Women’s and Gender Studies Major
Learning Objectives for the Women’s & Gender Studies Major
By their senior year, students majoring in Women’s & Gender Studies will:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the social and historical constructions of sex and gender, including the shifting definitions of our ideas of sex/gender/race/nation, and why debates about definitions matter
- Use gender as a category of analysis in their own writing
- Be able to explain the intersectionality of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, and the interlocking systems of privilege, oppression, and opportunities
- Demonstrate an understanding of cutting-edge theories used in Women’s and Gender Studies, including feminist theories, intersectional feminisms, queer and trans studies, disability studies, reproductive and environmental justice, science and technology studies, and indigenous, decolonial and postcolonial studies
- Cultivate a transnational awareness about shifting frames in global geopolitics
- Demonstrate knowledge of the history of women’s activism and of strategies for social change
- Demonstrate understanding of methodologies used by scholars in Women’s and Gender Studies
- Construct arguments with evidence obtained from research and scholarship
- Think and write critically, engage in critical self-reflection and self-awareness, and compare different perspectives on issues
- Develop an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge by connecting knowledge and experience, theory and activism, and connecting Women’s & Gender Studies courses with other courses
Requirements for the Women’s and Gender Studies Major
For students entering in Fall 2024 and beyond:
Minimum major is 9 units; there are 4 requirements:
- One unit must be taken at the 100 level (WGST 104 or WGST 120).
- WGST 224: Feminist Approaches to Research
- Two units must be taken at the 300 level within the WGST department. These can (but are not required) include WGST 313 (Fieldwork in Women’s and Gender Studies) and/or WGST 360/WGST 370 (Senior Thesis).
- A total of at least 6 units must be taken in the WGST department.
WGST is an interdisciplinary field that engages disciplines across the Humanities, Social, and Natural Sciences. We encourage students to develop a focus that helps towards their interests and career goals. For example consider: Representations, Media, and Race; Feminist Science, Health and Technology; Labor, Families, and the State; Transnational Feminism(s) in Global Contexts; Sexuality Studies; Queer and Trans Studies; Abolition Feminism; Environmental Justice; Reproductive Health and Justice.
For students who entered Wellesley before Fall 2024:
- WGST 224: Feminist Approaches to Research is not required.
- Students may (but are not required) choose to select from the following concentrations:
- Representations, Media, and Race
- Feminist Science, Health and Technology
- Labor, Families, and the State
- Transnational Feminism(s) in Global Contexts
- Self-designed concentration (in consultation with and approved by the advisor).
About Courses
Courses at the 100 level are introductions to topics in Women’s and Gender Studies. They are taught from the perspective of each faculty member’s specialty. Courses at the 200 level are overviews of substantive areas. Courses at the 300 level provide in-depth examination of material covered in 200-level courses.
Honors in Women’s and Gender Studies
There are two routes to honors in the major. Under Program I, a student completes two semesters of independent research (WGST 360 and 370) culminating in an honors thesis. Under Program II, a student completes one semester of fieldwork or independent research (WGST 313) related to previous 300-level course work, writes a formal paper, and then submits to an examination that includes both topics covered in the general area of Women’s and Gender Studies and also one that is related to the 313 project. Honors may only be undertaken in the senior year. To be admitted to the WGST honors program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level. The department may petition on the student's behalf if the student's GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
If a student is a rising senior and is interested in either a WGST 360/WGST 370 (senior thesis) or in a WGST 313 honors they must have their paperwork, including a proposal, into the department by April 4, 2025. Students applying for honors should see their WGST advisor for specific preparation and proposal guidelines.
Advanced Placement Policy in Women’s and Gender Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies does not allow students to count AP credits toward the fulfillment of the major or minor.
Courses for Credit Toward the Women's and Gender Studies Major and Minor
| AFR 212 / ENG 279 | Black Women Writers | 1.0 |
| AMST 383 / ENG 383 | Women in Love: American Literature, Art, Photography, Film | 1.0 |
| ARTH 325 | Seminar: Strong Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy | 1.0 |
| ARTH 339 | Seminar: Who Was Frida Kahlo? | 1.0 |
| CAMS 203 / CHIN 243 | Chinese Cinema (in English) | 1.0 |
| CHIN 245 | Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution (In English) | 1.0 |
| CLCV 213 | Gender in Antiquity | 1.0 |
| EDUC 214 | Reimagining Youth: Exploring the Role of Family, Community and Society | 1.0 |
| ENG 194 / WGST 194 | Writing AIDS, 1981-Present | 1.0 |
| ENG 255 | Reading Emily Dickensen | 1.0 |
| ENG 272 | The Nineteenth-Century Novel | 1.0 |
| ENG 352 | Poetry of Luise Gluck | 1.0 |
| ENG 387 | Authors | 1.0 |
| FREN 323 | Liberty, Equality, Sexualities: How the Values of the French Republic Have Both Protected and Limited Sexual Freedom | 1.0 |
| HIST 293 | Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle East | 1.0 |
| ITAS 210 | Queer Italy: LGBTQ and Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond | 1.0 |
| KOR 256 / LING 256 | Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture (in English) | 1.0 |
| PEAC 205 / POL3 236 | Gender, War and Peacebuilding | 1.0 |
| PEAC 393 / POL3 393 | Seminar: Women and Conflict | 1.0 |
| PHIL 218 | Feminist Philosophy of Science | 1.0 |
| PHIL 230 | Epistemic Harms | 1.0 |
| POL2 367 | Women and Gender in Middle Eastern Politics | 1.0 |
| REL 106 | Queer Bible | 1.0 |
| REL 243 | Women in the Biblical World | 1.0 |
| SOC 209 | Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender | 1.0 |
| SOC 315 | Intersectionality at Work | 1.0 |
| SOC 308 | Children in Society | 1.0 |
| SPAN 263 | Women's Art and Activism in Latin America | 1.0 |
| SPAN 278 | Writing Women: Early Modern Spain | 1.0 |
| SPAN 291 | Goddesses, Muses, Warriors: Women in Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Latin America | 1.0 |
| SPAN 327 | Seminar: Latin American Women Writers: Identity, Marginality, and the Literary Canon | 1.0 |
| THST 200 | That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American Comedy | 1.0 |
| THST 212 | Woman, Center Stage | 1.0 |
| WRIT 116 | Writing in the Distracted Age | 1.0 |
| WRIT 122 | Wellesley and the World | 1.0 |
| WRIT 146 | Alternative Worlds, American Dreams | 1.0 |
| WRIT 176 | What's Old is New: Classics and Modern Social Movements | 1.0 |
| WRIT 178 | Black Feminism and the Future | 1.0 |
| WRIT 185 | Writing about Documentary Film | 1.0 |