Women's Studies Major Requirements

Majors in the department are trained in interdisciplinary research skills and will focus their studies around a thematic or discipline-based concentration. The requirements for the major are the following thirteen courses:

1. WMS V3111: Feminist Texts I, Wollstonecraft to Beauvoir 

2 WMS V3112: Feminist Texts II, Beauvoir to the Present 

3. and 4. Two semesters of a junior level course to be chosen from among: 

    WMS V3311: Feminist Theory Colloquium 
    WMS V3312: Theorizing Women's Activism 
    WMS V3313: Colloquium on Feminist Inquiry

5. and 6. Two semesters of Senior Thesis Seminar, WMS V3521-3522

7. One course in Women's History (from a list specified by the Department). To view the list of history courses, click here.

8. One course with a focus on comparative studies of women and gender (from a list specified by the Department). To view the list of comparative courses, click here.

9. - 13. Five other courses devoting at least half of their content to issues of gender. Three of these courses will have either a disciplinary focus or a thematic focus. Selection of these courses will be with the guidance and approval of student's advisor in the Department. Three thematic clusters are currently offered in the Department: Gender and Representation, Gender / Science and Health, Gender and Sexualities Studies. Students can develop other thematic concentrations with Department's approval.

The thesis, Women's Studies V3521-3522, provides an opportunity for senior majors to engage in original interdisciplinary research and to bring to bear the theoretical emphasis of feminist scholarship on a particular area of investigation. Further, in the senior seminar, majors have the opportunity to discuss methodological issues and problems of research in a directed and supportive environment.

Special projects using the city's resources may be developed into term papers or incorporated into the senior essay. An extensive project under the sponsorship of a faculty member may be offered for course credits as Women's Studies BC 3599, Independent Research.

For course descriptions, click here. For a list of titles, and for thesis writing guidelines, click here.