WOMEN’S STUDIES DEPARTMENT

Chair: Julia Watson

College of Humanities

Department Office: Building 15, Room 106

Phone: (818) 677-3110

Secretary: Barbara Miyagawa

ACADEMIC ADVISEMENT:

Advisement is available from the Chair of Women’s Studies.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

Jane Bayes, Political Science; Elizabeth Berry, Speech Communication; Kenon Breazeale, Art History; Roberta Madison, Health Science; Mary Pardo, Chicana/o Studies; Elizabeth Say, Religious Studies; Carrie Saetermoe, Psychology; Shirlene Soto, Chicana/o Studies; and Veda Ward, Leisure Studies and Recreation.

DEGREE OFFERED:

Minor in Women’s Studies. See the Department Chair for information on arranging a Special Major which includes Women’s Studies.

DEPARTMENT PROGRAM:

The Women’s Studies Department is both interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, drawing its information and resources from many different disciplines and societies. The courses cover a wide historical and topical range of women’s lives and activities: their contribution to social movements, governments, social institutions, the workforce, culture and the arts, family life, and religion. The courses underscore diversity: gender, race, ethnicity, and class, and prepare both women and men students to understand in theoretical and practical terms the dynamics of women’s personal and public lives. The minor provides a background for advanced degrees in Women’s Studies and in traditional fields such as law, counseling, health care, education, communication, and politics.

REQUIREMENTS FOR MINOR Units

Core Requirements (9)

W S 200 Introduction to Women’s Studies (3)
W S 300 Women as Agents of Change (3)
W S 400 Senior Seminar in Women’s Studies (3)

Electives (12)

Select courses from at least three of the following sections. At least 9 units of electives must be at the 300- or 400- level. Experimental and Selected Topics courses may, upon approval of the Women’s Studies chair, be taken for credit as part of the Women’s Studies Minor.

  1. History, Philosophy, and Institutions

    • BLAW 391 Women and the Law (3)
    • HSCI 231 Women and Health (3)
    • HIST 349 Women in American History (3)

    or

    • HIST 350 History of Women (3)
    • PHIL 348 Philosophy and Feminism (3)
    • POLS 297 The Politics of the Women’s Movement (3)
    • R S 304 Women and Religion (3)

  2. Gender, Socialization, and Sexuality

    • ANTH 308 Women, Sex Roles, and Culture (3)
    • SOC 324 Sociology of Sex Roles (3)

    or

    • SOC 325 Sex Roles and Work (3)

  3. Ethnic Studies and Diversity

    • AAS 340 Asian American Women (3)
    • CH S 246 Contemporary Issues of the Chicana (3)
    • CH S 365 Third World Women and the Chicana (3)
    • CH S 346 History of the Chicana/Mexicana (3)
    • CH S 366 Women in Latin America (3)
    • CH S 381 Contemporary Chicana Literature (3)
    • PAS 324 The Black Woman in Contemporary Times (3)
    • PAS 346 Contemporary Black Female Writers (3)

  4. Humanities, Communication, and the Arts

    • ART 468 Women in the Visual Arts (3)
    • ENGL 369 Lesbian Writers (3)
    • ENGL 431 Images of Women in Literature (3)
    • ENGL 433 Survey of Women Authors (3)
    • ENGL 434 Nineteenth Century Women Novelists (3)
    • JOUR 371 Women and the Media (3)
    • RTVF 413 Women as Filmmakers (3)
    • SPC 335 Studies in Women’s Rhetoric (3)

    or

    • SPC 435 Rhetoric of Women (3)
    • SPC 360 Communication and the Sexes (3)

EXPERIMENTAL COURSES

Each semester there are experimental courses offered. See the Department Chair for approval of these courses for the Minor.

Individualized Work

Students may, with the approval of the Women’s Studies Chair, receive credit for up to 3 units of independent study, which may be counted as an elective in the minor.

COURSE LIST

LOWER DIVISION

200. Introduction to Women’s Studies (3)

An interdisciplinary study of women in American society, including such topics as social conditions, laws, symbols, values, communication, and power. (Available for General Education, Comparative Cultural Studies.)

UPPER DIVISION

300. Women as Agents of Change (3)

Prerequisite: Women’s Studies 200 or consent of instructor, and completion of the lower-division writing requirement. New definitions and options for women within the family, community, and society. Students study and report on women’s resources and organizations for change within the local community as well as on the national and international scene. (Available for General Education, Comparative Cultural Studies.)

301. Feminist Theories and Methods (3)

Prerequisite: WS 200, or WS 300, or consent of instructor; Course explores the many different kinds of feminist theories and methods/methodologies that emerge out of, and/or are complementary with, feminist theories.

400. Senior Seminar in Women’s Studies (3)

Prerequisite: Upper division standing and three units of Women’s Studies core courses or electives. Variable themes. With emphasis on examination of multiple levels of women’s relationship to power cross-culturally (economic, political, social, personal, symbolic), students produce research paper(s) which integrate the multidisciplinary field.

499. Independent Study (1-3)