2026-2027 Undergraduate Catalog

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) offers a transformative lens through which you will examine: 

• women’s past and present contributions to societies as persons, creators, and thinkers.
• the intersectional diversity--racial, economic, sexual, religious, generational—of women’s, men’s, and nonbinary individuals’ experiences.
• scholarship exposing the structural and institutional factors that perpetuate sexism, racism, classism, heteronormativity, and transphobia.

While WGSS is a discipline in its own right, our interdisciplinary program draws upon methods and content from a wide range of programs and majors, including literature and the arts, biology, First Nations studies, history, legal studies, psychology, sociology, and social work. Our minor prepares students to:

• better understand individuals, particularly but not only women, and the social structures that impact their lives.
• critically evaluate how intersectionality influences both social systems and individuals' lived experiences.
• apply theoretical frameworks through which they can re-evaluate traditional gender-differentiated roles, structures, and institutions.
• think, research, and write as they develop strong interdisciplinary skills.

Any student may elect Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as a minor in addition to their chosen major. The minor is excellent preparation for further study in law as well as for graduate programs in WGSS, psychology, social work, literature, history, and education. Graduates with WGSS minors work in a variety of fields, including business, journalism, nonprofits, education, government, and social services.

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program Learning Outcomes

A student who completes a Women and Gender Studies minor at UWGB will demonstrate the ability to:

• critically read, recognize, and analyze the gendered identities presented to them;
• understand how gender expectations function in culture, history, and social dynamics
• investigate how gender constructs impact their everyday lives and issues within their major or current field of study
• begin to appreciate/understand other cultures and peoples through investigation of the role that gender plays in their societies
• construct alternative ways to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate their views of their major and related fields
• initiate positive change in terms of gender definition/stereotypes
• enhance their overall general education by synthesizing the various disciplines through this minor's pedagogical approach