In 1975, the Board of Regents at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa unanimously approved the establishment of a Women’s Studies Program.

What turned into a program with a liberal art major then became the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

The department offers a bachelor’s degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, an undergraduate certificate of women, gender, and sexuality studies, an undergraduate certificate of queer studies, and a graduate certificate in women, gender, and sexuality studies. I am a double major in WGSS and social work, and I am proud to have declared both as my major.

I took my first WGSS class in Windward Community College, where we learned about the sociology of fashion, definitions of beauty from multiple perspectives such as women, men, different races, online, and the LGBTQIA+ community.

As I graduated and enter UH Mānoa, I took WGSS 350 with Dr. Lisa Vallin, where we learned about the differences of biology within sex, and it was that class that convinced me to take WGSS.

After meeting with Dr. Kathy Ferguson, I learned about the details of majoring in WGSS, and declared my major. WGSS is also one of the few majors in UH Mānoa to offer a fully online program to obtain a bachelor’s degree.

Despite the name, WGSS is not focused just on women, it focuses on the intersectionality of identities and systems at play. WGSS also cross-lists with other departments such as sociology, political science, anthropology, dance, religion, American studies, and Ethnic studies, helping broaden perspectives for all students in all areas.

WGSS also has professors who may have been the first people in the universities they pursued their degrees in to focus their research around women or the LGBTQIA+ community. Their determination to continue sharing their knowledge towards students will not go unnoticed.

The 50th anniversary of WGSS and the recent executive orders of President Donald Trump, is interesting to say the least. As we talk about how systems are not created for identities not fitting the dominant paradigm and how there are accommodations for more equal opportunities, we see them being taken away in front of our eyes.

The university is complicit in this, and revoked some resources and funding in order to make sure federal funding is not revoked.

As I rewatch some movies and read some articles that were assigned to me, I recall grief, joy, anger, fights, depression, and a future. Movies like “Paris Is Burning” or “Kapaemahu,” articles talking about intersectionality of the working class and houseless population, or the Rainbow Conference talking about what queer harm reduction can look like, reminds me that we have the power and ability to resist.

As Dr. Ferguson has told us, we are taught to critically think and fight back, and we should be able to do the same if WGSS is on the chopping block.

We have gone through struggles, and what WGSS has taught me is how to persist in these struggles and how people who are just like me have fought in the past, and will continue to fight for basic human rights.

As I graduate this spring, WGSS professors and faculty have always answered my burning questions. They are kind, and I am glad they are a part of my intellectual genealogy, and I am proud to be a part of the WGSS department.

People ask me what I can do with my WGSS degree alone. My response is with the class I took, I can pursue things that can help the greater good, such as working in a nonprofit, going for a masters degree, teaching, advocacy, community outreach, and more.