USD Magazine, Spring 1995

The practicality of such courses is attracting a growing num– ber of USD students to the university's two-year-old gender studies minor. These students, much like their counterparts who attended college 25 years ago, are confronting gender dif– ferences and shattering gender stereotypes. University students have long been recognized as advocates for change and champions of progress. Particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, students on campuses across the coun– try began asking questions that challenged the status quo. Questions about gender and racial inequalities voiced by hun– dreds of thousands of young people stirred the public to take notice and challenge unfair hiring practices, the confining roles women were expected to play in society and the often stereo– typical portrayal of women in the media, among other issues. In the midst of their students embracing the women's move– ment, university administrators recognized the potential to turn some of their constituents' energy toward scholarship. Large, research-based institutions were the first to establish women's studies programs and spur faculty into exploring women's roles in society, the work place, the home and school. Soon after, a generation of graduates versed in the dynamics of gender and eager to continue their research took jobs as professors at small and large universities across the nation. Linda Perry and Cynthia Caywood were among the profes– sors who joined the USD faculty in the early 1980s with a background and, perhaps more important, an acute interest in women's studies. They were anxious to share their knowledge with students and see the curriculum at USD reflect their acad– emic interests. What began in 1988 as a freshman preceptorial class in gen– der issues - team-taught by Perry, Caywood, Judith Liu and Larry Hinman - gradually evolved into the gender studies minor that graduated its first three students last May. INCLUSIVE AND INTERDISCIPLINARY When Perry, chair of the communications studies department, and Caywood, an English professor, joined forces to create a new program, they deliberately stepped away from the study of women exclusively and moved to a more inclusive look at gen– der issues. "The gender studies program is an attempt to embrace the wide body of research that is either devoted to men or women or to both in relation to each other," Caywood says. Students satisfy the minor's requirements by taking classes in several different disciplines, including psychology, communica– tion studies, English, business, religion and sociology. The interdisciplinary curriculum depends on individual academic

departments to develop courses that address gender issues. Some of the courses currently approved for the minor include Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Gender Communication, Women in Politics and Christian Marriage. Male and female professors teach female and male students to ask questions about gender differences and explore the answers in the context of personal experience. "It's an exciting minor because it deals with real-life issues and students here crave what they consider to be real-life issues," Perry says. WHERE THEORY AND REALITY MEET In the work place, Tina Crowle often encounters the same issues that are raised in theoretical classroom discussions. "It's kind of amazing how the issues we discuss in class come up at work," Crowle says. For example, she found in one job that the women were still expected to be in the kitchen making coffee. Perry is used to surprised students who often start gender studies courses not wholly convinced there are any "issues" to worry about. "Students come in quite often believing that the problems have gone away, that the sixties generation and the feminist movement cured all these things," Perry says. If students believe there are no gender differences or discrim– ination between the sexes, professors ask them why women are generally paid less than men, why there is sexual harassment in the work place and why most custody battles are won by women. Through discussions in the classroom, students become aware of the challenges facing anyone entering the work force. Through conversations with friends and colleagues, they learn just how real some of the issues are. "Students are becoming more receptive to the possibility of discussing these things," Caywood says. "But there is still a sense of, 'There might be a problem for some people, but not for me.' There also is a fear that you'll be perceived as unfemi– nine if you ask some of these questions.'' NOT ABOUT SOLUTIONS For many students, the fear of sounding radical or unfeminine dissolves once in class and talking openly about gender biases with peers and the professor. "What helped the most was being more aware and vocalizing the differences that exist between men and women," says Maryrose Solis '94. In addition to using what she learned as a gender studies minor in her work as an assistant manager of a record store, Solis said the courses nourished a personal growth she wouldn't have gained otherwise. She learned to cast aside a long-held belief that there are specific rules to be followed. "There are no more traditional roles for women," Solis says. "We shouldn't be expected to be a certain way just because we're women.'' Solis says she often expresses such opinions to friends and strives to eliminate the sexual stereotypes that have become the

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