- What is Women's and Gender Studies?
What is Women's and Gender Studies?
Women's and Gender Studies holds the status of an academic field which is now part of the curriculum of most universities. Some offer masters and doctorate degrees in women's studies and gender studies. The body of knowledge which presently composes women's studies and gender studies draws from the social sciences, sciences, and humanities, but it is often shaped by professional schools including law, medicine, and nursing.
Studying women and gender often begins with the study of women's experience and analyzing the way gender structures a society. At its core, Women's and Gender Studies recognizes the importance of diversity and the consequences of differential power and opportunity. A central theme in Women's and Gender Studies revolves around the questions pertaining to ethics and justice.
Women's and Gender Studies represents both a content area (women and gender) and an approach which includes feminist pedagogy, feminist methodologies, and feminist strategies of interpretation. Saint Louis University has a growing Women's and Gender Studies Department, open to people of all genders, with courses focusing on women and gender across the curriculum of Arts & Sciences and including professional schools such as nursing, law, and social work.