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What Students are saying about GWOS..
"There are not many classes that we can use in our future endeavors but this class will be an asset for me for the rest of my life."
"Overall, it was a tremendous class...I learned how to become a better, more caring and conscious, person and this is information that is more valuable than anything. I believe in the future, that more men like myself will try to see that we are often the problem, facilitating a more equal and just society."
What is Gender and Women's Studies?
The Gender and Women’s Studies Department at Monterey Peninsula College is committed to the study of diverse identities of gender. Our students take courses that investigate common assumptions about gender and the political, cultural, institutional, and economic impacts of gender in the lives of women, men, and gender-queer people. Students learn how to apply critical and interdisciplinary methods highlighting the racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and sexual diversity of gender experience. Students who take Gender and Women’s Studies courses are able to satisfy General Education requirements and they have the option of earning an AA (Associates of the Arts) degree in this exciting contemporary field or an AA-T degree in Social Justice Studies with a Gender and Women's Studies concentration!
Who takes Gender and Women’s Studies Courses?
Many students take courses in Gender and Women’s Studies because they are interested in learning more about diversity and the role of gender in society and culture. People of all genders take Gender and Women’s Studies courses because they want to study topics that are personally meaningful to them as well as intellectually engaging. Students also enroll in our courses because they recognize the value that employers place on a broad liberal arts education and are interested in the excellent preparation for four year institutions that a major in Gender and Women’s Studies offers students. In general, students enroll in Gender and Women’s Studies courses because they are curious about one or more of the following:
- How ideas about gender influence their own lives and experience
- Social justice and gender equity issues
- The contributions of women to culture, history, and society
- Interdisciplinary knowledge skills
- Political issues, current events, and social policy
- Diversity and multicultural topics
- Feminism
- Social movement histories
- Sexuality studies
- LGBTQ issues
- How to be agents of social change
How do I find out what Gender and Women's Studies courses are offered?
We've moved! LOOK under "G" for Gender and Women's Studies! We've moved from "W" to "G!"
To find out what Gender and Women's Studies courses are currently offered, click on the Course Catalog and Class Schedules link at the MPC homepage, select the semester and find Gender and Women's Studies in the online course catalog by scrolling to "G" in the alphabet.
NEW GENDER AND WOMEN'S STUDIES
COURSES are being offered!
GWOS 5: Women of Color in the U.S. ONLINE SPRING
GWOS 15: Introduction to LGBTQ+ Global Literature ONLINE FALL
Do you love novels, memoirs, or poetry? Are you interested in LGBTQ+ issues and experience? This course represents an exciting multi-disciplinary combination of literature studies, global studies, and feminist and queer studies in its approach to the study of literature written by LGBTQ+ authors and centering the lives of LGBTQ+ characters and people. Engaging a range of genres, which include fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, poetry, memoir, playwriting, and film, in this course we engage the work of writers from a range of nations around the globe, learning about both historical and contemporary contexts of LGBTQ+ experience! Satisfies Humanities General Ed requirements (MPC, CSU, and UC). All class activities are conducted online!
GWOS 3: Gender and Violence LATE START 8 Week ONLINE for FALL
Are you looking for a very meaningful and relevant course you can earn 3 credits for in just 8 weeks and that can be taken online? GWOS 3 examines the causes and impacts of gender-based violence, which, tragically, affects all genders and all racial/ethnic and socio-economic groups in alarming proportion. This course looks closely at multiple types of gender-based violence, including: intimate partner and domestic violence, sexual assault and rape, sexual harassment, childhood sexual abuse and incest, anti-LGBTQ+ violence, and cyber-harassment. While issues raised by this course can be challenging to encounter, GWOS 3 endeavors to create a compassionate classroom in which truth is a tool of empowerment and transformation.
GWOS 8 Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies (coming soon!)
GWOS 9: Sports and Social Justice BRAND NEW for FALL 2023!
GWOS 4 Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture is Gender and Women's Studies very popular new culture and media studies course. Offered Spring semesters only! Required textbook online education resources (at NO COST to students)!
Sign up early as seats fill fast!
May I take Gender and Women's Studies courses online?
Yes, all Gender and Women's Studies Department courses may be taken online!
- GWOS 1 Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies (Open Resource textbook; NO COST to students)
- GWOS 3 Gender and Violence
- GWOS 4 Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture (Open Resource textbook; NO COST to students)
- GWOS 5 Women of Color in the U.S. (textbooks provided at NO COST to students)
- GWOS 8 Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies (COMING SOON! WATCH FOR IT!)
- GWOS 9 Sports and Social Justice (BRAND NEW ARRIVING for 2023-24!)
- GWOS 30 Gender in Global Perspective
- GWOS 40 Introduction to Feminist Theory
- GWOS 12 Women in U.S. History
- GWOS 10 Gender in American Politics
- GWOS 11 Literature for and by Women
Take GWOS 40 online either Fall/Spring (also offered as HUMA/PHIL 40): Introduction to Feminist Theory
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