|
|
What can I do with a major in Women and Gender Studies?
A Women and Gender Studies major offers you the same benefits as any other liberal arts degree.
According to the ASU General Catalog, "The college provides a particularly rich and varied set of opportunities for students to gain the kind of liberal education that helps to prepare them for a lifetime of continued learning and application of knowledge in a diverse and ever-changing world." A liberal arts degree demonstrates to a potential employer that you have the intelligence, confidence, work skills, and maturity to do the work it takes to earn a college degree. It also tells that employer that you are a well-rounded person; you have studied a wide variety of topics, rather than one narrow skill area, and you likely are able to think more globally than many other applicants for their positions.
However, a Women and Gender Studies major offers you a significant additional benefit.
Unlike any other liberal arts major, where you may never study about women and where you may have only one or two classes that consider diversity, with a major in Women and Gender Studies, you have completed a balanced program of study that takes into consideration issues of gender, race, and class as integral parts of your education. Forward-thinking employers more and more will be looking for employees with this broad perspective.
As Larissa Semenuk says in the 1995 book Women and Gender Studies Graduates: The First Generation," The major allows/prepares one to do anything any other liberal arts major does but with deeper insight into issues of oppression and celebration of women. Hopefully, this insight carries over into important issues of other groups--making one more sensitive and therefore more prepared to do all things/jobs with greater attention to ethical standards. A Women and Gender Studies major is taught to look for the hidden--like looking for the silenced voices of women in history. It's invaluable!" (19).
In a survey done for a Program Review, our graduates reported many different post- graduation activities:
- political and judicial research,
- rape research,
- sexual abuse therapy counseling,
- department store management,
- full-time motherhood,
- hospital staff nursing,
- job developer/trainer for Arizona Women's Education and Employment (AWEE),
- high school teaching,
- community college teaching,
- vocational counseling with Maricopa County,
- Master's and Ph.D. studies in Justice, Law, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Public Administration, employment at Motorola,
- program advising at Mesa Community College,
- retail,
- working with natural products,
- staff of Arizona Women's Town Hall,
- staff of ASU Commission on the Status of Women,
- Accounts Coordinator for a public relations firm.
Even such a limited sample as this survey produced affirms the importance and value of the Women and Gender Studies degrees earned at ASU. Check out our course listings to see where you might like to begin!