History of Women at Texas A&M University

Welcome to the Gender at Texas A&M University guided walking tour. In the 2016-2017 academic year, students enrolled in Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST 200) courses were given the assignment to write a brief paper identifying a potential stop on a gendered walking tour of Texas A&M. The assignment drew from Judith Lorber’s understanding of gender as multifaceted that students read and discussed in class. Gender can be understood as “gender roles”--the types of feminine and/or masculine behaviors that women and men perform, and gender can also be understood as a social institution, “one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives.”[1] Students were offered this prompt for their four-page papers: “Choose any aspect of gender at Texas A&M University, historical or contemporary. The possibilities are limitless. You may focus on a moment of achievement, protest, suppression, bravery…you may examine a space, policy, tradition…The most important determinant: you must be able to see and articulate how gender is at play.” Students were also asked to identify a location on campus to represent the aspect of gender on campus that they had chosen to write about.

All stops on this tour represent the locations and issues identified by students.

This tour is not a comprehensive tour of Texas A&M’s history, traditions, or important landmarks. We encourage visitors who are interested in a more general tour of Texas A&M to contact the Texas A&M Visitors Center.

We hope you enjoy the Gender at Texas A&M walking tour!

[1] Judith Lorber, “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender,” in Feminist Frontiers, 9th edition, edited by Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier, and Leila J. Rupp, 33-49. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.