Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field drawing from scholarship in the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and business. Gender research addresses how gender conditions the experiences of men and women in society, and also explores how gender impacts human behavior, opportunities for men and women, and knowledge itself.

Our Purpose: The purpose of the Gender Studies program is to involve students in this intellectually challenging and engaging way of examining our world. Gender studies courses examine how social structures including race, class, sexuality, and other factors impact the lived experiences of men and women. Gender studies courses may apply recent ideas in feminist theory to issues in literature, art, psychology, sociology, or business. Gender as a social construction acts as an organizing principal for all Gender Studies courses offered by faculty throughout the university. In addition, implicit in Gender Studies is one of the basic tenets of feminist scholarship—that academic work connects to activist work outside of the academy. The Gender Studies program encourages its minors to pursue this connection through internships, independent studies, and service-learning experiences that connect academic inquiry to social justice work in community agencies or non-profit organizations.

Extracurricular benefits—Gender studies students are involved in many activities outside of the classroom including the Women’s Group, REPP (Rape Education and Prevention Program), and SJU Pride.