Women's Studies Personal Statement

According to the first chapter Untangling the “F” –word in Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives by Gywn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Ray, women’s studies programs were birthed from the idea of feminism. The course began to pop up at different universities across the United States in the 1970’s; the course allows an in depth study of women in social and cultural aspects. Women’s studies courses attempt to explain the experiences and significance of women, which in turn sheds a new light onto the lives of many men and women. Today, the course informs and challenges many men and women to critically think not only in the course but also for the rest of their lives. Feminism can sometimes be misinterpreted, and the ideals of feminism are frequently

This class has brought a lot of change to my views on the seemingly everlasting prevalence of sexism in America. Before taking women and writing this semester I had not realized how the stereotypes surrounding masculine identity have taken hold of much of the Greek life on college campuses, male-dominated/labor intensive jobs, as well as influencing a significant portion of the mainstream advertising and media that my peers and I consume on a daily basis. The readings that accompanied the course were clear, informative, and provided me with more insight to the challenges and inequality that women have had to confront in the past and continue to face in the present. This class taught me many things about the current

Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous book, Vindication of the Rights of Women, is “one of the earliest expressions of a feminist consciousness.” Wollstonecraft claims that women are upset mainly due to the fact that they are not receiving the education they deserve, and goes on to explain how women are notorious for being weak, and mentally unstable. She blames the education system for this since all the books are written by men, and they claim that women are barley humans and are treated as another species. She questions the eligibility of men to claim they are better than women. A useful education, in her opinion, is one that teaches students how to be strong and independent. Her directed audience is anyone who is unsure of the true definition and meaning of feminism. Wollstonecraft believes that all humans are capable of the same intelligence, no matter the gender. Her overall idea is that every individual, both male and female, deserve equality.

Throughout this course, we learned that women’s studies originated as a concern at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). In the past, men had more privileges than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs has divergent female

Before I took this course, I thought that feminism was about equality, fighting, and power. When it comes to equality, I thought about being on the same level as men in every aspect of life. An equal opportunity to attend college, an equal opportunity to serve in the military, an equal opportunity to run for office, etc. When it comes to fighting, I think about fighting for

The first time that I ever took a woman’s and gender studies class was this semester, and before taking the course all information regarding gender, class, sex, language, identity, exile, agency, power, and race was based on personal experience. I have never formally learned about the proper terminologies that define the systems of oppression that I experienced in my everyday life. I feel that this information was vital to me because now that I can properly identify these problems I have the tools necessary to fix them. I also learned that may of those themes are universal and the way that women in particular suffer is the same across various cultures. Considering the theories, novels lectures, class discussions, and presentations I can say that I am walking away from this class with an ample amount of critical information. Most importantly are the themes that contributed to my new perception of the world and the role that I play in it. I have learned that gender and sex, contrary to popular belief, are not synonymous terms. This is important because society has a set of sex and gender roles that society says people are supposed to follow. While one is not given the opportunity to choose their sex, they are given the opportunity to choose what gender and behavioral expectations they uphold. This in turn means that gender is not assigned at birth; it is culturally mandated and therefore allows for change. Additionally, one of the most important terms that I learned in this

Adrienne Rich writes about what education is for women. “Beyond literacy, you have the privilege of training and tools which can allow you to go beyond the content of your education and re-educate yourselves – to debrief yourselves, we might call it, of the false messages of your education in this culture, the messages telling you that women have not really cared about power of learning or creative opportunities because of a psychobiological need to serve men and produce children; that only a few atypical women have been exceptions to this rule; the messages telling you that woman’s experience is neither normative nor central to human experience” (Rich, 4). Rich’s definition of a woman’s education is to understand and redefine their own women’s

Before taking this class, I did not know a lot about women’s and gender studies. Reading the different books and looking at the different pieces of art helped me the most in this class. There were many pieces in this class that influenced me to learn more about these women’s and gender issues and reflect on my learning. I spent a lot of time taking notes while reading the stories and relating them to what I have experienced in my life. For example, the graphic memoir we did as a project showed how I related to women’s and gender issues. It showed my struggle as I played T-ball as the only girl on the team. This experience allowed me to compare it to the stories we read as part of the class.

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

For myself in this course I was here to receive an education, after taking this class and understanding things more I now can say I’ve been here to claim my education. When I first thought about taking this, my impression was it was going to be the history of things not on current events and topics that were discussed. This course has opened my eyes and mind to another aspect of the world. Asserting myself and being heard and not just seen is something I have been working on with my counselor. Finding my inner voice and making my wishes heard, not letting others speak and decide what is best for me. This course teaches on how it was and is through several readings and with each reading I was able to have that “click” moment where I connected with the topic and it made it more real to me. Feminism is not just a word anymore it now has meaning to me.

I still consider myself a feminist after this course. I believe that there is the need to establish, define, and achieve political, economic, and social rights for all not just

Throughout my years in the Women and Gender Studies program here at the University Of Toledo, I have enhanced my mental capacity in many ways. Being introduced to the program was a gift. Feminist concepts, ideals, methodologies, understanding myths, stereotypes was beneficial to my overall success at Toledo. Using the theories and critical thinking skills that were essential to the program in my professional and personal life helped shape me into the strong woman that I am. Intersectionality, body image, and privilege are three major themes that will be ingrained in me as I continue on my collegiate journey.

I grew up in a household where my father proudly called himself a feminist, and my mother worked as a lay midwife. There were books such as Our Bodies, Ourselves lying around. My first undergraduate degree included 18 credit hours of Women’s Studies. About 15 years ago, I completed my certificate in the subject by choosing classes that evaluated the roles of women across cultures, religion, our similarities and our differences. Needless to say, I found myself in shock to learn that not all women embraced feminism, that the office of women’s studies was known to house “feminazis,” and that I found some of the views I encountered to be extreme. My background made this assignment not as shocking, but still eye opening.

In "Women", the speaker discusses a women's purpose: objects in place for support and satisfaction of men. May Swenson conveys the traditional passivity of women through physical placement of words, concrete imagery, and submissive tone.

I have a very vivid memory of discussing my classes to my mother before this first semester began, and whenever I listed off my Women and Gender Studies class I remember my mother asking me, “What do you think you are going to learn about in there?” I recall opening my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I stopped, and looked at her and said, “You know, I’m not really sure. I guess we will find out!” I knew going in to this class I was excited, but for what I had no clue. However, looking back on my experiences, discussions, and the knowledge I have gained from this course, I know exactly why I was excited. There is an entire world out there that the media and politics had hidden from me, but now my eyes are opened. I can