Catalog 2024–2025

Gender & Women’s Studies Minor

Contact: Ellen Meiser, Ph.D.
Email: emeiser@hawaii.edu

The Gender and Women’s Studies Program brings together faculty and students from a variety of disciplines to investigate the status and position of women as participants in past and contemporary societies. Students will explore gender-based issues from an historical, literary, and multi-cultural perspective.

Mission

The Gender and Women’s Studies Program at UH Hilo promotes an interdisciplinary understanding of how race, class, sexuality, nation and other elements of diversity intersect with the study of women and categories of gender. Our mission is to cultivate active leadership skills and a sense of responsibility grounded in a critical social justice approach to individual and collective transformation in Hawaiʻi and beyond. In the UH Hilo Gender and Women’s Studies program, empowerment of students has both inward and outward goals. Inwardly, Gender and Women’s Studies enables students to extricate themselves in a constructive and intelligent manner from reductive structures or conflicts. This empowerment enhances self-esteem, creating a strong and positive attitude that encourages further education. Outwardly, the student of Gender and Women’s Studies learns to challenge institutional barriers, demonstrates leadership in the workplace, and acquires an increased awareness of working with others of different cultures and genders. Our curriculum advances both of these goals to inspire students as agents of change.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students completing the Gender and Women’s Studies minor will have a firm understanding of the role of gender and sexual identity in a variety of areas including history, health, geography, culture, politics, literature, and language. Furthermore, the major or minor will enhance preparation for a number of professional and post-graduate areas including government, law, industrial relations, social services, politics, medicine, and education.

  1. Identify and analyze the intersections among gender, sexuality, and other socially meaningful constructions such as race, class, religion, nation, and ethnicity.
  2. Acquire critical theoretical perspectives and apply a range of methods to the study of history, society, media, science, culture, and other human endeavors.
  3. Apply feminist and queer inquiries to the construction of gender, representations of sexuality and sexual identity, and the differential power structures that create, replicate, and contest these social categories.
  4. Locate and examine one’s own gender roles and question assumptions (including heteronormativity) that impact everyday life and relationships in order to promote health, advocacy, and social justice.
  5. Delineate historical and contemporary aspects of feminism, social justice activism, and women’s contributions to culture, politics, and society.
  6. Demonstrate clear, logical, and critical thinking about the theory and practice of gender roles in a global context.
  7. Communicate effectively in verbal and written form.

Requirements (18 Credits)

Required Courses (9 Credits)

  • WS 151 Intro Gender & Women's Studies (3)
  • Feminist Theory in Practice (Choose one)
    • PHIL 375 Feminist Philosophy (3)
    • GEOG 382 Qualitative Research (3)
    • GEOG 430 Gender, Place and Environment (3)
    • SOC 328 Gender, Crime, and Justice (3)
    • SOC 407 Gender Inequality inPopCulture (3)
    • ENG 323 The Literature of Hawaiʻi (3)
    • ENG 423 Post-Colonial Literature (3)
  • Capstone (Choose one)
    • WS 495 Women's Studies Seminar (3)
    • WS 391 Intern Gender & Women Studies (3)

Note: Other courses may count toward the capstone requirement, please discuss with GWS Advisor.

Elective Courses (9 Credits)

Choose 9 credits from the electives listed below, students must take courses in at least 2 categories. A maximum of 6 credits from 200-level courses and a maximum of 6 credits from the same discipline are allowed.

Indigenous and Global Perspectives:

  • ANTH 320 Cross-Cultural Study Of Women (3)
  • ANTH 324 Culture, Sex And Gender (3)
  • ENG 200G Intro Graphic Novels & Comics (3)
  • ENG 200E Lit Genres: Myth/Folklore (3)
  • ENG 201 Global Cinema (3)
  • ENG 202 Literature of Human Rights (3)
  • ENG 204 Intr Race/Gender Film Studies (3)
  • ENG 205 Hawaiʻi on Screen (3)
  • ENG 206 Intro to Popular Culture (3)
  • ENG 257 Multicultural Literature (3)
  • ENG 323 The Literature of Hawaiʻi (3)
  • ENG 355 Women in Modern Lit & Film (3)
  • ENG 418 American Women Writers (3)
  • ENG 423 Post-Colonial Literature (3)
  • ENG 430 Pacific Islands Literature (3)
  • ENG 442 Romantic Literature (3)
  • ENG 448 Graphic Novels and Comics (3)
  • ENG 480 Women and Rhetoric (3)
  • GEOG 312 Food and Societies (3)
  • HIST 401 Women in Hawaiian History (3)
  • HIST 411 Family & Gender in Oceania (3)
  • JPNS/JPST 361 Girls and Women in Japan (3)
  • JPNS/JPST 373 Performance Across Cultures (3)
  • JPNS/JPST 384 Gender & Japanese Performance (3)
  • JPNS/JPST 385 Postwar Japn through Film (3)
  • LING 356 Language and Gender (3)
  • PHIL 304 Race, Ethics & Cultural Diversity (3)
  • PHIL 370 Indigenous&American Philosophy (3)
  • POLS 327 Law and Culture (3)
  • SOC 300 Family in World Perspective (3)
  • SOC 340 Socialization & Identity (3)
  • SOC 407 Gender Inequality inPopCulture (3)
  • SOC 409 Seminar in Social Movements (3)
  • SPAN 368 Gender & Women LatAm Lit/Film (3)
  • SPAN 369 Lat&Glob Docum&Film:Crit Analy (3)

Leadership and Community:

  • ANTH 324 Culture, Sex And Gender (3)
  • COM 207 Gender and Communication (3)
  • COM 420 Family Communication (3)
  • COM 470 Dark Side of Communication (3)
  • ENG 430 Pacific Islands Literature (3)
  • GEOG 312 Food and Societies (3)
  • GEOG 430 Gender, Place and Environment (3)
  • KES 202 Health Promotion (3)
  • MUS 359 Music and Activism (3)
  • PHIL 270 Love and Sex (3)
  • PHIL 304 Race, Ethics & Cultural Diversity (3)
  • PHIL 307 Social Epistemology (3)
  • PHIL 355 Philosophy of Sport (3)
  • PHIL 375 Feminist Philosophy (3)
  • PHIL 393 Normality, Abnormality & Soc (3)
  • PHIL 416 Science, Technology & Human Values (3)
  • POLS 328 Visual Politics (3)
  • PSY 325 Psychology Of Women (3)
  • PSY 385 Women & Health (3)
  • SOC 320 Stratification & Inequality (3)
  • SOC 328 Gender, Crime, and Justice (3)
  • SOC/WS 409 Seminar in Social Movements (3)
  • WS 301 Women in Science (3)

Critical Ethnic Studies:

  • COM 461 Race and Gender in Media (3)
  • COM 465 Comm and Popular Culture (3)
  • ENG 204 Intr Race/Gender Film Studies (3)
  • ENG 205 Hawaiʻi on Screen (3)
  • ENG 206 Intro to Popular Culture (3)
  • ENG 257 Multicultural Literature (3)
  • ENG 323 The Literature of Hawaiʻi (3)
  • ENG 355 Women in Modern Lit & Film (3)
  • ENG 418 American Women Writers (3)
  • ENG 430 Pacific Islands Literature (3)
  • ENG 448 Graphic Novels and Comics (3)
  • ENG 480 Women and Rhetoric (3)
  • PHIL 304 Race, Ethics & Cultural Diversity (3)
  • PHIL 370 Indigenous&American Philosophy (3)
  • PHIL 375 Feminist Philosophy (3)
  • POLS 327 Law and Culture (3)
  • POLS 332 Race, Gender, & the Body (3)
  • SOC 300 Family in World Perspective (3)
  • SOC 310 Race & Ethnic Relations (3)
  • SOC 320 Stratification & Inequality (3)
  • SOC 340 Socialization & Identity (3)
  • SOC 409 Seminar in Social Movements (3)

Notes:

  1. Courses taken may not fulfill more than one category or requirement.
  2. Required courses taken cannot also fulfill elective requirements
  3. Students should consult with the GWS advisor each semester as applicable courses (not listed in the catalog) are offered from time to time.
  4. Students also may take up to six credits of discipline-based directed study (299, 399, or 499) from a participating GWS faculty member, please see the Gender and Womenʻs Studies Minor advisor for pre-approval.