Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary area of study that draws from courses offered across the university. Students may take designated courses in Gender Studies to supplement their primary course of study. Those who take six courses (including two introductory, three intermediate to advanced, and one senior capstone course) and receive guidance from an advisor, may receive a letter attesting to their completion of a minor in Gender Studies—see the Gender Studies Program Requirements Worksheet (PDF).
Gender's meaning changes. In other words, the culturally constructed idea of what sex difference means is unstable and is often renegotiated over time and from place to place. To study gender is to study a central category of identity that shapes basic structures such as
- divisions of public and private
- the distribution of wealth and patterns of labor
- the ways in which gender is represented in art, literature, and popular culture
- how sexuality and the body are understood
- definitions of sickness and health
- the creation of norms for public life and the state
- the production of knowledge itself
Courses in Gender Studies are one way to understand the ideologies, social patterns, and images that shape the changing world in which we live. Gender Studies raises questions about how the gender divide is formed and maintained, and how it is often resisted or undermined. Students explore gender scholarship from the last four decades in the United States and rest of the world. It includes courses about the history of feminist thought and action; men’s studies; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies; and queer theory. Working in conjunction with the program on Race and Ethnicity, these programs explore the many intersections among race, class, and gender.
Watch footage from the spring 2010 Gender Studies Conference No Longer in Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at The New School.
More information
For more information or to join the Gender Studies listserv and stay updated about upcoming events, contact the director, Ann Snitow. Please indicate whether you are a student or faculty member.
Gender Studies Requirements Worksheet - Updated for Spring 2013 (PDF)
Gender Studies Course Booklet (PDF)
Gender Studies Faculty (PDF)
Please note: Students are advised to refer to the current applicable program catalog for degree completion requirements and to confirm their progress in satisfying those requirements with their advisors.