YSU currently offers an academic minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. The purpose of the Women and Gender Studies program at YSU is as follows:
The Women and Gender Studies program will allow students to use interdisciplinary feminist analysis to examine and critique ideological assumptions in regards to gender as a social construct and the impact of said gender norms on social institutions. The program aims to develop a new generation of scholars and leaders who will work to acknowledge, understand, and critically interrogate human differences such as those of gender, race, class, sexuality, nation, ability, ethnicity, and religion so that difference may be respected, accommodated, and celebrated in social life and provide the skills necessary for an advancement of knowledge about the possibilities for equality and freedom for all.
Students that choose to minor in Women’s Studies may do so through an Intra-University Transfer.
The core course for the program is WMST 2601, “Introduction to Women’s Studies,” which fulfills the university General Education Requirement (GER) in the categories of Social Science and Social and Personal Awareness.
Learning Outcomes for this course include:
- Students will analyze the social construction of gender and the intersection of gender with other systems of inequality in women’s lives.
- Students will examine the status of women in society and evaluate ways to improve that status through individual action for social change.
- Students will recognize how institutions in society affect individual lives and be able to think critically about the role of patterns of privilege and discrimination in women’s lives, including issues of gender, race, age, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and abilities.
- Students will analyze the importance of individual women, women’s organizations, and women’s movements, their contributions to our culture, and the changes brought about by these groups and individuals.