Gender and Women’s Studies Minor

Gender and Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that investigates how gender and sexuality operate as organizing axes of social, cultural, economic and political institutions, as well as in the everyday lives and cultural products of people who must live within them. Emphasizing the importance of historical and cross-cultural perspectives, the Gender and Women’s Studies Department at UMBC critically examines the intersections of gender and sexuality with other differences, including, class, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and ability to make visible structures of power that otherwise remain hidden.

The Gender and Women’s Studies Department offers a major, undergraduate certificate, and two minors, Gender + Women’s Studies and Critical Sexuality Studies.

To complete the minor in Gender + Women’s Studies, students must complete 18 credits of gender and women’s studies coursework, divided as follows:

Core Courses (9 credits)

Students must complete 9 credits of core courses.

GWST 100 - Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (3.00)
GWST 200 - Studies in Feminist Activism (3.00)
GWST 480 - Theories of Feminism (3.00)

Elective Courses (9 credits)

Nine elective Gender and Women’s Studies courses must be completed, including at least one course of the following courses that specifically addresses the range of women’s experience, for example through a focus on international women, ethnicity, sexual orientation and/or class (RoE).

GWST 320 - Transnational Feminist Film (3.00) (RoE)
GWST 340 - Women, Gender and Globalization (3.00) (RoE)
GWST 342 - Gender in Modern South Asia (3.00) (RoE)
GWST 343 - Gender, Human Rights, and Political Violence in Latin America (3.00) (RoE)
GWST 345 - Unruly Bodies (3.00) (RoE)

Note:

Selected topics courses (GWST 290, 292, 390, 392, 490 and 492) topics may be counted toward the 9 credits in electives with permission of adviser.

A maximum of six (6) credits of GWST electives may be taken at the 200 level.

A maximum of three (3) GWST independent study credits may be counted toward each minor.

A maximum of three (3) GWST internship credits may be counted toward each minor.

A grade of “C” or better is required in all courses applied toward either minor.