Gender & Women's Studies

Gender and Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary program that examines how systems of oppression/resistance and privilege operate. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of the importance of gender as a category of analysis, and its intersections with race/ethnicity, class, age, sexual identity, and (dis)ability.
   Women's lives today are increasingly shaped by global transformations in work, technology, politics, and popular culture resulting in profound changes in genderroles and expectations. Gender and women's studies explores these issues in both national and global contexts.
   The gender and women's studies faculty are dedicated to creating an environment that fosters critical thinking, supports student activism, and emphasizes faculty/student and peer mentoring. Students are encouraged to question conventional wisdom and to participate actively in their education.
   Gender and women's studies helps prepare students for a variety of careers. Women interested in law, education, politics, business, and the arts will be well prepared by the gender and women's studies major. Understanding the importance of gender in society helps women to have successful careers and lives and to promote social justice and gender equity.

Gender and Women's Studies Internships

Internships and other experiential learning projects are an integral part of the women's studies program. As students become familiar with the field, they can apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to internships that will help them prepare for many different sorts of career opportunities. Students have focused on human rights, immigration, the arts, violence, poverty, peace, and justice. Some possibilities are listed below:

• Awakening Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan
• Battered Women's Shelter, Charlottesville, Va.
• Center for Women and Politics, Washington, D.C.
• First Lady's White House Staff, Washington, D.C.
• Choice, U.S.A., Washington, D.C.
• Guggenheim Productions, New York City
• Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
• Human Rights Council, Washington, D.C.
• Planned Parenthood, Roanoke
• Legal Aid Society, Roanoke
• Ministry of Human Development, Belize City, Belize
• Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, Ala.
• Wildcat Garden for Peace and Education, Williamsburg, Mass.
• Women Make Movies, New York City
• In-Lighten, Roanoke, Va.
• Women's Injury Law Center, Richmond, Va.
• Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga.

Our GWS graduates have gone on to:

• Attend graduate and professional school in medicine, law, international development, nursing, women’s health, social work, and women’s studies
• Work at nonprofit organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Teach for America, United Way, Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program, Armenian Volunteer Corps
• Work at a variety of for-profit and educational organizations, including Apple Computer, The Roanoke Times, University of Chicago, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
  
  

Independent Study
Many students also undertake independent experiential learning projects. Some recent examples:

• A curriculum project to develop a Hollins course titled Confronting Isms
• An examination of the roles of women in the financial industry
• An exploration of the relationship between women's self-assertiveness and date rape
• The establishment of a community garden on campus
• Conducting writing workshops at an all girls' middle school
• Research on birth practices cross-culturally
• Research on women and outdoor leadership
  
  

Theses and Honor Theses:

• Food Activism: Localizing Struggles Against Globalization
• Childbirth and the Internal Colonization of Women's Bodies
• Deconstructing "African AIDS": a Feminist Redress
• The Politics of the Reception of Women's Sexualities in Women's Writing
  
  

Other GWS Activities:

• Public lectures by prominent feminist scholars and activists, including: bell hooks, Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner, Jessica Valenti, Kate Bornstein, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, the Guerrilla Girls
• Biannual potlucks and regular Lunch-a-Month meetings
• International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month celebrations
• Annual Winter Solstice party
• GWS student symposium and farewell party The GWS program also works closely with students involved in campus organizations such as FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance) and CASA (Coalition Against Sexual Assault).

The GWS program also works closely with students involved in campus organizations such as FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance) and CASA (Coalition Against Sexual Assault).

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