Students choosing Cross-Cultural Women's and gender History as a minor field are required to take History 201Q seminar, and to do a second, graded, 200-level course (a History 201 other than 201Q, or a History 202 or 203) under the supervision of a program faculty member outside the student's major field. The 201Q seminar is an introduction to selected issues and historiography in a particular topic in the field. Students are encouraged to incorporate His. 201Q into their first-year coursework. The second 200-level course (which may be individual study but must be graded) is intended to allow the student to examine a particular topic in women's history in cross-cultural perspective. (Topics undertaken in the past include feminism and nationalism; women and work in textile industries, reproduction and abortion, and marriage and dowry systems). It is the student's responsibility to identify a topic on which a faculty member is qualified to direct reading and judge examinations. In some cases, it may be necessary or desirable to work with two faculty members. In exceptional cases, a student may conduct directed reading with a faculty member outside the department (in this case a petition to the GPC will be required). Students should also be advised that, depending on the student's background and the topic chosen, it may be necessary to do additional reading (e.g., a 299) to cover the chosen topic adequately.

The following courses taught outside the department are also recommended as useful to the development of the minor field: (1) the core course for the designated emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research; (2) the core seminar for the Gender and Global Issues Program; (3) the core seminar for the designated emphasis in Social Theory and Research; (4) History and Philosophy of Science 150: Gender and Science.

We recommend that students interested in pursuing a minor field in Cross-Cultural Women's and gender History choose a faculty adviser to direct the field of study on completion of the first year of coursework (and certainly no later than the beginning of the second year of coursework). The adviser must work in a geographic region outside the student's major field. As part of designing the field, students will submit a Record Sheet (to be signed by the adviser and filed with the graduate assistant and the program coordinator) which outlines the planned or completed coursework and includes a one-page statement describing the area of study We recommend that a preliminary record sheet be completed during the first year of graduate study, and a final record sheet be completed by the end of the second year (and no later than the beginning of the third year). Once students have completed coursework, they will draw up a detailed syllabus for a one-quarter (or one-semester) course on a theme in Cross-Cultural Women's History, along with a 15-20 page historiographical and analytical essay justifying the choices of readings and of interpretation embedded in the syllabus. This syllabus and essay need to be approved by students' minor-field adviser.