Exploring gender with the tools of different, and often multiple, disciplines, Women's and Gender Studies subjects strive to help MIT students better understand how knowledge and value take different forms depending on a variety of social variables. In the course of their inquiry, students not only learn how to use gender as a category of analysis, but also reflect on the manifestation of gender in their own lives, leading to a range of personal and intellectual discoveries. Although gender is a central component of every subject, the study of gender requires attention to connections between gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, nationality, and other social categories; different subjects shed light on different aspects of such connections.

The Program is also an important resource for faculty with an advanced knowledge of gender studies within particular disciplines who are interested in learning more across disciplinary lines; it also welcomes faculty who have an emerging interest in the field of Women's Studies.

The Program in Women's and Gender Studies offers an undergraduate curriculum consisting of core classes and cross-listed subjects from several departments. Students may concentrate, minor, and petition for a major departure in WS. There are more than 30 faculty members who are affiliated with the Program from fields as diverse as architecture, history, comparative media studies, brain and cognitive sciences, literature, and political science, for example. The Program in Women's and Gender Studies offered 22 subjects during the academic year 2002-2003, with approximately 300 students enrolled.

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