WGS Major

The flexibility of the Women’s and Gender Studies major makes it ideal for combining with other majors for a double major. Popular choices for double majors include Journalism and Mass Communication, Political Science, History, Sociology, History and Human Relations. The Women’s and Gender Studies major requires 33 hours of coursework divided into 3 sequences: Foundations, Electives, and Theory & Research. The Foundations Sequence offers a cohesive foundational experience for students with little or no previous exposure to WGS and LGBTQ Studies. The Electives Sequence offers flexibility in electives that can be tailored to a student's individual interests. Finally, the Theory & Research Sequence is designed for advanced study that allows students to work closely with faculty members and their peers over the course of their junior and senior years to produce original research that reflects their overall course of study.

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The major is 33 hours:

• Foundations Sequence (9 credit hours total)
  • WGS 1003: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (3 hours)
  • LGBT 1003: Introduction to LGBTQ Studies (3 hours)
  • Choose one of the following:
    • WGS 3123: Social Justice and Social Change (3 hours)
    • WGS 3233: Women Creating Social Change (3 hours)
    • WGS/LGBT 3263: LGBTQ Movements (3 hours)
• Electives Sequence (15 credit hours total; 6 hours must be upper division)
  • Choose four courses with a WGS or LGBT designation (3 hours each) 
  • Choose one course outside of WGS/LGBT that focus centrally on exploration of gender, sexuality, and/or women's lives
• Theory & Research Sequence (9 credit hours total) 
  • Choose one of the following:
    • Contemporary Feminist Thought (3 hours) 
    • LGBT/WGS 3273: Queer Theory (3 hours) 
  • WGS 4233: Feminist Research Methods (3 hours) 
  • WGS 4003: WGS Capstone (3 hours) 

Please see OU Course Catalog for a complete list of courses available.

The Women's and Gender Studies Internship (WGS 4013) is designed to provide students an opportunity to relate their academic experience to women's and gender issues in the community by working in an community or nonprofit organization. The internship will run parallel to an academic semester, and students are required to complete a minimum 135 hours over the course of the semester.

Students are required to find their own agency or organization. For ideas, please see our list of previous internship sites below. Students are responsible for applying for and securing the internship before the semester begins. It is expected that the internship will give the student a good overall perspective on the work the organization does as well as give the student specific tasks in appropriate areas of the organization.

To enroll in the course, please complete the following and submit to Susy Jorgenson.