A campaign to stop violence occuring against women of the Democratic Repulic of Congo hangs in the newly named women and gender studies office. The previous name of the department was womens studies. Duke Lambert/The Daily

The OU Women’s Studies Department is expanding its curriculum beyond its focus on the issues and equality of women this year to include issues of gender to reach a broader group of students.

“I think the gender aspect has always been a huge part of women’s studies, but now I think it’s more inclusive,” said Garrison Warren, women’s and gender studies and political science junior.

Warren said he thinks there is easier access to this department now.

“My roommate last year became a women’s and gender studies minor right as they were changing it last year,” Warren said.

Warren said he has his reservations about the change, but thinks gender is still really important.

“From my point of view, we have a generation of students who are interested in social justice and topics related to gender issues and equality,” said Jill Irvine, director of the women’s and gender studies program, as it’s now called.

Irvine said she thinks this new program reflects more of the students’ needs and interests.

“There has been a lot of interest by students and faculty about gender equality all around the world,” Irvine said.

She said the issue has become much more complex and now involves men and women.

They are offering a new course, American Men and Masculinity, as a way of branching out to other students on campus.

“We have more than tripled in our majors,” Irvine said. “We have grown from 60 students to 600 students in the program within the past two years.”

She said this program has increased at colleges and universities across the country in about the same way that it has at OU, possibly from the trend in changing this program from women’s studies to women’s and gender studies.

“There is a reason we kept women in the title though,” Irvine said. “We wanted to ensure that women and whatever they’re interested in would continue to reflect women’s experiences in our courses.”

Irvine said their program has traditionally been engaged in the issue of gender equality, and they wanted to keep that aspect in the program.

“Changing the name started as a discussion with the students who were overwhelmingly in support of this,” Irvine said.

It took their department a year to change the name, but it’s now official.

“There has been strong support from the administration who are happy to accommodate the changing nature of a field, the discipline of women’s studies and meeting the needs of the students,” Irvine said.

Caitlyn Wright, women’s and gender studies senior, said she didn’t really know much about this program before she took Introduction to Women’s Studies.

“I realized how important it was to me because gender is everywhere,” Wright said.

Wright has since become an undergraduate research assistant for the women’s and gender studies department.

“What’s exciting is that we are really growing,” she said. “We kind of had a face lift and are now offering classes that are more relevant to the students.”

Wright said she has improved her ability to speak out on issues.

“Women’s studies really has an activist aspect to it,” she said. “They are really supportive, and it fosters advocacy and activism.”

As a part of this expansion, they are planning on having a minor for social justice in place next year and are taking steps to make it a reality.

“In November, we will be launching a center for social justice reflecting this understanding of our students that issues of gender equality and social justice are important,” Irvine said.

She said they wanted to reach out to a wider group of students and faculty, providing a way for students to come together.

“We as a program feel we can take on issues related to equality more generally,” Irvine said.