Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program

Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies

The interdisciplinary minor in women’s, gender, & sexuality studies introduces students to scholarship relating to women, gender, and sexuality in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and enhances their understanding of traditional academic disciplines. In consultation with the directors of undergraduate studies, students develop a minor that is suited to their fields of interest and complements their major.

Students must complete six WS or other approved courses in women’s, gender & sexuality studies with a grade of C or higher. Two of those six courses must be taken at the 300 level or higher. The six courses for the minor must include the two-course sequence WS 101/102 Gender and Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Introduction. There are over 50 courses from 14 departments or programs that provide credit toward the women’s, gender & sexuality studies minor.

Consult departmental listings or the department director for women’s, gender & sexuality studies courses in American & New England studies, anthropology, biology, classics, economics, English, history, history of art & architecture, modern languages and comparative literature, philosophy, psychology, religion, and sociology. Some women’s studies courses may be taught as departmental seminars. Courses offered by the Metropolitan College, Boston University’s Study Abroad and Internship Programs, or other University schools and colleges may be taken as electives with the permission of the director of undergraduate studies. Check departmental listings to ascertain that specific courses are being offered in the current year.

For additional information, please call 617-358-2370, or send an email to wgs@bu.edu. Website: www.bu.edu/wgs.

Courses that may be selected for the minor include:

Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies

• CAS WS 101 Gender and Sexuality I: An Interdisciplinary Introduction†
• CAS WS 102 Gender and Sexuality II: An Interdisciplinary Introduction†
• CAS WS 213 Sexism in the Twenty-First Century†
• CAS WS 214 Women, Arts, and Culture†
• CAS WS 305 Critical Issues in Women’s Studies
• CAS WS 340 Women, Race, and Gender in Mass Media
• CAS WS 342 Law and Gender in the United States
• CAS WS 344 Images of Women in Popular Fiction
• CAS WS 345 Gender and War (meets with CAS IR 518 and PO 583)
• CAS WS 346 Women and Film
• CAS WS 348 Gender and International Development
• CAS WS 350 Women and Politics (meets with CAS PO 342)
• CAS WS 360 Global Feminism: Race and Gender in International Perspectives
• CAS WS 491, 492 Directed Study: Women’s and Gender Studies

Courses above marked with a † carry divisional studies credit in CAS. Refer to the Divisional Studies page of this bulletin for specific information.

Courses from other disciplines that count toward minor credit:

African American Studies

• CAS AA 304 Introduction to African American Women Writers (meets with CAS EN 370)
• CAS AA 504 African American and Asian American Women Writers (meets with CAS EN 371)
• CAS AA 588 Women, Power, and Culture in Africa (meets with CAS HI 588)

Anthropology

• CAS AN 260 Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective
• CAS AN 263 Behavioral Biology of Women
• CAS AN 290 Children and Culture
• CAS AN 305 Comparative Family Systems in Asia
• CAS AN 320 Women in the Muslim World
• CAS AN 344 Modern Japanese Society: Family, School, and Workplace
• CAS AN 505 Asian Development: The Case of Women
• CAS AN 519 Kinship
• CAS AN 554 Human Reproductive Ecology
• CAS AN 558 Human Sex Differences: Behavior, Biology, and Ecology

Archaeology

• CAS AR 262 Asian Gods and Goddesses

Biology

• CAS BI 442 Physiology and Biochemistry of Reproduction

Classics

• CAS CL 206 Women in Antiquity
• CAS CL 314 Women in Ancient Rome

English

• CAS EN 326 Voices of Women (meets with CAS WS 305)
• CAS EN 370 Introduction to African American Women Writers (meets with CAS AA 304)
• CAS EN 371 African American and Asian American Women Writers (meets with CAS AA 504)
• CAS EN 475/EN 476 Critical Studies in Literature and Gender
• CAS EN 575/EN 576 Studies in Literature and Gender

History

• CAS HI 216 Women and Gender in European History
• CAS HI 301 A History of Women in the United States
• CAS HI 425 Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe
• CAS HI 588 Women, Power, and Culture in Africa (meets with AA 588)

International Relations

• CAS IR 425 Women and Social Change in the Developing World (meets with CAS SO 420)
• CAS IR 518 Gender and War (meets with CAS PO 583 and WS 345)

Modern Languages & Comparative Literature

• CAS LC 284 Introduction to Chinese Women’s Writing (in English translation)
• CAS LJ 451 Topics in Japanese Literature
• CAS LJ 480 Japanese Women Writers (in English translation)
• CAS LL 381 Topics in Gender and Literature (in English translation) (meets with CAS WS 305)
• CAS LY 282 Qur’anic Negotiations: Contemporary Muslim Writers and The Holy Book (in English translation)
• CAS LY 283 Contemporary Arab Women Writers (in English translation)
• CAS XL 381 Topics in Gender and Literature (in English translation) (meets with CAS WS 305)
• CAS XL 470 Topics in Comparative Literature

Philosophy

• CAS PH 256 Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
• CAS PH 436 Gender, Race, and Science

Political Science

• CAS PO 342 Women and Politics (meets with CAS WS 350)
• CAS PO 583 Gender and War (meets with CAS IR 518 and WS 345)

Psychology

• CAS PS 352 Women and the Life Cycle
• CAS PS 361 Racism, Sexism, and Prejudice
• CAS PS 370 Psychology of the Family
• CAS PS 472 Family Violence: Theories and Research
• CAS PS 552 Topics in Family Research
• CAS PS 572 Psychology of Women

Religion

• CAS RN 224 Women and Religion
• CAS RN 302 Early Christian Women
• CAS RN 337 Gender and Judaism
• CAS RN 413 Gender in Medieval Christian Mysticism
• CAS RN 435 Women, Gender, and Islam

Sociology

• CAS SO 205 The American Family
• CAS SO 240 Sexuality and Social Life
• CAS SO 241 Sociology of Gender
• CAS SO 403 Seminar: Gender Stratification
• CAS SO 404 Seminar: The Family
• CAS SO 420 Seminar: Women and Social Change in the Developing World