The Women's and Gender Studies major is an interdisciplinary program that examines how historical and current constructions of gender impact society. Students engage in the intellectual content of the discipline, which examines women's issues, the role that constructions of gender play in shaping our thinking and social institutions, and the relationship between gender and other aspects of identity, including race, class, age, religion, and sexuality.
Students develop an understanding of gender issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. We aim to show our students the real-life implications of their academic engagement in the context of globalization. Majors learn to recognize the social and ethical implications of knowledge practices and the relationship between theory and practice in both local and global contexts.
We are dedicated to helping students analyze the gendered dimensions of culture, politics, ideas, and texts. Courses explore gender and justice issues and examine relations between feminist scholarship and activism. This major is often combined with another, allowing you to pursue a career in virtually any field.
Undergraduate research, performed under the mentorship of expert faculty, is a central component of The OWU Connection.
We emphasize intellectual curiosity, creativity, initiative, and synthesis. OWU provides opportunities, including traveling abroad, for you to explore an existing problem or develop a totally new avenue of exploration. You can work with a faculty mentor and apply for grant funding—and present your research at the Student Symposium in the spring.
At OWU, you connect the classroom and the real world. A Theory-to-Practice Grant could fund your original research, internship, or creative project throughout the world.
Recently, students have traveled to countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe to conduct research for university-funded grants related to Women's and Gender Study-themed projects.
Build your connections to the professional world with internships from New York to San Francisco - or overseas.
Women's & Gender Studies majors have internship opportunities on campus, in central Ohio, and in premier programs in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. Some use Theory-to-Practice Grants to help fund internships around the world.
Many students intern at the Spectrum Resource Center or the Women's Resource Center on campus.
Take Back the Night is an annual rally and march to empower survivors of sexual, domestic, and gendered violence, and to educate students on the prevalence of violence and the ways to prevent it. Survivors have the opportunity to be heard in front of a supportive audience if they choose to speak out. The rally and march are organized with the support of HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties, Sisters United, SAGE House, and other campus organizations.
The Sexual and Gender Equality House (SAGE) believes that people have different experiences based on their age, race, class, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, ethnicity, etc. Members work as a community to bring successful programming to campus with special consideration of women and members of the LGBTIQA community. While encouraging diversity and fighting oppression and restrictive freedoms, SAGE provides a safe space for women and is a resource for those who believe in promoting gender equality on campus.
The Spectrum Resource Center helps provide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer/questioning persons, their friends, their families, and allies with the tools to address LGBTIQA related issues and to assist in educating the campus community at large. The center provides reference materials, sponsors LGBTIQA programming on campus, meets the need for LGBTIQA safe zones on campus, and incorporates LGBTIQA issues into curricular and co-curricular learning.
The Women's Resource Center aims to promote gender equality in the Ohio Wesleyan and local communities. The WRC provides information and programs to empower women to deal with the unique challenges they face on campus and to become advocates for women in the local, national, and international sphere.
After graduating, Holley was accepted into the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. While at OWU, Holley was a member of OWU's Moot Court competition team.
Ohio Wesleyan Student Completes Coursework, Research in Southern Africa
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Ohio Wesleyan Senior’s Internship Helps Share Community-Improvement Work in Ecuador
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Take your passions onto an Interfaith Service Team, teams that go throughout the US during Spring Break to perform service trips. At least one trip a year works with the LGBTQIA population of urban areas.
Staring in 2016, SAGE moved into the brand-new Dittrick House on the JAYwalk, next door to the Interfaith House. The house was made possible by gifts from Doug Dittrick '55.
SlutWalk is a demonstration against rape culture, sexual assault, and the blaming of victims for sexual violence committed against them. The event is sponsored by Sisters United, Peace and Justice House, Women’s House, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
