Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

What is gender? Why does it matter? How has it shaped the institutions that organize our lives? This course is an introduction to the key issues, questions and debates in the interdisciplinary field of gender and women's studies, with particular emphasis on the ways women's experiences and identities in America are shaped by race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. This course is intended to serve as a foundation for upper-division courses in gender and women's studies.