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Women's Studies - Minor

Women's Studies - Minor

The Women's Studies minor offers a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the experiences and contributions of women throughout history and in contemporary society. With courses in gender, race, sexuality and more, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of social justice issues and be equipped to make a positive impact in your community.

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Minor in Women's Studies

Kent State University's Minor in Women's Studies offers students an interdisciplinary exploration of gender, feminism, and the social, political, and cultural issues affecting women and marginalized groups. The program examines the roles of women in history, society, and across global contexts, while addressing themes such as gender equality, identity, and social justice. Students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of intersectionality, preparing them to analyze the complexities of gender dynamics in various fields. This minor complements many majors and equips graduates for careers in advocacy, education, public policy, social services, and more, empowering them to engage in meaningful conversations and efforts toward gender equity.

Program Information for Women's Studies - Minor

Program Description

Full Description

The Women’s Studies minor offers both diversity and depth of coursework, ranging from feminist humor to feminism as serious theory and world-making practice. Students can immerse themselves in experiential learning via internships and applied work.

Through inventive classes, facilitated engagement in discussion and carefully crafted opportunities for guided independent work, the minor embraces a logic of study initiated from many start-points; grounded in cores of feminist thought, substance and practice; enriched by multiple disciplines and capped by challenge.

The minor's curriculum aims to satisfy students' desire for both a solid foundation in women's studies and a taste of the diverse, complex and often contentious field. The minor's aim is to deliver coursework that speaks to students' very specific scholarly interests as well as to their passions and persuasions, both personal and political.

Admissions for Women's Studies - Minor

Admission Requirements

Admission to a minor is open to students declared in a bachelor’s degree, the A.A.B. or A.A.S. degree or the A.T.S. degree (not Individualized Program major). Students declared only in the A.A. or A.S. degree or the A.T.S. degree in Individualized Program may not declare a minor. Students may not pursue a minor and a major in the same discipline.

Learning Outcomes

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

  1. Acquire and employ new lenses of study into subjects and experiences and very names of "woman" or "women" in contexts wherein such a designation matters.
  2. Employ new approaches to knowledge, new strategies of engagement with "others" as well as peers, new methods of research, new approaches to critical analysis and appraisal and new forms of praxis.
  3. Converse — and become conversant — with multiple feminisms; divergent purposes; and the positions and directions of variant studies, histories and commentaries through aptly selected/combined lenses and filters born of women's studies traditions.
  4. Interrogate and be able to continually interrogate the expansive lexicon of sexed- and gendered-terms to which "woman" as a question and "man" as a given gave rise.
  5. Deepen, expand and invigorate the "thought and theory" that inform the several key fields that continue to inform, challenge and shape the unstaid, unstill universe of women's studies (e.g., sex, gender, feminism, intersectionality, identity politics, sisterhood, womanism).
  6. Understand and build skills to engage in both feminist perspective-taking and actual praxis: the techniques and tools of navigating difference, seeking transversals, meeting demands of fieldwork and attaining goals.
Coursework

Program Requirements

Minor Requirements

Minor Requirements
WMST 20101INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN’S STUDIES: TRADITIONS, TRAJECTORIES, TROUBLES 3
WMST 30001ARENAS FOR FEMINIST THOUGHT: TOUCHY SUBJECTS, UNSETTLED MATTERS AND FEMINIST RESPONSE-ABILITY 3
WMST 30002FEMINIST RESEARCH METHODS 3
or WMST 44321 PIVOTAL PRAXIS: EXPERIMENTS IN ACTIONABLE FEMINISM
Facets of Women's Studies: A Commons for Study and Conversation Electives, choose from the following:6
WMST 30002
FEMINIST RESEARCH METHODS
WMST 30091
KEY CONVERSATIONS THROUGH WOMEN'S STUDIES (DIVD)
WMST 30095
SPECIAL TOPICS IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
WMST 30100
HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES
WMST 30196
WOMEN STUDIES INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION
WMST 30201
WITCHES: THE MONSTROUS FEMININE
WMST 30202
FEMINIST HUMOR: DISARMING LAUGHTER, DISRUPTIVE DISCOURSE
WMST 30301
REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND FEMINISM IN POPULAR CULTURE
WMST 30302
GLOBAL FEMINISMS: A WORLD AND CENTURY OF WOMEN'S ACTIVISM
WMST 32323
RAPE CULTURE: RETHINKING DANGER, POWER, SEX AND FEMINIST FRAMINGS
WMST 40992
PRACTICUM IN WOMEN'S STUDIES (ELR)
WMST 41199
CAPSTONE IN WOMEN'S STUDIES (ELR)
WMST 44321
PIVOTAL PRAXIS: EXPERIMENTS IN ACTIONABLE FEMINISM
Cognate Elective: Inroads and Outroads, choose from the following:3
AFS 33110
BLACK WOMEN, CULTURE AND SOCIETY: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES (DIVD)
COMM 35912
GENDER AND COMMUNICATION (DIVD)
CRIM 37411
WOMEN IN CRIME AND JUSTICE (DIVD)
ENG 21002
INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S LITERATURE (DIVD)
ENG 33013
AFRICANA WOMEN'S LITERATURE (DIVG)
ENG 34021
WOMEN'S LITERATURE (DIVD)
GSS 40591
SEMINAR IN GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES
HDF 44022
CHANGING ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN
HED 44025
WOMEN'S HEALTH ISSUES
HIST 31033
WITCHES AND EUROPEAN HISTORY, 1500-1800
JWST 30100
JEWISH WOMEN IN THE MODERN WORLD
PHIL 31040
FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY (DIVD)
POL 40470
WOMEN, POLITICS AND POLICY (DIVD)
PSYC 40625
DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER ROLE AND IDENTITY (DIVD)
SOC 42315
SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER (DIVD)
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18

Graduation Requirements

Minimum Minor GPA Minimum Overall GPA
2.000 2.000
  • Minimum 6 credit hours in the minor must be upper-division coursework (30000 and 40000 level).
  • Minimum 6 credit hours in the minor must be outside of the course requirements for any major or other minor the student is pursuing.
  • Minimum 50 percent of the total credit hours for the minor must be taken at Kent State (in residence).
Program Delivery
  • Delivery:
    • Fully online
    • In person
  • Location:
    • Kent Campus
    • Stark Campus

Examples of Possible Careers and Salaries for Women's Studies - Minor

Graduates of Kent State’s Minor in Women’s Studies are well-prepared for careers in advocacy, education, social services, and public policy. The program’s interdisciplinary curriculum, which explores gender, feminism, and social justice, equips students with critical thinking and analytical skills to address issues related to gender inequality and social change. Graduates often pursue roles as advocates, educators, nonprofit workers, and policy analysts, contributing to fields such as human rights, education, and community outreach.

Examples of Possible Careers
  • Support services for kids and families navigating gender and sexuality
  • Support services for survivors of violence
  • Women’s health and well-being
  • Work in any of the following fields: advocacy, art, business and industry, communications, counseling, education and training, film, law, medicine, poetry work, politics, public relations, reporting, social policy, theater, writing