I’ve been aware of such curricula for some time. In this thread there is some discussion on how such a degree is viewed in the working world.
Wikipedia says “…Simply studying or being a student of women’s studies can be seen as activism in it of itself. Therefore, for most students of women’s studies, an activism status is already engaged. To foster the growth of the study body, one of the key aspects of women’s studies classes and programs is to connect the classroom to social change…”
What is actually involved in getting a degree in Women’s Studies? Does it actually require the student to be or become an activist or ideological crusader to a degree not otherwise seen in secular academia? E.g. in real life, a person could be a Creationist and survive in a Biology program as long as they respect the scientific method as defined and respect predecessors findings and not rock the boat - I’m not aware of any requirement that you actually e.g. write a paper where you personally say “I am a Biology Major and I renounce the viewpoint that the Earth was created 6000 years ago and declare that it is preposterous. I do not believe it and any person who does is either stupid or ignorant.” Would Michelle Duggar or Phyllis Schlafly be expelled from State U’s Women’s Studies program based on their personal views?
And, out of curiosity, is it possible, from either a policy or a practical perspective, for a man to major in it?
My school didn’t have a Women’s Studies major. You could do Gender Studies though. It requires you to take Gender Studies 101, 201, 301 and 302, an experiential learning course which is basically volunteer or intern somewhere for a semester doing something related to the class, and 16 credits from 300 level classes in Humanities/Fine Arts/Social Science/Natural Science with no more than 8 credits from any given department. The remaining 6-4 credits would be filled with topics classes in the GS department.
I don’t think Michelle or Phyllis would necessarily be told to choose another major but they’d probably not enjoy most of the classes.
At most schools, it’s an interdisciplinary degree; there are a few core courses that have an official “Women’s Studies” prefix – usually theory-and-methods classes – but most of the classes would be cross-listed with another humanities or social sciences subject. So, for example, I’ve taught an “Images of Women in Medieval Literature” course that could be taken for either English or Women’s Studies credit (but not both), depending on how the student chose to count it.
Some classes do have an experiential or service learning component that may involve activism, but many do not. (For obvious reasons, this is more common in courses that deal with contemporary subject matter; I don’t think a “Free Joan of Arc” movement would get much traction nowadays, alas.)
And yes, of course it’s possible for both men and conservatives to major in Women’s Studies, although there are relatively few who want to.
I think the likelihood of a conservative or male successfully majoring in gender/women’s studies depend greatly on the atmosphere of that specific University’s department. Some of the programs are rather sane and egalitarian, others are more or less run by what one would call “feminazis” in popular parlance, which make it difficult for any male that has a mentality different from “garsh, I sure am sorry I abused you by being born with a penis” is going to find it very difficult to keep passing grades on essays.
I think in most universities it’s going to be closer to the “easily possible if you felt like it” side, but I’m sure there are always going to be one or two TAs or instructors that are going to at least give you the stink eye if you’re not bending over backwards to prove you’re not part of The Patriarchy™ (though I’ve noticed similar dynamics in English departments).
In point of fact, my school had Men’s Studies courses, which I think were perpetually hurting for attendees because I’d get 4 or 5 emails at registration time for the classes. So it was perfectly possible for someone to do a minor in GS and pretty much focus solely on the plight of the male species.
I have some close friends who have done gender studies (often as a minor). Women’s studies is no longer really studied, because people quickly realized that the real interest in how gender affects people and is played out in the world, and that is as much about men as it is about women.
I work in international development, and some of my women’s study friends do some really cool things. One of them works advising on how to set up refugee camps that are less conducive to rape-- things like “don’t put the women’s toilets down a dark empty alley way” and “Have a safe house where women can go if they are being abused by someone in the camp- and don’t put that across a long empty field that is in plain view of the whole damn camp in the day and dark and dangerous in the night” (true story.) A decade ago, these ideas were not even considered, and rape was a huge problem in refugee camps.
I know a lot of people who work on how to incorporate gender in development in innovative ways. For example, micro-finance traditionally focuses on women, because studies show that helping women start businesses is more likely to end up with the proceeds being spent on health and education of children. The new wave of thought, though, is seeing that as a problematic constructs. Can development just decide men are no good and cut them out? That doesn’t seem like a good way to go either. So people are working out programs that encourage men to engage in family life and work constructively towards development goals, while maintaining the benefits that micro-finance brings into families- including the fact that micro-finance programs are associated with reduced domestic violence and more equal decision making in families.
It’s complicated, difficult stuff that requires solid research skills as well as an innovative mindset.
I think women’s studies majors are probably the most powerful when combined with a professional graduate degree. An international law student with a background in women’s roles in the middle east, for example, can do some powerful work. Indeed, i have a friend who does something similar to that, and her current job is to prosecute trafficking rings that deal with underage girls.
Yes, there are some flakes and there are some flaky programs. But it’s not necessarily flaky. Gender affects each one of us, every day. It affects our health, our legal system, it’s in everything we read and watch and buy. It’s in our family, our friends, and our relationships. It’s possible to approach this like any other field- with evidence as well as activism.
Yeah, women’s studies have really changed since it entered academia in the 1970s. If you read the literature from the 1970s it’s very much an atmosphere of us (women) versus them (men). As even sven pointed out, scholars in the field started to recognize that men are also affected by gender expectations but that race, class and even religion also plays a part. i.e. Those suffragettes and anti-booze crusaders were largely middle class white women who were only able to effect social change outside the home by exploiting the labor of lower class women (maids, nannies, etc., etc.). A lot of places abandoned women’s studies in favor of gender studies but maybe you can still find examples of the former in some schools.
As an undergrad and a graduate I had two history courses that focused on women. One was a survey course called women in world history and the other was a graduate course on women in U.S. history. They were the same as every other history course I had except that we specifically focused on women. Neither the material we read nor the instructor ever bashed men. Every once in a while a student would say something that came close to bashing men but it was few and far between. Generally speaking, the students had a good sense of humor about things.
I took an anthropology course called Gender and Science Fiction which had a lot of gender studies students in it. I thought the class was fantastic but I was confused about why they called in “Gender” in science fiction when they meant women. Every science fiction author we read was a woman (even James Tiptree) and this was despite the instructor making it clear that the class was not just about women. Again the instructor didn’t bash men but when we analyzed an episode of the old Battlestar Galactica series the women in the class could only come up with negative reasons why Apollo might not want his wife to be a fighter pilot. Popular answers were jealously and a threat to his masculinity but nobody but me thought that maybe Apollo just didn’t want his adoptive son to have two parents at constant risk.
That’s probably a lot longer than anyone wanted. In short, what’s involved in women’s studies or gender studies courses is pretty much the same stuff that’s involved in any other social science course.
I’ll echo what you have said, except the bit above. My own experience with persons with such qualifications is that without exception they have proved to be condescending, blind to ground realities and putting forward at vest unrealistic and at worst harmful schemes.
I believe Mary Daly was once reprimanded for refusing to admit men to her women’s studies class, so it’s possible for men to do it. I’m not sure if those men got credit for that particular fight against gender inequality. There’s also someone currently suing the London School of Economics alleging that their Women’s Studies programme is sexist.
“Social worker” is pretty common. After getting your degree, you could be licensed and work for any number of agencies, or take a position that doesn’t require a social work license.