Career Opportunities for Women's Studies Majors (This is Series)

MSU ^ | 12/04 | staff

[pissant]

1. What You Can Do with a Degree in Women's Studies

A. Employment Skills You Gain With a Liberal Arts Education

Women's studies provides you with all the benefits of a liberal arts degree. Liberal arts education emphasizes critical thinking, which can be applied to a multitude of careers. It demonstrates to a potential employer that you have the confidence, skills, and maturity to earn a college degree; that you are well-rounded, having studied a wide variety of topics rather than one narrow skill area; that you likely are able to think more globally than many other job applicants. Managers often prefer liberal arts majors because they think they are better at organizing material, writing well, and making oral presentations. Moreover, a Women's Studies major equips you with significant additional advantages...

B. Additional Employment Skills You Gain With a WS Degree

Larissa Semenuk, a Women's Studies graduate, explains: "The major prepares one to do anything any other liberal arts major does but with deeper insight into issues of oppression and celebration of women. Hopefully, this insight carries over into important issues of other groups -- making one more sensitive and therefore more prepared to do all things/jobs with greater attention to ethical standards. A Women's Studies major is taught to look for the hidden -- like looking for the silenced voices of women in history. It's invaluable!" (Luebke and Reilly 19).

There are many practical applications for Women's Studies training on the job. For example, as more women work, business and corporations find the need for more sensitivity to women's issues such as sexual harassment, flex-time, parental leave, pay equity, and equal employment opportunities. The development of women's agencies and organizations is spurring demand for graduates with specializations in Women's Studies. There is growing demand in the professions of law, medicine, social work, teaching, counseling, and government service for expertise on gender issues. Similarly, women's studies specialists are increasingly being used as consultants in industry, higher education, insurance companies, and personnel firms. Perhaps most importantly, many Women's Studies graduates say that their education gave them the confidence to pursue careers traditionally held by men.

C. Fields of Graduate Study That WS Majors Have Pursued

The fields of graduate study that Women's Studies majors have pursued include: Administration, advocacy, anthropology, arts, counseling, education, history, humanities, international studies, law, library science, philosophy, psychology, public health, public policy, social work, and sociology.

D. Fields of Employment WS Graduates Have Pursued, With Real Examples of Specific Job Placements Within Each Category

A recent national study uncovered more than 38 distinct occupations pursued by Women's Studies graduates (Luebke and Reilly). Categories of careers include: :

Arts || Business || Education || Health Care || Media || Politics and Law || Social Work and Psychology || Sports

[LibFreeOrDie]

The only use for a diploma in Women's Studies is as an emergency feminine hygiene product...

[pissant]

Or TP

[Andoman72]

I always thought that a Liberal Arts degree proved that you didn't know enough about anything to actually get a job, but knew enough about everything to be annoying.

[Jeff Chandler]

When I was in college, I was quite interested in studying women. After almost 29 years of marriage and raising three daughters, I know more about women than I care to think about.