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Women Studies

Section: Activism

Education
As a part of activism, most colleges in the United States have begun to adopt Women's Studies and related Gender Studies Departments. Some of the most predominant institutions to boast Women's Studies programs at the undergraduate and graduate level include the UC system (University Of California), universities in Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York. Their websites are open to the public offering general knowledge and information about the field.

Many Women Studies courses are designed to explore the intersectionality of gender and other topics (i.e., gender and science). In gender and science research, the masculinized sciences are explored and critiqued through the feminist view. For example, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Professor of Biology at Brown University, explores biology through the feminist lens. Through her research, she has published many books on the topic including Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexualit in 2000 and The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough.

UC Irvine
Founded in 1975, UC Irvine's Department of Women's Studies explores the study of women, gender, and sexuality. The department takes an interdisciplinary approach and,"...recognize[s] that mainstream definitions of “normal” men and women are the outcomes of an elaborate and evolving system usually involving ideological conflicts and uneven systems. We look at how masculinity and femininity are not natural, pre-given facts lodged in a clear-cut binary system of biological difference, but are products of cultural processes, processes that are often but not always antagonistic."

A sampling of courses offered at UC Irvine include: The course examines how law can both reproduce and reduce inequality by combining political, economic, and historical perspectives to explore the impact of gender, race, class, and sexuality on the theory and practice of law. This course studies the complex and invisible relationship between gender and science. Students will observe the roles of women and men in the scientific and technical professions, the gendering of "science," "nature," biological theories of sexual inequality, scientific studies of sexual orientation, and feminist critiques of scientific methods and knowledge. This three course series focuses on how self-identities, sexual desires, families, nationalism, economics, and global politics are shaped from gender and how gender combines these areas with other aspects of the social structure including race, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and religion.
 * Gender & Law
 * Gender & Science
 * Gender & Feminism Series

UCLA
The UCLA Department of Women's Studies has enjoyed recognition for its interinterdisciplinary feminist scholarship on gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationality, and is currently establishing a reputation in the areas of transnational literary and media studies, postcolonial feminist studies, and studies of settler colonialism. The department's goal is to provide students with critical reasoning and analytical skills and a deep appreciation for the complexities of power and asymmetries in matters of gender, class, and culture over time.

A sampling of courses offered at UCLA include: : The course explores feminist theorists' attempt to describe, explain, and critique masculinity considering race, ethnicity, class, etc. The topics covered include: feminist theories of masculinity, the male body, childhood and adolescent socialization, male violence, homophobia, black masculinity, and men's movements in the 1970s to current, with special emphasis on approaches and methodologies of social science. This course studies the theoretical positions of women and gender in literature and the arts and analyzes the ways in which women and sexuality have been socially constructed within society, considering the impact of race, ethnicity, class, etc.
 * Women Studies 110A Feminist Theory: Perspectives in the Social Sciences
 * Women Studies 110B Feminist Theory: Perspectives in the Humanities

UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz's Feminist Studies Department is one of the largest and most well-regarded gender studies departments in the nation and since 1974, the university has contributed to the development of a body of internationally recognized feminist scholarship. The department examines how relations of gender are embedded in social, political, and cultural foundations. Additionally, UC Santa Cruz's undergraduate program emphasizes theories and practices derived from multiracial and multicultural contexts.

UC Santa Cruz is also home to Angela Davis, an academic popular for promoting the black feminist theory. In 1983, she published Women, Race, and Class and more recently Are Prisoner's Obsolete? in 2003. Like many of her colleagues, Professor Davis worries about the attention and resources afforded to the prison system at the expense of educational institutions. As a result, she has devoted much of her time to advocating for a future without prisons and encouraging others to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.

A sampling of 2013 Winter Courses include: This course examines the nature of scientific practice, the culture of science, and questions the use of responsible practice in science. The course also recognizes the importance of science and technology are the shifting workings of power. Interestingly, this course does not include a feminist critique of science.
 * Feminist Studies 30-01 Feminism and Science
 * FMST 40 - 01 Sexuality and Globalization
 * FMST 211 - 01 Sexuality, Race, and Migration in the Americas

New York University (NYU)
NYU offers six programs in the school's Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, one of which is Gender and Sexuality Studies. The program uses gender and sexuality as a lens to understanding human experience domestically and beyond U.S. borders. The program also challanges the meanings of "male" and "female" and seeks to complicate what is often presented as "natural" or "normal" in traditional academic curricula. Additionally, the Gender and Sexuality Studies challenges a person's privilege to be classified in certain hierarchical categories (i.e., female or heterosexual) over others, along with the social and political implications that follow.

Rutgers University
Rutgers offers a variety of options within the Department of Women's & Gender Studies including Undergraduate, Graduate, M.A. and PhD programs. The first classes appeared in 1973 and finally became instated as a listed department and major in 2001. Since the start, Rutgers has become the number one rated school for programs related to Women and Gender Studies by U.S. News. In 2009-2010 alone, just under 3300 students were enrolled in their undergraduate program.

Toni Cade Bambara was a renowned interdisciplinary professor at Rutgers University. She was also an African American writer, filmmaker, and women’s activist. Rutgers showed their appreciation for the late Bambara with a recollection called Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara. Savoring the Salt ranges from pictures and interviews of Bambara to excerpts from some of her published and unpublished pieces.

Refrences

 * About our Department." Department of Women's Studies. UC Regents, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2012. 
 * "About the Department." UCSC Feminist Studies. Regents of the University of California, n.d. Web. 23 Nov 2012. .
 * "About Us." Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences: Department of Women's and Gender Studies. School of Arts and Sciences. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, n.d. Web. 25 Nov 2012. .
 * "Are Prisons Obsolete? (Open Media Book Series)" Barnes&Noble.com. Barnesandnoble.com llc, 2012. Web. 2 Dec 2012. 
 * "Angela Y. Davis." UCSC Feminist Studies. Regents of the University of California, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2012. .
 * "Class Schedule." UCSC Feminist Studies. Regents of the University of California, n.d. Web. 23 Nov 2012. .
 * "Continuing Students – Major Requirements 2011-2012." UCLA Department of Women's Studies. Women's Studies Department, n.d. Web pdf. 22 Nov 2012. .
 * Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000). Sexing the body: gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07714-5.
 * "Gender & Sexuality Studies." Department of Social & Cultural Analysis. New York University. Web. 23 Nov 2012. .
 * Holmes, Linda J., and Cheryl A. Wall, eds. "Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara." Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences: Faculty Profiles. Department of English Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2012. .
 * "Schedule of Classes." UCLA Registrar's Office. Regents UC. Web. 22 Nov 2012. .
 * "Table of Contents." 2012-13 General Catalogue: University of California, Irvine. University Editor's Office. Web. 1 Dec 2012. .
 * "Undergraduate Courses." Department of Women's Studies. UC Regents, 2012. Web. 20 Nov 2012. .
 * "Women, Race, and Class." Barnes&Noble.com. Barnesandnoble.com llc, 2012. Web. 2 Dec 2012. .
 * "Women's History." ''U.S. News & World Report.com. U.S. News & World Report, 2009. Web. 20 Nov 2012. .
 * "Women's Studies: Welcome to the UCLA Department of Women's Studies." UCLA tomorrow is now. UCLA Department of Women's Studies, 2012. Web. 22 Nov 2012. .