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Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (W-S) 

College of Liberal Studies
Department Chair: Sandra Krajewski
423A Wimberly Hall, 608-785-8732
e-mail: krajewsk.sand@uwlax.edu 
www.uwlax.edu/WomensStudies  

Professor: Krajewski, S.;
 Associate Professor: Hoskins; 
Co-faculty: Anderson, Bratina, Chavalas, Crutchfield, Delgado, Haupert, Lloyd, Manrique, McMurran, Miller, C.D., Morgan, Niedzwiecki, Pandit, Rees, Scherwitz, Sullivan, Vandenberg-Daves, Williams, Wycoff-Horn; 
Self-Sufficiency Program (SSP): McAnany 

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — Women’s studies courses are designed to provide students with a new perspective on the roles of women and men as individuals and as participants in society. Based on research and analysis by women’s studies scholars, the courses help students evaluate assumptions about “women’s roles” and “men’s roles,” provide alternative explanations of gender roles and offer students of both sexes diverse models and alternatives for their own lives. The courses help include women in the standard curriculum and promote research about the now lost or neglected history of women’s culture and of significant women. One goal of women’s studies is to help create a new, humanistic curriculum which releases both men and women from stereotyped roles and expectations and encourages them to develop their full individual potentials.

The department provides interdisciplinary courses and specialized courses are currently offered in many departments of the university. Students may earn a minor in women’s studies. 

Self-Sufficiency Program (SSP)
In addition to the following courses, the department of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies sponsors the Self-Sufficiency Program (SSP). This program, which concentrates on critical reading, writing and thinking, prepares low-income parents for successful college work. Classes meet one night per week and child care is provided. For more information, call the director of the Self-Sufficiency Program at (608) 785-8733. 

Women’s Studies Minor (All colleges) — 24 credits Required courses: one course selected from W-S 100, 210, or 230, plus 499, and nine additional credits within the department of women’s studies, with at least six credits at the 300-level or above. Nine credits must also be taken from approved courses in other departments.  Consult the women’s studies department for a complete course listing. 

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W-S    100   Cr. 3
Gender, Race, and Class in American Institutions
This course provides an introduction to how gender, race and class have intertwined over time to produce women’s social roles and status in American culture. The creation, transmittal, interpretation and institutionalization of gender roles will be examined using family and kinship, the educational system, the media, work, government and the health care system. The course provides a critical, interdisciplinary perspective on scholarship which omits or distorts the female experience. 

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W-S    210   Cr. 3
Women’s Voices/Women’s Culture
An examination of how women have expressed female experience in a variety of forms, including fiction, autobiography, oral traditions, and song. By analyzing women’s words and forms of self-expression, students will explore what is individual and what is common in women’s lives, and will learn tools for understanding female experience and culture. Offered Sem. I. 

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W-S    230   Cr. 3
Women’s Diversity:   Race, Class, and Culture
This course explores the diversity of women’s experience in America as it has been affected by race, ethnicity, class, and other factors, and the effects of gender on women of different groups. Issues that have united and divided women in movements for social change are also addressed.  

W-S    240  Cr. 3 
Contemporary Women’s Issues
Contemporary women’s issues will provide the student with an overview of women’s studies scholarship from the late 1960’s to the present. Contemporary theory, social change movements, and women’s lives will be integrated in order to examine the relationship between theory and practice in women’s studies. Offered occasionally. 

W-S    250 Cr. 1-3
Topics in Women’s Studies
Intermediate and interdisciplinary analysis of a social issue, idea or institution from the perspective of women and Women’s Studies. Repeatable for credit. Department approval is necessary to apply more than three credits toward the W-S minor. Offered occasionally. 

W-S    255   Cr. 1
Women in the Military
This course will provide students with an understanding of the struggles and successes of women’s lives in the U.S. Military. Beginning with an historic overview of women’s changing roles in the military, it will proceed to analyze the reasons for the limitations to women’s equal participation. Finally, the course will recognize the accomplishments of women in the military. Offered Sem. II. 

W-S/PSY/ESS    259     Cr. 1
Girls and Women in Sport
An introduction to the involvement of girls and women in sport. Topics include a historical perspective on women’s sport participation, cultural images of women athletes, physiological and psychological benefits of sport participation as well as negative correlates, teaching and coaching implications of current research, Title IX, and recreation/leisure approaches to physical activity. (Cross-listed with ESS and PSY; may only earn credit in ESS, PSY, or W-S.) 

W-S    260   Cr. 3
Women in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest
An exploration of the experience of a variety of women in our region: American Indians, Blacks, and European immigrants; urban women and homesteaders; single and married women; and their roles as settlers, family members, and community builders. The course emphasizes sources and concepts for understanding female experience in a regional context. Offered occasionally. 

W-S    270   Cr. 3
Women and Friendship
An examination of women’s friendships historically, psychologically, sociologically, and politically in the context of a sexist, racist, classist, and homophobic culture. Beginning with defining friendships in women’s lives and continuing through a woman’s life span, the course will go on to examine how sociocultural changes have interrupted women’s friendship in the past and the present. Women’s friendships with women, men, kin, and mentors will be examined. Lastly, women’s friendships will be explored as a way to reconstruct community. Offered every two years. 

W-S    300 Cr. 1-3
Independent Study
Topics to be selected by the individual instructor or by the student and instructor together. The topics must relate to women’s experiences and/or issues. Prerequisite: W-S 100 and consent of the department chairperson. Repeatable for credit — maximum 6.  

W-S    320   Cr. 3
Violence Against Women
This course will examine from an interdisciplinary perspective, the connections between violence against women and the power distributions within our society. Three specific types of violence against women will be examined in-depth: sexual assault, incest and battering. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or 210 or 230. 

W-S    330/530 Cr. 1-3
Topics: Women, Gender, and Society 
Interdisciplinary analysis of a social issue, idea, or institution from the perspective of women and women’s studies. Prerequisite: W-S 100 for undergraduates only. Repeatable for credit. Department approval is necessary to apply more than three credits toward the W-S minor.  

W-S    340   Cr. 3
Women, Learning, and Knowledge
An analysis of how women’s learning experience has been and continues to be limited by conceptions of gender, race, and class. Through an examination of how knowledge is acquired and how society defines knowledge, students will come to a better understanding of how women can “reclaim” their educations. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or 210 or 230. Offered occasionally. 

W-S/HIS  370 Cr. 3
The History of Black Women’s Activism
An historical overview of the thoughts, actions, and creative products of Black women activists in the United States, from slavery to the present. Students will examine historical analyses, speeches, essays, economic activities, organizational styles, political issues, and various forms of artistic expression that women of African descent have produced in order to query, resist, and defy the interlocking oppressions of racism, sexism, and classism in the United States. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or 210 or 230. (Cross-listed with HIS 370; may only earn credit in W-S or HIS.) Offered every other year. 

W-S/HIS  371 Cr. 3
Women, Agriculture, and the Environment
Beginning with the ancient notion that the earth was both alive and female, a concept indigenous to western as well as other cultures, this course will examine subsequent ideas that have historically shaped attitudes and actions toward women and the earth, especially as those values and actions have affected agriculture in the U.S. The course will examine such topics as the roles of women as builders of community in the rural world; the impact of the industrializing of the production of food and fiber on concepts of femininity; the development of the modern corporate state and its impact on women and agriculture; and how women and men are working to re-shape the way we see, think about, and act on, and interact with the earth. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or 210 or 230. (Cross-listed with HIS; may only earn credit in W-S or HIS.) Offered every other year. 

W-S    410   Cr. 3
Women’s Issues in the “Third World”
A broad overview of women’s issues in AALA (Africa, Asia, and Latin America), this course will investigate the impact of colonialism, unilateral economic imperialism, and multinational corporations on women’s traditional roles in AALA and explore the processes that have produced both women’s and feminist movements in these regions of the world. Exploring the meaning of women’s movements in international politics following the Mexico City, Nairobi, and Beijing conferences, the course will analyze relationships between women in the U.S. and the women of AALA. Topics might include: the international economic power of U.S. women as consumers, international labor issues and organizing, environmental issues for U.S. and AALA women, and the challenges of AALA feminisms. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or 210 or 230, and another 300-level W-S course or cross-listed course. Offered occasionally. 

W-S    450 Cr. 1-6
Internship in Women’s StudiesThe internship is an academically relevant field experience for minors in women’s studies which combines women’s studies scholarship with practical experience. The field experience will be supervised by the women’s studies staff. Prerequisite: junior standing and six credits of women’s studies and a minimum 2.50 GPA. A maximum of three credits will be counted toward the minor. Repeatable for credit — maximum 6. 

W-S    499   Cr. 3
Seminar in Women’s Studies
Intensive interdisciplinary study of particular areas in women’s studies. Topics will be chosen by the instructor and the students. Prerequisite: W-S 100 or W-S 210 or W-S 230, at least two other courses approved for the women’s studies minor, and declared Women’s Studies minor.

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