Combining an English Major with a Minor in Women’s and Gender Studies

Several of the elective courses offered in the English major count towards a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies.  Women’s and Gender Studies and English make a great fit.  A minor in Women’s and Gender Studies minor enhances the English major by focusing coursework on gender issues, including (but not limited to) women writers, gender and the canon, the literary representation of gender and sexuality, and the ways literature  (as we say) “constructs” or “produces” gender difference and sexual identity.

Why minor in Women’s and Gender Studies?

The minor in Women's and Gender Studies enables students to explore the social and cultural effects of gender difference through two related and overlapping approaches. Women's Studies emphasizes the intellectual, artistic, political, social, economic, and spiritual contributions of women, which traditional scholarship long overlooked or denigrated. Gender Studies extends the interdisciplinary methods of Women's Studies to a broader range of issues, including the social and cultural meanings of masculinity and sexual identity. Both approaches explore the intersections of race, class, nationality, religion and other social categories with gender and sexuality.

Requirements for a minor in Women's and Gender Studies

The Women's Studies minor requires a minimum of 15 semester hours from among the following:

1.         WGST 2322 (Gender: Images and Perspectives)

2.         12 additional hours selected from among the courses approved for the Women's and Gender Studies Program in over 15 departments across Dedman and Meadows.  Of these, 9 must be advanced (3000 or above).

Combining the English Major and Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

The following English courses earn credit towards the Women’s Studies minor, and so would “double-count.”  But you may also choose from the varied course offerings in many other disciplines and departments in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and broadcast media.

ENGL  1360    THE AMERICAN HEROINE

ENGL  3344    VICTORIAN GENDER

ENGL  3364    WOMEN AND THE SOUTHWEST

ENGL  3367    ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

ENGL  3371    JOAN OF ARC

ENGL  3373    MASCULINITIES

ENGL  3377    LITERATURE & THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY

ENGL  3379    CONTEXTS OF DISABILITY

Select courses at the 4000 level are eligible for credit towards the Women’s and Gender Studies Minor when they are relevant. 

For further information, go to the Women’s and Gender Studies website or contact Beth Newman, Director of Women’s Studies (bnewman@smu.edu)