{"id":97313,"date":"2023-03-30T08:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T13:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/?post_type=news&p=97313"},"modified":"2024-11-27T14:16:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T20:16:47","slug":"womens-and-gender-studies-2023","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/article\/womens-and-gender-studies-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s and Gender Studies: Giving voice to all perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


More than 50 years ago, when most textbooks were written by men, most courses were taught by men, and women\u2019s history wasn\u2019t discussed, the Women\u2019s Studies program began at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just one year prior in 1970, the first women\u2019s studies program in the nation had begun at San Diego State University. A minor in Women\u2019s Studies was approved at UW-Stevens Point in 1976 and has continued to evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYears ago, women\u2019s studies filled the gap where women\u2019s contributions to society had been overlooked,\u201d said Professor Alice Keefe, current women’s and gender studies (WGS) coordinator and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. \u201cToday, an area of pressing concern is gender as a social construct and the limits it creates on how people understand themselves. Students really like the courses, as they speak to the issues they care about, like the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program was started by Donna Garr, UW-Stevens Point\u2019s equity and affirmative action officer, in the spring of 1971 when courses in women\u2019s history, literature and psychology were offered. A Women\u2019s Studies Committee was formed in the mid-70s, and a minor was proposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the minor requires an Introduction to Women\u2019s and Gender Studies course and 15 credits from a list of electives in areas that include English, history, human development, media studies, psychology, religious studies, sociology and political science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WGS minor has been coordinated by faculty members from various disciplines. In 1979, Joan McAuliffe, sociology, took on the role, followed by Kathy Ackley, English, in 1982, and in 1992, Nancy Bayne, psychology. The curriculum expanded in the 1990s to provide students with an interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the social and cultural constructions of gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent coordinators have included Professor Nerissa Nelson, library, and Professor Rebecca Stephens, English. Lauren Gantz, English, will take the role later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minor has grown from five students in 2020 to nearly 30 in 2023. Students come from all majors and disciplines, from business to social work, Keefe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are seeing robust growth, rising interest and filled classes,\u201d said Keefe. \u201cI see it as a combination of raised political concerns from Black Lives Matter, the \u2018Me Too\u2019 movement and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the fact that students are more aware of political and social issues and the need to address them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lindsey
Lindsey Meyer, an English education major, displays her final project for WSG 105, in which students create posters on a topic that is important to them using what they\u2019ve learned throughout the semester.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The WGS program resonates with Jarita Bavido, Stevens Point, who said she grew up in an environment where women\u2019s voices were not taken seriously. A history, international studies and philosophy major with WGS and art history minors, Bavido said exploring how gender intersects with everything made studies more robust and complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy WGS coursework is the affirmation of my perspective as a woman, that my experience is an asset rather than a liability,\u201d she said. \u201cFor those who have never thought about gender, a course like this is a great way to step outside of traditional boxes and broaden your horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur students are not just concerned with earning money, but making social change and making contributions to society,\u201d Keefe said. \u201cPeople are realizing their rights are not guaranteed, that they have to fight for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students taking WGS courses learn how to think critically, said Keefe, and how to apply an intersectional analysis to social issues to examine how gender bias and codes intersect with and reinforce race, class, sexuality and disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the introductory course, taught by Stephens, students learn how privilege and oppression can empower or take power away, how different layers of identity, such as race, gender and ability, can intersect, and how to put it all together to create social change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving taught this course since 2000, I\u2019ve seen how the field has changed,\u201d said Stephens. \u201cIt\u2019s broadened into a theoretical basis that helps us analyze culture and discuss it in a more intentional way. Students are also more knowledgeable about the ideas we discuss. They are very aware of how these concepts play out in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen\u2019s and Gender Studies goes beyond looking at how women experience the world, but explores how one\u2019s identity shapes their experiences of the world,\u201d said Lindsey Meyer, an English education and psychology major from Auburndale. \u201cThe intro course is for everyone and anyone, as the principles discussed apply to all people who seek a more equitable, inclusive and kind world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many graduates of WGS programs go on to work in social services with diverse populations, Keefe said. They choose careers where they are empowered to be nimble and change with the culture, to work with a team and be sensitive to issues in diversity, equity and inclusion. Both Keefe and Stephens say UW-Stevens Point WGS graduates have the ability to see multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope they make the world more equal for others,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cThat they bring equity and justice into everything they do, in whatever workplace they find, so that all voices are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 50 years ago, when most textbooks were written by men, most courses were taught by men, and women\u2019s history wasn\u2019t discussed, the Women\u2019s Studies program began at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Just one year prior in 1970, the first women\u2019s studies program in the nation had begun at San Diego State University. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":97289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"department":[23,320,27],"news_category":[10,8],"news_tag":[22,327,141,321],"class_list":["post-97313","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","department-cols","department-phil","department-shgs","news_category-faculty-staff","news_category-stories","news_tag-college-of-letters-and-science","news_tag-department-of-philosophy","news_tag-school-of-humanities-and-global-studies","news_tag-womens-and-gender-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/97313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=97313"},{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=97313"},{"taxonomy":"news_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_tag?post=97313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}