Women′s Studies
About the Program
Women’s Studies explores gender as a category of analysis central to understanding human civilizations. Historian Susan Armitage writes, “Whether one is male or female is, for the most part, a biological fact. But the roles, values, and behaviors people assign to that fact are enormously varied across time, and across cultures.” Gender refers to concepts of manhood and womanhood that shape divisions of labor, family structure, social identity, civil law, sexual mores, and political rights. These structures and practices, in turn, define access to privilege and opportunity. Thus, power relations are encoded in gender. At the same time, gender is mediated by other categories of identity and positioning, such as class, race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. In addition, gender systems are dynamic; they both inform and are influenced by changes in the cultural landscape. Such change may surface through representations of masculinity and femininity in literature, the fine arts, religion, psychology, the sciences, the mass media, and popular culture. History and anthropology/sociology also provide lenses through which to study gender, across time and across cultures, respectively. In short, the analysis of gender is a complex enterprise that requires interdisciplinary investigation.
Over the past thirty-five years, scholars in the field have opened new lines of inquiry and generated ground-breaking knowledge. They have pioneered new methods of investigation, and sophisticated tools for critical thinking and analysis. The Rhodes College Women’s Studies Program offers courses from 18 different professors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Students can choose to minor in Women’s Studies, or they can explore Women’s Studies courses without pursuing the minor.
