Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

About the Department

Larissa Mercado-López, Department Chair
McKee Fisk Building, Room 243
559.278.5721
socialsciences.fresnostate.edu/womensstudies/

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is an approach that places women in the center of inquiry. The primary mission of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is to analyze gender. Students acquire both a local and global perspective on gender. Attentiveness to diversity, privilege and power, and women’s unique creative contributions to human experience are central aspects of this training. More than simply a body of knowledge, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies encourages students to apply their learning to transform their lives and their communities. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers a vital perspective everywhere gender impacts our world.

Interesting Classes You Might Take

Women and Work
Women and Politics
Women, Ethics, & the Environment
Women, Violence, & the Law
Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Introduction to Lesbian and Gay Studies

What You Can Learn

How to combine political and intellectual passions with scholarly research to become a leader in today’s rapidly changing world.
The role of feminist activism and feminist organizations in the promotion of social policies designed to end social inequality.
Critical and analytical tools to understand and contribute to interdisciplinary research on issues faced by women and children in the United States and across the globe.
The symbiotic relationship between theory and practice through experiential learning opportunities aimed at unleashing students’ creativity and fostering self awareness.
The historical, political, and philosophical roots of feminism and feminist studies across disciplines.

Career Opportunities

As a field, Women’s Studies Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies presents an exciting opportunity to anyone who wants to know more about the impact of gender on their lives and the world. The focus on a core aspect of all our identities makes the field personally rewarding and socially important. Attentiveness to diversity, power, and women’s unique creative contributions to human experience are central aspects of this training. Our faculty work closely with students in order to help to foster their success. Students also find a sense of community and leadership opportunities through participation in P.O.W.E.R.: The Women’s Studies Student Organization the departmental student organization for majors and minors.

Many of our students choose Women’s Studies Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies as their primary field. Other students choose to double major. Double majors say their first major defines the field in which they work and the major in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies gives them a special focus and edge within that field.

What You Can Do

Nationally, Women’s Studies students in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies students have established successful careers in a variety of fields from politics to law, k-12 to graduate studies, biology to nursing, the creative arts to telecommunications, criminology to victim services, business and management to grass roots organizing, history to philosophy, and human resources to social services.

Programs

Bachelor

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, B.A.

Minor