The Gender Studies minor offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the lives of women and men, especially on the nature of social and cultural constructs that give meaning to the biological difference of sex. The fact that persons are male and female takes on a complex of meanings that can be explored through the study of literature and the arts, religion, history, society and social institutions, the professions, human psychology and development, and life sciences.

This program, by including courses that study women in culture, society, and history, and that include the best of a growing body of feminist theory and research, also intends to help correct a tradition of scholarship and teaching that has ignored the contributions and concerns of women. Overall, the program will give both men and women a better sense of identity and possibility, and will foster greater understanding of the complex ways in which we, for good and for ill, are influenced by culture and society.