Department of Women and Gender Studies

Telephone: (302) 831-8474
http://www.udel.edu/WomensStudies
Faculty Listing: http://www.udel.edu/WomensStudies/facultyAndStaff.shtml

Women and Gender Studies provides courses that allow students to explore women’s and gender issues within multiple contexts such as anthropology, cultural studies, economics, history, literature, philosophy, political science, sociology, and the arts. This interdisciplinary curriculum helps to prepare students for careers in a variety of fields including social work, public policy, health, and business, and it provides a solid foundation for graduate work in such fields as law, education, and social policy. Courses integrate gender and its relationship to the categories of sexuality, race, class, nationality, religion, and age.

The Department offers a B.A. degree in Women’s Studies, with an Honors Degree option, and a minor in Women’s Studies. Majors may choose to complete a concentration in Women in Global Perspective or in Domestic Violence Prevention and Services (students interested in this concentration must contact jnacc@udel.edu to submit an application). Interdepartmental and double majors are also options. In addition, an internship gives students an opportunity to integrate classroom learning with practical competencies gained from actual experience. No more than 51 credits with the WOMS prefix (including cross-listed courses) may be counted toward the total required for the degree.

The Department also administers three interdisciplinary minors in Sexualities and Gender Studies Minor , Domestic Violence Prevention and Services Minor , and Women and Religion.

The Women and Religion minor, an interdisciplinary 18 credit minor, will examine the ways that beliefs about gender and sexuality have been formed, transmitted, and practiced through global religious traditions. Students will develop models for understanding how the gendered practices within religious laws and customs limit or generate agency and social power. They will explore the role that religion plays in shaping family, marriage, and sexuality, and in turn, how these factors structure political, economic, and social life. This minor will cultivate an understanding of the way women through history and in contemporary contexts emerge as social and spiritual leaders in domestic life, sacred spaces, and the public sphere. Coursework will focus on sacred text, image, religious practices, and theology through the lens of women’s lives and spirituality.

Programs

Major

Honors Degree

Women’s Studies Honors (HBA)

Minor