 485: Women and Media (3)
  • WGS / LTNS 505: Gender, Sexuality, and Latino Communities (3)
  • WGS / ENG/ JS 546: 20th Century American Jewish Women Writers (3)
  • WGS/ RRS 566: Gender and Modernity in the Muslim and Arab Worlds (3)
  • WGS 595/ANTH 590/ CST 590: Feminist Anthropology (3)
  • WGS/RRS/SXS 640: Race and Sexual Migration (3)
  • WGS/RRS/SXS 645: Sex, Race, Lies, and Love in San Francisco (3)