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Why
Women's and Gender Studies?
Women's and Gender Studies offers students unique historical
and
contemporary
perspectives on women's relationships to culture,
society, social
movements, the arts
and many other aspects of human
experience. Women's and Gender Studies explores these issues with an emphasis on the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, clan and theory.
A Few Reasons Women's and Gender Studies is Important
The first ~and still the only~ right that the Constitution specifically affirms as equal for women and men is the right to vote
(www.equalrightsamendment.org).
In Arizona, rape is a Class 2 felony punishable by law for up to ten years. Spousal rape is only a Class 6 felony that judges can reduce to minimal jail-time or probation, which means that raping your spouse carries a smaller penalty than organizing a dogfight
(www.azcentral.com/news//articles/0114spousalrape14.html).
In the English language there are 220 terms to describe a sexually promiscuous woman and only 22 for a sexually promiscuous man (Laurel Richardson, “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language,” 2003).
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes in America.
What to do with a Degree in Women's and Gender Studies
Women's and Gender Studies students find careers in:
Advertising, Advocacy, Civil Rights, Commerce, Communications, Counseling, Crisis Intervention, Cultural Protection, Economic Research & Development, Education, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Protection, Financial Services, Government, Health Care, Hospitality, Human Rights, Human Resources, Journalism, Labor Unions, Law/Legal System, Legislative Reform, Lobbying, Management Consulting, Marketing & Market Research, Media, Medicine, Politics, Psychology, Public Policy & Policy Making, Research, Publishing, Social Services, Social Work, Television & Radio, Theater, the Arts, Trade & International Associations, Women's Rights and Youth Services.
Visit NAU's Gateway Student Success Center (http://www4.nau.edu/gate
way/CareerPlanning/WhatCanIDoWith.htm) for additional information on what to do with a Women's Studies major. Websites for the Women's Studies
at Michigan State (http://www.msu.edu/~wmstdy/wsmjr1.htm)
and Portland State University (http://www.ucsc.edu/
wst/whatcan.html) also contain information about
Women's Studies degrees and employment.