Bachelor of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program is a cross-disciplinary program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The program offers students opportunities to analyze issues concerning women, gender, and sexuality in diverse cultural contexts and to investigate a variety of disciplines from feminist perspectives. The field of women's and gender studies creates an understanding that interrelated factors--e.g., race, ethnicity, class, age, disability, gender identity, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation--inform knowledge of women’s history, culture, and social roles.

Women’s and Gender Studies seeks to improve critical thinking and to provide students with the intellectual means to question prevailing assumptions. It encourages students to explore the contexts and ideological origins of knowledge and to examine the relationship between knowledge and power in society. By promoting social justice and inclusion, this area of study focuses on the connections between personal experience and political activity, and validates student contributions and voices.

Graduates from this program are skilled in critical thinking, research methods, and effective communication. Because they have developed a thorough understanding of gender, race, and class, graduates work effectively with employers, colleagues, and clients to analyze and solve complex social problems. Women's and Gender Studies students also acquire strong backgrounds for careers in areas such as counseling, education, human resources, international development, public policy, politics, business, and law. The program includes core and cross-listed courses in anthropology, history, economics, English, history, health and human performance, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, speech communication, and world languages and cultures. An undergraduate major requires a minimum 2.00 GPA in the 34 credits of core and cross-listed courses.

We educate future leaders and citizens with a global perspective, conduct research and scholarship of international significance, and share our knowledge to benefit Iowa, the nation, and the world.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the university’s core college, providing the educational foundation for all Iowa State students. We are deeply committed to student success, helping students acquire the intellectual depth and breadth to become knowledgeable, inquisitive, and creative citizens and leaders, ready to address the challenges of the 21st century. We embrace discovery and creativity as part of what it means to be human, and as essential activities to ensure a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants.

We conduct world-class research at the most advanced scientific and societal frontiers, seeking new discoveries, innovative applications, and new technologies in a socially responsible manner that integrates scientific findings with the unique historical, cultural, and political environments of communities across the globe. True to the university’s land-grant mission, we share our knowledge with a wide range of audiences, to the benefit of Iowa, the nation, and the world.