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Career Opportunities for Women's Studies Majors (This is Series)
MSU ^ | 12/04 | staff

Posted on 04/06/2005 12:32:37 PM PDT by 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


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: yikes
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Darn, and to think I wasted my time in engineering school!
1 posted on 04/06/2005 12:32:38 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

Women's Studies - a phony degree


2 posted on 04/06/2005 12:37:38 PM PDT by Lexington Green (Adapt - Improvise - Overcome)
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To: pissant

What am I doing in Chemistry?


3 posted on 04/06/2005 12:39:13 PM PDT by John Will
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To: John Will

I'm just trying to figure out which part of the woman to study first...


4 posted on 04/06/2005 12:42:02 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant
Darn, and to think I wasted my time in engineering school!

Doesn't that just frost you? 164 credit hours for a bachelors degree in ME, and I coulda done the same thing *snerk* with a women's studies BA.

5 posted on 04/06/2005 12:42:30 PM PDT by The_Victor (Doh!... stupid tagline)
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To: pissant

"...business and corporations find the need for more sensitivity to women's issues..."

Ahhhhh, but women supposedly can do anything a man can do, therefore, they should have NO issues!


6 posted on 04/06/2005 12:44:32 PM PDT by NRA1995 ("The Minuteman Project: doing the job our government doesn't want to do")
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To: NRA1995

Yep. Should be called Liberal Womens Studies, and they have a boatload of issues!


7 posted on 04/06/2005 12:46:27 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

I would think a Women's Studies degree would be a red flag to employers: a warning of a hypersensitive individual who is likely to sue your company at the slightest provocation. HR would just find a nice, quiet, equally unqualified Art History major to hire, instead. ;)


8 posted on 04/06/2005 12:47:32 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Violence never settles anything." Genghis Khan, 1162-1227)
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To: NRA1995
"...business and corporations find the need for more sensitivity to women's issues..."

Are we talking "straight" women here?

9 posted on 04/06/2005 12:47:55 PM PDT by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: Mr. Jeeves

They DO have some opportunities:

Actress - Vagina Monologues
Activist - GLBT or NOW or MoveOn
Social Worker
Stripper

I'm sure I can think of a few more if I try...


10 posted on 04/06/2005 12:51:15 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant
"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.

I wasn't aware that McDonald's was in the business of either oppressing or celebrating women.

11 posted on 04/06/2005 12:52:23 PM PDT by atlaw
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To: dfwgator

I was suprised to see as many "straight" women in these courses as dykes.


12 posted on 04/06/2005 12:54:39 PM PDT by pissant
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To: atlaw

Hey, let's not dis the fast food industry. At least they perform a valuable service...


13 posted on 04/06/2005 12:56:42 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

Where is the BARF alert?


14 posted on 04/06/2005 1:03:57 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

The thread title wasn't self evident?

BTW, how ya been. Haven't typed at you for awhile?


15 posted on 04/06/2005 1:06:38 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Mr. Jeeves

Then perhaps we should ENCOURAGE such degrees - to serve as easy, obvious red flags against such chip-on-shoulder hyper-sensitives for all of us, corporations or individuals!


16 posted on 04/06/2005 1:06:54 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue.)
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To: pissant

Vexatious Litigant


17 posted on 04/06/2005 1:15:21 PM PDT by SteveH (First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.)
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To: pissant

Yeah, serious. Why did I suffer through thrmodynamics & differential equations?

OK. my school didn't offer WS, because there were only about 2 dozen women on campus.


18 posted on 04/06/2005 2:13:55 PM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (Heooo to the ganags of epople.)
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To: Fierce Allegiance

The few reasonably attractive in engineering classes were inundated by nerds asking them out. 'Course, I wasn't one of the nerds....


19 posted on 04/06/2005 3:06:12 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Lexington Green

Our college tax dollars at work. --The Chicoms are producing engineers and scientists, we are producing councelors and experts in greco-roman history.


20 posted on 04/06/2005 3:22:16 PM PDT by ran15
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