"What are you going to do with that degree?"
It sounds like a harmless question, but it feels like a probing, merciless interrogation. What relevance could this field possibly have to the suit-and-tie business world?
"What are you going to do with that degree?"
It sounds like a harmless question, but it feels like a probing, merciless interrogation. At first glance, a minor or Masters-level education in Women Studies connotes the inevitable bra-burning, razor-abstaining stereotypes. What relevance could this field possibly have to the suit-and-tie business world?
The answer is: plenty. Professors Janet Lee, Susan Shaw, and Patti Watkins have worked tirelessly to create a program which blends scholarship with exposure to activism and social justice. As the program enters its 35th year at Oregon State, it will continue to place emphasis on past and current societal and professional trends - trends that will affect both current and graduating students as they enter the professional sector as a continuing student, intern, or employee.
"Our program is interested in intersectionality and the social construction of gender," says Shaw. "We want to know how gender intersects with race, sexual identity, age, and ability. Our society has yet to achieve full equality - there are still pay differentials, issues concerning women's advancement in the workforce, and discord surrounding a woman's ‘role.' There's a lot of work to be done, and I think our program has the ability to have those complex conversations about identity in a different way than other disciplines do."
"Our program doesn't solely encompass learning about issues relevant to women," says Patti Watkins, Associate Professor of Women Studies, who joined the program's full-time faculty in 2003. "We educate students on how to take action regarding these issues. Our classes don't just disseminate information. Students learn, through practical application, not to be weight biased or how to extract themselves from an abusive relationship. Seeing them put their education into practice is particularly rewarding."
"There's a lot of shared leadership in our program. We have done our best to try and integrate issues around gender and feminism into other aspects of OSU," says Lee, who came to Oregon State in 1991 from the Women's Studies program at Minnesota State University, Mankato. "One of the first things I did when I arrived here was create a more cohesive curriculum, one that was a feminist program with connections to the community and with other departments and programs on campus. The result is a program that is vocationally useful, intellectually sound, and personally empowering to students."
Critically important to the program's curriculum is the individual student response. Faculty are committed to offering a welcoming location where students can exchange ideas and opinions, share common experiences, and promote the importance of tolerance, respect, and diversity. The result is a multidisciplinary network of faculty, staff, and students built on a foundation of trust and understanding.
"The best thing about being a member of the Women Studies faculty is hearing from students that ‘women studies changed my life,'" says Shaw. "This program is unique in that it deals with the realities that students face on a daily basis. So many students realize through our program that they aren't they only ones who have battled an eating disorder, struggled against the societal prescriptions of masculinity and femininity, or suffered rape. This is a place built on confidentiality and security."
For Shaw, Watkins, and Lee, Women Studies at Oregon State University does more than historicize the women's movement and disseminate feminist theory. It offers the elements necessary to recognize individual potential, regardless of age, gender, or skin color.
"I hope in the future Women Studies will become better recognized as a valuable area to combine with one's major field, such as psychology, sociology, or public health," says Watkins. "I hope students will enroll in our courses early on so they can apply knowledge of sexism, ageism, and racism to other areas of their life and work to enact change during their four years at OSU."
"Since the inception of our program, we have helped students understand the relationship between their own personal biographies and wider, societal issues," explains Lee. "We really want to provide all students with a strong, sound undergraduate education in women studies - even those who may only take one of our courses to fulfill a baccalaureate core requirement. Helping students understand their place in society by providing them with useful and empowering information will always be important to our program."