What degree would you do if you wanted to learn about gender politics?

[SanityClause]

I know, strictly speaking this should be in Further Education, but I thought people here might be able to help.

DD1 (15) is very proud of her feminist ideals. She is passionate about gender politics, and would be interested in studying further, at university.

So, what should she study? Sociology? Anthropology? Politics? Philosophy? Psychology?

I know there are some highly qualified people on these boards. Does anyone have advice for her?

When I was at university there used to be Women's Studies courses. These have now been replaced by Gender Studies and I would avoid these like the plague.

I really think if you are passionate about feminism then you can pour that passion into any subject at university level. You can take a medical degree and then focus on women's health, focus on women's history, women writers in literature, take psychology and debunk the notion that women are born liking pink etc. I don't think there are any courses that are particularly good for studying gender politics. I think it is more a question of using your feminism to motivate you in a particular direction once you have more freedom to hone your interests.

Go to Cambridge and do this so you can try out a few things before specialising.

Cultural studies or Sociology for sure. Not psychology though. Some education courses also cover gender politics - although possibly more at PG level.

I agree that most arts and social science courses will allow for a feminist view to be considered; so a distinct course might not be necessary. It's probably better to study somewhere with a strong feminist group - for example, I know goldsmiths has a Centre for Feminist Research comprised of lecturers from different disciplines. York, Stirling and Lancaster also have similar.

I finished a degree in politics not long ago, and OH is an international relations (international politics) lecturer who often discusses his courses with me...

The trouble with courses such as politics if your main interest is gender is that it often feels as though it is chucked in as an after thought (it often gets given half a lecture or nothing at all in courses I have taken). Overarching courses such as politics or philosophy are of course dominated by male thinkers in most of their content - hence the need for gender studies in the first place! I would not dismiss looking into gender/women's studies courses as easily as Nick said, although concede that it would limit her choice of university considerably as they are not as common. She could always consider a combined hons with gender studies.

Law.

An understanding of the interpretation and administration of justice is pretty crucial if you want to be able to talk about equality.

It was law that brought in equal pay, the pill, the decriminalization (here anyway) of homosexual acts, the criminalization of hate crime, paternity leave, etc, etc, etc.

Nuts and bolts. Everything else is ever so slightly fluffy. IMHO.

Oh yes, law! And if you look at the career of someone like Catharine MacKinnon then you can see how having a law degree could actually help you materially benefit women's lives after you graduate.

Just from my own experience, she should narrow it down and then look at the professors and their specialisms. I did what looked like a bog standard philosophy and politics degree but one of my lecturers was fantastic, I learnt a lot. If DD is passionate about gender politics, it might be worth her finding out where some of the writers she likes write, and going there. It would also really help her application as she would be able to give a specific reason she chose a course.

Thank you! This is really helpful. Lots to discuss.

I actually think she would be amazing at law, but she's very anti the idea. Maybe the idea that she could change people's lives might swing her a bit.

to you all!

I did Law at Queens in Belfast and they did loads in gender that you could elect to take! Fabulous lecturer there called Eileen Fegan who really knows her stuff and is amazing! They do a postgrad in law and gender too.

A friend of mine who's a feminist did a Law degree and now runs a charity which advocates for victims of DV. I think I remember her saying that some of her course options were to do with the law as it relates to women, LGBT, etc.

Perhaps that's the way to go, if she's interested?

English Literature has a lot of scope for this.

So many that could be relevant - I back up what others have said and have a good look for research groups that inspire her, then find out what courses staff teach on. For example, my uni have a gender and violence research group and most of the staff teach on the social policy, sociology and global health BScs. Doing a final year dissertation with one of the research group could lead to postgrad opportunities also, where she could focus more specifically on her interests.
I would avoid psychology, as others have said.

What I left out is that in studying Law at degree level there's a kind of meta- thing going on. Seeing how male undergraduates approach the law, how lecturers, supervisors, tutors respond to male and female students, how they progress in their careers - all of this is fascinating in itself. And it matters because whoever holds the law holds the power in a state.

English Literature for me too. It totally opened my eyes to feminism and hegemony.