Pictured | Adam Schelle | Women's and Gender Studies / English | South Bend, Indiana (hometown)

About the Bachelor of Art in Women's and Gender Studies

Graduates with a Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) major will be prepared to enter the full range of graduate, professional, and specialist service programs open to liberal arts and sciences graduates. WGS graduates additionally bring to their careers interdisciplinary research and writing skills and an ability to address structural inequalities from the local to global level. This major provides a sound background of skills, understanding, problem-solving, and advocacy relevant to work in a variety of fields valuable to the community, such as counseling, health, education, and social justice, as well as key areas of business, human resources management, public relations, advertising, mass media, the arts, civil service, and international aid organizations.

Academic Advising

College policy on advising requires that students meet with their academic advisors at least once each year, and in some departments, prior to each semester’s to enrollment. Advising holds are placed on all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students prior to advance registration and are released following advising appointments. Students with a declared major are advised in their academic units. To determine who your advisor is and how to contact them, see One.IU.

Degree Requirements (120 cr.)

Degree Map >>

Students receiving the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree must complete 120 total credit hours including:

• IU South Bend General Education Curriculum (33-39 cr.)
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor of Arts Additional Requirements (14-23 cr.)
• Major Requirements (30 cr.)
• Required Minor taken in any campus school or interdisciplinary program (15-18 cr.)
• Electives (balance of credits needed to equal 120 cr. requirement) (10-28 cr.)

• A minimum of 30 credit hours at the 300- or 400-level
• In addition, major and minor requirements must be completed with a grade of C– or higher.

Major Requirements (30 cr.)

All courses are 3 credit hours, unless otherwise designated.

At least 15 credit hours must be taken at the 300-level or above

Core Courses for the Major (18 cr.)

• WGS-W 100 Gender Studies
• WGS-W 299 Research Methods in Women’s Studies
• WGS-W 301 International Perspectives on Women
• WGS-W 360 Feminist Theory
• WGS-W 402 Seminar in Gender Studies (or an approved alternative)
• WGS-W 480 Women’s Studies Practicum

Electives for the Major (12 cr.)

• One WGS joint-listed course in the humanities or arts (see below)
• One WGS joint-listed course in the social or biological sciences (see below)
• One additional elective from WGS core or joint-listed courses
• One additional elective from WGS cross-listed, core, or joint-listed courses

Joint-Listed Courses

Joint-listed courses have a WGS prefix and a department letter designation before the number, i.e., WGS H260.

• WGS-A 385, Topics in Anthropology: Motherhood (counts only when this topic)
• WGS-B 260, Women, Men and Society in Modern Europe
• WGS-E 391, Women in Developing Countries
• WGS-H 260, History of American Women
• WGS-L 207, Women and Literature
• WGS-N 200, The Biology of Women
• WGS-P 391, Psychology of Gender, Race and Ethnicity
• WGS-P 460, Women: A Psychological Perspective
• WGS-P 394, Feminist Philosophy
• WGS-S 310, The Sociology of Women in America
• WGS-S 338, Sociology of Gender Roles
• WGS-Y 327, Gender Politics

Cross-Listed Courses

Cross-listed courses have no WGS prefix. A significant portion of the material in these courses focuses on women and/or uses gender as a major analytical tool. These courses vary each semester. Check the Women's and Gender Studies section of the current Course Listings book to see what cross-listed courses are available each semester.

Examples of past years' offerings include the following:

• K492, Women's Health Issues
• S164, Marital Relations and Sexuality
• S316, Sociology of the Family

Photo credit | Teresa Sheppard