Gender and Power (GAP)

Academics / LEAD / Inquiries / Gender and Power (GAP)

We are living through a historic period with unprecedented numbers of women and LGBTQ serving in elected offices across the US. At this time, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are far from achieving sustainable and systemic gender equity. The Gender and Power (GAP) Inquiry will offer an interdisciplinary examination of how gender and sexuality shape aspects of our daily lives, and how they are related to other social hierarchies such as race, ethnicity, nationality, class, and ability.

This Inquiry also offers an opportunity for greater depth in the study of gender and sexuality through the WGSX minor.

Enrolled in this Inquiry?—Click here for a requirement checklist.

Inquiry Course Requirements:

We are particularly excited to expand our interdisciplinary approach by incorporating a mathematics requirement that introduces students to appropriate techniques or principles to analyze gender and gendered systems from a mathematical perspective. Students will also take WGSX220 in the fall or spring semester of their first year, thus combining two foundational courses related to the inquiry theme in their first year.

Students will start the inquiry by taking the following two classes in their first year. These classes will prepare them to get involved in the WGSX Annual Colloquium in the spring semester:

  1. Math 13X: Calling BS (must be taken in the first fall semester)
  2. WGSX 220: Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (must be taken in the fall or spring semester of the first year).

Students build on this foundation by taking one Art class and one upper level course in the Humanities:

  1. Art:
    • TFMS 220 Introduction to Film and Media Studies

    OR one of the following:

    • ART 205: Introduction to Visual Thinking
    • ART214: Introduction to Digital Media
    • ART212: Introduction to Photography
    • ART 269: Community Arts
  2. Humanities: One upper level class from the following:
    • HIST 357: Women, Gender, and Politics in the Muslim World
    • HIST 333: History of American Muslims
    • PHIL 325: Feminism and Philosophy

When this coursework is finished, all Inquiry students complete:

  1. Integrated Learning Portfolio (1 credit)
  2. In addition, all GAP Inquiry students take a course that meets the Natural Science requirement for Core Exploration. See the catalog for details.

Integrated Learning Portfolio (ILP)

The final requirement for any Inquiry is the Integrated Learning Portfolio. The ILP is the place where students articulate the connections they see among their courses– and where they reflect on the contribution each course makes to the Inquiry topic. Portfolios can include assignments from each Inquiry class, or artifacts from the class itself: images, articles, data– whatever material has been most significant to you.

Assembled as a Google site or through a similar platform, the ILP is submitted as the student completes their Inquiry coursework. During their final semester in the Inquiry, students will be registered for their ILP by the Inquiry Lead. The ILP is worth one credit and graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.