The Gender and Women’s Studies minor compliments many majors such as Psychology, Sociology, English, Communication, Business, Law, etc. It provides a background for various careers such as law, counseling and healthcare or advanced graduate degrees in fields such as Women’s Studies, education, communication, politics, cultural and media studies. Students who declare themselves Gender and Women’s Studies minors must take three core courses (9 units), plus three courses (9 units) of Gender and Women’s Studies electives.

The minor in Gender and Women’s Studies is an 18-unit minor. It consists of three required courses (one lower division and two upper division), plus three electives.

1. Lower Division Required Course (3 units)

GWS 100 Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (3)
or GWS 110 Women, Work and Family (3)

2. Upper Division Requirements (6 units)

GWS 301 Feminist Theories (3)
GWS 350 Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality (3)

3. Electives (9 units)

Students are required to complete three electives for the Gender and Women’s Studies minor. Select any three courses from the following list. One of the electives must be upper division level.

Upper division elective courses for majors, as well as experimental and selected topics courses (upon approval of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department Chair or advisor), may fulfill electives required for the Gender and Women’s Studies minor.

AAS 340 Asian American Women (3)
AFRS 324 The Black Woman in Contemporary Times (3)
ANTH 308 Women, Sex Roles and Culture (3)
ART 468 History of Women in the Visual Arts (3)
BLAW 391 Women and the Law (3)
CHS 246 Contemporary Issues of the Chicana (3)
CHS 346 History of the Chicana/Mexicana (3)
CHS 365 Third World Women and the Chicana (3)
COMS 335 Studies in Women’s Rhetoric (3)
COMS 360 Communication and the Sexes (3)
COMS 435 Rhetoric of Women (3)
CTVA 413 Women as Filmmakers (3)
ENGL 369 Lesbian Writers (3)
ENGL 431 Images of Women in Literature (3)
ENGL 433 Women Authors (3)
ENGL 434 19th Century Women Novelists (3)
GWS 220 Men, Masculinity and Patriarchy (3)
GWS 230 Women and Entertainment (3)
GWS 315 Gender, Sexuality and Islam in the U.S. (3)
GWS 320 Women and Urban Life/Urban Space (3)
GWS 340 Women, Gender and Global Development (3)
GWS 360 Feminist Ethics (3)
GWS 370 Women and Violence (3)
GWS 380 Sexual and Reproductive Health (3)
GWS 410 Sex, Lies and Media (3)
GWS 420 Women and Gender in Islamic Societies (3)
GWS 430 Global Sexualities (3)
HIST 349 Women in American History (3)
HIST 350 History of Women (3)
HSCI 231 Women and Health (3)
JOUR 371 Women, Men and Media (3)
JS 330 Women in the Jewish Experience (3)
PHIL 348 Philosophy and Feminism (3)
POLS 448 Women and Politics in the United States and the World (3)
RS 304 Women and Religion (3)
RTM 330 Women, Leisure and Ethnicity in the United States (3)
SOC 324 Sociology of Sex and Gender (3)
SOC 325 Sex Roles and Work (3)

Individualized Work

Students may, with approval of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department Chair, receive credit for up to 3 units of independent study, which may be counted as an elective in the minor.

Total Units in the Minor: 18