What Can I Do With a Minor in Women’s Studies?

  The Women’s Studies Minor can complement any major—and any life! You can . . .

• serve with the Peace Corp and be better  prepared to understand the issues faced by the women in the international community that you serve
• work for social justice for Planned Parenthood, a rape crisis center, or a domestic violence shelter
• go to graduate school and concentrate your studies on the literary works of a woman author or issues of gender, on the sociology of gender in the Catholic Church, on the roles of coaches dealing with gender identity issues, or on the biology of false body images: every field is influenced by gender studies
• be an advocate for hate crime victims
• teach elementary, junior high, or high school with a better awareness of the issues of gender and sexuality faced by your female and male, heterosexual and gay/lesbian students
• be a better coach—one who understands the influence of gender and who can help his/her athletes to deal with gendered cultural messages and pressures
• run your own business with gender justice in mind, refusing to discriminate on the biases of gender and sexuality and offering work situations that show an understanding of complex gender issues
• understand the ways in which issues of gender influence your boss and your employees—and how to change those influences
• represent clients as a lawyer with special insight into issues that women face (rape, sexual harassment, child custody), with sensitivity toward men and women’s different expectations, and with an awareness of how your gender may influence the perception of your performance in court
• become a therapist who understands how our experiences—traumatic or positive—are influenced by how others understand our biology and our gender
• become a writer—in journalism, of stories or poetry, of critical or scholarly works—with an interest in issues concerning women
• vote on issues with an eye to how they might affect women and men different—and observe the gender politics of political campaigns
• understand how your own behavior is influenced by cultural messages about gender
• choose a partner who understands you better, who you understand better, and who shares your understanding of the roles of men and women in the world
• be a better mom or a dad—one who provides alternative messages about the roles of men and women, thus allowing your child to choose her/his own path and to be happier
• influence lives—of children, of your family, of your neighbors, of your fellow parishioners—so that restrictive gender roles do not limit choices or happiness