Requirements for the Major
Nine courses are required for the major, distributed as follows.
A. Three core courses
Ordinarily, WMGS 5a and WMGS 198a will be offered each fall, and WMGS 105b each spring. With permission of the WGS undergraduate advising head, students may be allowed to substitute another feminist theory course for WMGS 105b.
- WMGS 5a (Women and Gender in Culture and Society)
- This interdisciplinary course introduces central concepts and topics in the field of women's and gender studies. Explores the position of women in diverse settings and the impact of gender as a social, cultural, and intellectual category in the United States and around the globe. Asks how gendered institutions, behaviors, and representations have been configured in the past and function in the present, and also examines the ways in which gender intersects with many other vectors of identity and circumstance in forming human affairs. Usually offered every fall and spring.
- WMGS 105b (Feminist Theories in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective)
- Students are encouraged, though not required, to take WMGS 5a prior to this course. Examines diverse theories of sex and gender within a multicultural framework, considering historical changes in feminist thought, the theoretical underpinnings of various feminist practices, and the implications of diverse and often conflicting theories for both academic inquiry and social change. With permission of the undergraduate advising head, students may be allowed to substitute another feminist theory course for WMGS 105b. Usually offered every Spring.
- WMGS 198a (Research Seminar)
- Examines theories and practices of feminist scholarship and introduces interdisciplinary methodologies in order to guide students in designing and completing an independent research project. Usually offered every year in the fall.
B. Six additional courses that either carry the WMGS designation or are approved as women's and gender studies electives. These six courses must meet the following additional requirements.
Historical Elective
At least one course must have a historical focus encompassing a period before 1945. Courses that fulfill this requirement include but are not limited to:
Cultural Differences Elective
At least one course must engage in a systematic and comprehensive exploration of racial, class and/or ethnic difference within or across cultures. These courses include but are not limited to:
3. No more than three courses may be taken from any one department or program outside Women's and Gender Studies.
4. Students are strongly encouraged to undertake an internship in women’s and gender studies as one of their electives. Students pursuing an internship for semester credit must spend 8 hours per week engaged in significant work within a setting that can provide focus on women, gender, and/or sexuality. At the placement, the student must work with a supervisor or mentor; at Brandeis, the student must enroll in an internship course with a faculty member who will guide the intellectual component of the internship, read the student's written work, and award a course grade. Students are expected to keep and submit weekly journals, to read from a list of relevant scholarship, and to produce a final paper of 15-20 pages in length. Please visit the Brandeis University Internship website for more information about Women's and Gender Studies internship opportuinties.
C. Completion of a senior essay or thesis.
The research seminar (WMGS 198a) will guide students in designing and writing a senior paper, which must be submitted in final form by the spring semester of the senior year.
Students who wish to receive honors in women's and gender studies are required to complete a senior thesis. These students should enroll in the Research Seminar (WMGS 198a) during the fall semester and in Senior Thesis Research (WMGS 99a) during the spring. WMGS 99 does not count as one of the nine courses required for the major.
Courses that fulfill University requirements or requirements for another major may also count toward the major in women's and gender studies.
No course counting for the major may be taken on a pass/fail basis. However, students who maintain a grade average of 3.3 or higher in their women's and gender studies courses will be permitted to count toward the major one credit-bearing peer assistantship in women's and gender studies.