Women’s and Gender Studies

Department Office
Stevenson Hall 3016
(707) 664-2840
www.sonoma.edu/wgs

Department Chair
Lena McQuade

For faculty information, please see Faculty

Major in Women’s and Gender Studies

A major in Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) enables students to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of gender and inequity. WGS is the study of how gender structures everything from our innermost sense of self to transnational circuits of society and economy. WGS uses an intersectional perspective, which means that we understand gender to be co-constituted with race, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, ability, and other forms of social power. We use an interdisciplinary approach that examines social structures, institutions, and ideologies of gender through social, historical, political, legal, and cultural lenses.

Emphasizing the connections between theory and practice, Women’s and Gender Studies encourages applied learning through internships, service learning, cultural production, and research. The WGS Department’s general education courses and lecture series produce campus-wide transformative consciousness, while our major courses further depth and engagement. WGS classes are places where students can strengthen critical awareness and build community.A major in WGS empowers students to understand and engage in building a more equitable world. An intersectional feminist analysis facilitates critical exploration of power, difference, and the production of knowledge. It also compels us to envision more just alternatives and commit to transformative action.

Careers in Women’s and Gender Studies

Women’s and Gender Studies graduates hold tools – knowledge of gender issues, critical thinking skills, and breadth of perspective-that public service organizations, private industry, government, and graduate schools want and need. The Women’s and Gender Studies major or minor provides excellent preparation for students going into social work, counseling, teaching, public relations, public policy and management, advocacy work, human resources, and other fields. WGS graduates also pursue advanced degrees in social work, counseling, law, public policy, psychology, public health, education, history, sociology, WGS and other areas.

Programs

Major

Women’s and Gender Studies, B.A.

Pathway

Minor