Welcome!

ABOUT WOMEN'S STUDIES
Women's Studies is an interdepartmental program in the College of Letters and Science. It is a multidisciplinary field which draws on the humanities, social sciences, life/physical sciences and other areas. It is research - and curriculum drawn from that research - which views women from their own perspectives rather than from the points of view of what men have studied, claimed or written about women.

Its historical and intellectual roots are in worldwide progressive movements for social change as they have affected the academy. The field offers a holistic approach to the study of fundamental issues of sex and gender - how they have been reflected in culture and history, how they shape social, political, economic and institutional organization as well as personal experience and perception, how they interact with issues of race, ethnicity, class -and how new ways of thinking can challenge and transform the process by which knowledge about human beings and our behavior is acquired, interpreted and transmitted.

In the finest tradition of education in the liberal arts, Women's Studies challenges students to do their best thinking, teaches them critical reasoning and writing skills and gives them perspectives unavailable as a by-product of traditional disciplines. At UCLA, the earliest courses were taught in 1969. The formal Program will be 25 years old in Fall 2000. From a handful of courses, it has grown in depth and breadth. Faculty throughout the College and from several professional schools teach, on average, 100+ courses to some 5,000 students annually. About 120-140 students are formally registered for the entire academic program.