Why would someone want to major in Gender Studies?

1. 0

   LoliHeyposted 7 years ago

   Why would someone want to major in Gender Studies?
   
   What can you do with this major?  It seems like a waste of time and money to me.  Why would anyone want to major in it?

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2. 71

   Aime Fposted 7 years ago

   You could say that about a lot of majors.  Some people want to study what they enjoy first and then look at job opportunities in related fields (like social work or teaching).  If they're paying for it and attending the classes then they get to choose what to study - I don't think it's a waste of time/money for them.

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3. 93

   FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

   (shrugs) Dunno. I guess somebody's gotta study genders. Might as well be them.

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4. 93

   lisavollrathposted 7 years ago

   I think a lot of people look at university studies as job training, when in reality, they should be viewed as a period for developing critical thinking, communication, and problem solving skills. College is not a vocational training program.
   
   What do you do with a degree in gender studies? You spend four years learning about politics, theory, literature, history, sociology, and psychology, which can then be applied to a variety of positions in the working world. You become a teacher, or work in human resources or social work, or go on to law or nursing school, or go into government.
   
   Why can I easily answer this question? Because I have degrees in the arts. While all my friends in B school were learning what to think, I was learning how to think creatively. I now run my own business, but spent six years at a large corporation, where my bosses often commented in my performance reviews that they loved to watch me in meetings, because while everyone was jumping in immediately to argue why we couldn't make this or that change, I was quietly thinking. When everyone else was done reacting, I could speak to how the changes would effect us today, six months from now, and in the long term, and how they might turn into a good thing. The imagination and creative thinking that was encouraged in art school turned out to be a powerful tool in the business world.
   
   Oh, and my parents thought my university studies were a huge waste of time, too. They stopped thinking that when I bought my house, on my own, with the earnings from the job I got despite those "waste of time" degrees.

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5. 59

   fpherj48posted 7 years ago

   Loli.....One click of your mouse to the question: "What can I do with a degree in Gender Studies?"  ~ will quickly give you generous information and a very long list as well as specifics in employment positions, availability and importance in the career market. Enough information to keep you busy for hours, if you choose to look into it fully.
   In the year 2016, you actually see "Gender Studies" as a waste of time and money?  We can safely assume you don't work in the field of education or High School Counseling.

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6. 86

   tamarawilhiteposted 7 years ago

   1. Seeking an easy degree after failing out of others.
   2. Wanting to be a full time activist and told that with this degree, you can help change the world and fight various groups.
   3. Using this degree to try to move into lower levels of counseling, such as working at a woman's shelter or rape crisis center, though a degree in psychology is better.
   4. Using this as the easy route to a job in Human Resources; there are companies that rely on federal contracts with HR departments full of ethnic and women's studies people, because that is who knows how to fill out all the various diversity metric paperwork and give the training courses that the feds use as a preference in awarding contracts. And companies go "diversity and inclusion" with social engineering of the workforce because a dozen various X-studies majors on staff and periodic work disruptions for their classes is cheaper than figuring out how to deliver jets for 50 million less each or making much better missiles.

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