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Students in a women's, gender, and sexuality studies class

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

UW-Eau Claire’s women's, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS) bachelor’s degree program will encourage you to think critically about how systems such as colonialism and patriarchy produce unequal power dynamics that shape how race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, among other social categories, are understood and experienced. The WGSS major equips students with theories and research methods for advancing equity, diversity, inclusivity, and creating a more socially just world.

Available as
Certificate, Major, or Minor
Description

Explore Women's Experiences in Our Society

The WGSS degree at ÌÇÐÄVlog is the only of its kind in Northwestern Wisconsin. Its diverse offerings are rooted in social justice advocacy and introduce students to research on women’s activism and feminist theories, LGBTQ+ identities and experiences and Hmong histories and communities. During coursework, you may learn about LGBTQ+ activist movements. Domestic immersion programs include studying the achievements of women leaders involved in the American Civil Rights Movement through a 10-day excursion to historically significant locations in the U.S. South. Additional opportunities include a winterim study abroad trip to India, where you will learn about gender in relation to Indian law and public policy.

To further prepare you for your chosen career, all WGSS majors are required to do an internship before graduating. You may work collaboratively with community nonprofits or campus organizations such as the Black and Brown Womyn Power Coalition, the Chippewa Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center, the Community Table, the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, the Family Support Center/Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault (CASA), Western Wisconsin Dairyland, the Intersectional Women’s Center, and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center while conducting critical research along the way.

The interdisciplinary and critical perspectives learned in WGSS courses enrich all fields of study, so graduates are well-prepared to do work in a variety of fields. Graduates of the program have gone on to pursue careers ranging from writing for feminist and LGBTQ publications to owning small businesses to organizing community outreach programs for diverse and marginalized populations to pursuing a graduate degree in a variety of fields. No matter your path, you’ll find that a degree in WGSS benefits both you and your community.

Degree Types

Program Details

Degree Types
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Degree Level undergraduate
Available asCertificate, Major, or Minor
Program Length 4 years
Campus
Eau Claire
Offered
On Campus
Requires a minor Yes
Authored on
Hallmarks
A women's history flag on a campus lightpole
Impactful Learning

While pursuing your studies, you’ll participate as a leader in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusivity initiatives. Your interdisciplinary education will include learning about women’s history, LGBTQ+ history/community/politics, global and transnational feminist perspectives, cross-cultural dynamics and social justice activism. This first-hand experience not only leads to real change but also gives you an inside look at what you’ll be doing with your degree.

REGSS awards dinner attendees
Preparation for What’s Next

Courses throughout the major are socially and personally relevant, preparing you for meaningful work following graduation. Through projects, discussions, and presentations, you’ll explore the intersections among sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, cisgenderism, ableism, ageism, and other forms of oppression, as well strategies for resisting oppressions, fostering diverse and conscientious communities, and developing sustainable and equitable social, political, and economic resources. The WGSS degree is known for shaping engaged citizens and producing successful agents of change.

Facts List

Just
the
facts

100% Employed or Continuing Education
Every 2022-2023 graduate from this major is currently employed or continuing their education.
Real-World Experience Before You Graduate
100% of Blugolds in this major complete an internship prior to graduating.
Outcomes Image
PRIDE event students and staff
What can I do

Where can the women's, gender, and sexuality studies program lead me after graduation?

The WGSS program is a site of social change and activism as much as theory. The goal of the field is to develop critical feminist methodologies and theories, providing students with the resources to employ intersectional and transnational analyses effectively while also integrating theory with activism whenever possible and advocating for social justice.

The interdisciplinary and critical perspectives learned in the program enrich all fields of study, so graduates are well-prepared to do work in a variety of fields. With a WGSS degree, you can pursue career in education, women’s rights organizations, gender, and sexuality institutes, LGBTQIA+ resource centers, universities, non-profit organizations, women, and international development, health and social services, public service, philanthropy, business, media, government agencies, hospitals, newspapers and more.

Example Careers

  • Human rights advocate
  • Multicultural students’ services centers
  • EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)-related positions
  • Sexual violence victims' and survivors’ advocate
  • Refugee crisis center worker
  • Health clinic coordinator
  • Journalist
  • Archivist
  • Union organizer

Recent Graduates

Adolescent Reproductive Health Educator
Deschutes County Health Services

Assistant Director
Hoard Historical Museum

Associate Director
ÌÇÐÄVlog's Gender and Sexuality Resource Center

Associate Professor
Winona State University

City Council Member
City of Eau Claire

Domestic Violence Program Director
Family Support Center

Prevention Specialist
AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin

Youth Advocate
Rainbow House

Courses information
SampleCourses

Women's, gender, and sexuality studies is an interdisciplinary major that draws from the humanities, social sciences, arts and natural sciences. Curriculum within the program will help you to make important connections between your learning, your own life and the globally interconnected world. Coursework will encourage you to advocate for racial, gender, and other forms of social justice — both on campus and in the larger community — and examine the lived experiences of marginalized groups impacted by systems of power.

Most WGSS courses incorporate small and/or large group discussions as well as opportunities for critical reflection and self-assessment. Classes also allow for the collection of interviews and oral histories with community activists and members of elder generations. Through individual and group presentations, you will help lead the facilitation of course materials, learning, and teaching alongside your classmates. 

Here are a few courses in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UW-Eau Claire.

WGSS 100

Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

This course examines how feminist scholarship offers critical tools for understanding how lived experiences of gender, race, class, sex, and sexuality intersect with colonial, capitalist, and other systems of power.

WGSS 206

Perspectives in LGBTQ Studies

Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural examination of heterosexism, LGBTQ social movements, and social policies that affect LGBTQ rights through the lenses of feminist and queer theories. Exposure to LGBTQ representations in literature, media, film, and popular culture.

WGSS 300

Introduction to Feminist Theories

Explore a range of feminist intellectual traditions in their original contexts and develop theoretical analyses of contemporary issues.

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Meet the Faculty

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American Indian Studies Program
Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department
Director
Associate Professor
Tribal Consultation Policy Liaison
Academic Advisor
Jennifer Chapman
Music and Theatre Arts Department
Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department
Professor of Theatre Arts
What's Next

What's Next?

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