Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that investigates how gender and sexuality operate as organizing axes of social, cultural, economic and political institutions, as well as in the everyday lives and cultural products of people who must live within them. Emphasizing the importance of historical and cross-cultural perspectives, the Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies Department at UMBC critically examines the intersections of gender and sexuality with other differences, including, class, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and ability to make visible structures of power that otherwise remain hidden.

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The major in gender and women’s studies consists of 36 credits, divided as follows:

ELECTIVE CREDITS (21 credits) – Twelve (12) credits must be spread across the three content areas as designated below. The additional nine (9) credits may be from any non-Core approved GWST courses, including topics courses (GWST 290, 292, 390, 392, 490, 492). Six (6) of the twenty-one (21) credits must be designated Range of Experience (RoE) courses. While all GWST courses are designed to explore multiple diversities, Range of Experience (RoE) courses focus specifically on intersections of gender with race/ethnicity, class, nation, gender identity, and/or sexual orientation, for example.

NOTES:

• A C or better is required in all courses applied toward the certificate
• A maximum of six (6) credits of GWST electives may be taken at the 200 level
• A maximum of three (3) GWST independent study credits may be counted toward the major
• A maximum of three (3) GWST internship credits may be counted toward the major