Program Objectives

The Gender Studies program analyzes the structural and cultural underpinnings of sexism and women’s inequality. Our program is valuable to students entering any professional field and informs you of the many personal decisions you will meet around family and relationships. It also:

• Evaluates values, traditions, practices and perspectives historically associated with various groups of women.
• Interrogates the social construction of gender roles.
• Analyzes the historical, political, economic and cultural structures that have contributed to discriminatory or liberal practices regarding gender, sexuality, and intersecting systems of oppression.
• Scrutinizes the social construction of gender roles.
• Analyzes social constructions of masculinity and how these stereotypes develop, operate and affect society at large.
• Examines human sexuality; employs conceptual categories that make the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning people visible; seeks to understand and evaluate the meaning and function of heterosexuality in society, politics and thought.
• Explores how class, race and ethnic or national identity inform, modify, or challenge various understandings and practices of sex, gender and sexuality.