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What is Women’s Studies?

Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study focused examining gender as a cultural and social construct.  Feminist Studies or Women’s Studies includes the social status, relationships, power, and contributions of women from all walks of life.  Well-known methodologies within the field of women’s studies include the following:

  • Intersectionality
  • Multiculturism
  • Standpoint Theory
  • Transitional Feminism
  • Autoethnography
  • Critical Theory
  • Post-Structuralism

Each method consists of a particular way of thinking and documenting experiences in a qualitative or quantitative manner.  Depending on the philosophy utilized, users are able to provide valuable context and texture to important cultural contributions of women.  The broader field of gender studies analyzes and researches societal norms of class, race, gender, sexuality, and other social inequalities.

Degree Median Salary vs Adjacent Degree Types

Source: BLS, US Census, and IPEDS

2024 Best Women’s Studies Degree

Harvard University is ranked first on our list of the best institutions in the United States that offers a program in the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Students explore different ways in which ideas about gender and sexuality have shaped public policy, civil rights, health care, religion, education, and laws. They provide a variety of courses that count towards Harvard College's distribution requirement, the Program in General Education. The program pays close attention to how social norms have changed over time and how they vary across cultures. A good number of their students take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad or to write a senior thesis. It prepares alumni for a variety of careers and post-graduate degrees, including law school, education, public policy, medical school, Ph.D. programs in the humanities and social sciences, and careers in writing, media, and the arts.

Acceptance Rate

4.64

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Yale University's top ranked Women's, Gender, & Sexuality degree program offers a variety of courses and an undergraduate major. Establishing gender sexuality as fundamental categories of social and cultural analysis. Their faculty is committed to working on concerns about gender and sexuality from a wide range of theoretical and methodological locations. Graduates are equipped with the essential knowledge needed in the future.            

Acceptance Rate

6.08

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Brown University offers students a Gender and Sexuality Studies program than highly encourages their students to examine the complex ways that 'differences' are produced culturally, politically, and epistemologically. It is an interdisciplinary program in its intellectual framings as well as its institutional structure. The program shares with Pembroke Center a questioning of what counts as foundational knowledge in a given discipline. This questioning of the production of knowledge is related, in turn, to the challenges that studies of 'difference' present to the academy.

Acceptance Rate

7.07

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

The University of Pennsylvania's Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies comprises two separate but related entities, the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women, and the Penn Program on Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. The program is an inclusive space, committed to affirming students, staff, and faculty of all genders and identities, including trans and non-binary individuals. The course supports pedagogy with gender-inclusive language, an intersectional curriculum, and accessible classroom practices. The institution occupies the traditional homelands of Lenni-Lenape.

Acceptance Rate

7.66

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

  Dartmouth College has a top-rated degree in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies which provides students a theoretical base for a systematic analysis of the construction of gender and the historical, economic, political, social, and cultural experiences of women. It is an interdisciplinary program drawing on resources from the Social Sciences, the Humanities, and the Sciences. The program has helped graduates succeed in a wide variety of careers and further studies. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies may be undertaken as a program for a major, minor, modified major, and a certificate.

Acceptance Rate

7.93

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Duke University's Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSF) is dedicated to exploring gender identities, relations, practices, theories, and institutions. Their goal is to transform the institution's organization of knowledge by reaching across the epistemological and methodological divisions of different areas. Students who enroll in the course gain the opportunity to deeply understand how social, historical, and psychological forces work. Graduates have found themselves well prepared to pursue advanced degrees in every discipline.

Acceptance Rate

7.6

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Pomona College's Gender & Women's Studies Program deeply focuses on the culturally and historically specific production of sexual differences. Offering a rigorous critical inquiry into multiple forms of difference, challenging conventional assumptions about women, sexuality, and gender roles. The program promotes the development of new ideas and research in feminist scholarship within an open, supportive environment. As a student in the course, they will be able to engage gender theory and understand how such analytical frameworks have been generated, recognize how knowledge about gender is produced, and place primary research within a critical framework.

Acceptance Rate

7.4

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Amherst College's Sexuality, Women & Gender Studies program is a cross-disciplinary exploration of sexuality and gender and their intersections with race, class, and nation. The program is also an inquiry into the material, cultural, and political lives of women. Examining feminist and queer thought in a variety of global and historical contexts. The faculty consists of innovative instructors who specialize in literature, history, anthropology, film, and politics.  To learn more about this field of study at Amherst College, reach out to the admissions team or visit the school’s primary portal.

Acceptance Rate

11.31

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Swarthmore College has curated a rigorous Gender & Sexuality Studies is committed to highly facilitate the interdisciplinary study of social relations of power in a variety of texts. Emphasizing the interrelationships among gender and sexuality, race, class, nation, and ability and connects such inquiry to local and global politics. The program brings feminist and queer theory in conversation with research in the humanities, social, sciences, and natural sciences through courses offered across the three academic divisions of the College. The faculty are committed to incorporating historical and contemporary perspectives on the study of gender and sexuality into the programs of study.

Acceptance Rate

8.93

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

Northwestern University's Gender & Sexuality Studies is a dynamic interdisciplinary program that draws upon faculty and courses from more than twenty departments across several schools. The institution is home to an undergraduate major and minor. Upon completing the course students are given a certificate and cluster in Gender & Sexuality Studies. Every year the institution hosts a series of speakers, events, and reading groups that are open to all campus and community members.

Acceptance Rate

9.05

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Williams College has created a unique Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies academic program for qualified students.  The degree is an interdisciplinary degree program structured to encourage students to focus critically on gender and sexuality. They are dedicated to teaching their students to understand and critique the formation of categories of gender, gender identity, and sexuality as they function in social, economic, cultural, and/or political contexts. Students are taught to read, understand, and evaluate the historical development of feminist and queer theories and scholarship. They train students how to communicate effectively using gender and sexuality-based frames of analysis as a medium for academic research, creative production, collaborative work, and practices of social change.

Acceptance Rate

12.6

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Vanderbilt University has a Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies with a focus on academics from an interdisciplinary standpoint.  The department highly encourages the development of critical perspectives in both intellectual and activist contexts. The program teaches students to re-examine traditional beliefs. Offering a Major, a Minor, an Honors track, and a Graduate Certificate. Graduates are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills needed to pursue the field.            

Acceptance Rate

9.12

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

The Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University encompasses interdisciplinary academic programs and research-intensive opportunities. The program was established in 2006 as an outgrowth of the program. Students have the opportunity to earn an undergraduate degree in the study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.  Likewise, qualified students may elect to earn a minor in Poverty, Social Justice, and Human Capabilities.  The academic possibilities at Rice University depend on the student and their motivation to learn deeply about specific aspects of the WGS field of study.

Acceptance Rate

8.72

Student to Faculty Ratio

N.A

The University of Notre Dame's Gender Studies Program analyzes the system of gender and sexuality in diverse local, national, and global contexts. Students and scholars identify, examine, and challenge injustice while imagining and creating better futures that serve the common good. The program is an interdisciplinary academic unit. It develops, promotes, and supports scholarship, creative work, pedagogy, service, and activism that expand knowledge, respect human dignity, foster solidarity, and build toward the common good. Graduates have the opportunity to develop their pedagogical skills by training their introductory course and mentoring them.

Acceptance Rate

15.83

Student to Faculty Ratio

10:1

Georgetown University offers undergraduates an engaging Women's and Gender Studies program provides an interdisciplinary, critical, feminist, and cross-cultural understanding of women, gender, and power in a global context. They focus on the interactions/intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The program fosters the generation of knowledge about women, men, gender, and sexuality in all their diversity and encourages the critical interrogation of traditional academic disciplines. Graduates are more than prepared to navigate their way in the area.

Acceptance Rate

14.36

Student to Faculty Ratio

11:1

Washington University in St. Louis's Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the construction of women, gender, and sexuality throughout the world. Through their unique training, they position individuals to be thought leaders and agents in addressing inequality in all its forms. Emphasizing the importance of gender and sexuality to such disciplines and interdisciplinary programs. Their WGS graduates have gone on to work in fields such as business, entertainment, law, medicine, and social work. Students from the program are often leaders in campus organizations that deal with issues concerning women, gender relations, sexuality, and health.

Acceptance Rate

13.85

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Johns Hopkins University has a robust Women, Gender, and Sexuality degree to catalyze intellectual discussions across the WGS paradigm. Bringing together undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from different departments who share a passion and a need to address and interrogate their research fields. The program highly encourages and supports initiatives for research projects, events, and curriculum developments emerging from all parts of the institution. Through interdisciplinary and specialized courses, students are encouraged to develop critical and comparative approaches to the study. It is taught by prominent faculty members from across the disciplines and is across-listed through a variety of departments.

Acceptance Rate

11.17

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Tufts University's Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary program that highly focuses on research and teaching in three overlapping fields of inquiry. The university offers a number of interdisciplinary courses, including introductory courses and special topics courses open to all undergraduates. The program brings together a wide range of courses taught in different departments and programs. Every approach contributes a unique way to specific topics and materials within the broad and diverse study of women, gender, and sexuality.

Acceptance Rate

14.95

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

Barnard College's Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary department for students who are interested in exploring gender and its relation to other power. Covering a complex variety of theoretical and empirical scholarship both within traditional disciplines and in interdisciplinary frames in humanities. The Department is deeply committed to critical perspectives and bodies of knowledge that contribute to possibilities for transformation and change. Upon completion of the program, students will be able to identify and denaturalize core assumptions that are attached to present-day systems of gender, race, and sexuality.

Acceptance Rate

11.77

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

The University of California at Los Angeles's Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field that highly focuses on the complex interaction of gender with other identity markers. Offering classes that range from large lecture courses to small research-based senior seminars. The program takes an intersectional approach emphasizing women of color, racial justice, disability rights, and gender nonconformity. Undergraduate courses study racial violence, mass incarceration, sex work, disability rights, and indigenous feminisms. Their grad program also emphasizes intersectionality with particular strengths in the study of indigenous, racial violence, and African American feminism and experience.

Acceptance Rate

12.32

Student to Faculty Ratio

18:1

Middlebury College's Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies is an interdisciplinary program. The course studies the intersections of sexuality and gender in a variety of contexts. Offering programs that draw upon the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural science. By raising concerns on common-sense understandings of gender and sexuality, their program deeply highlights the possibilities for transformation and change.      

Acceptance Rate

15.36

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

Hamilton College's Women's and Gender Studies provides an interdisciplinary and transnational analysis of the historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the study of women and gender. Offering innovative training and research experiences help students analyze social and cultural differences. They help transform their understanding of traditional areas of study and develop their ability to interact with the world in a personal and intellectual way. The program will provide students with a powerful perspective on cultural and world history by placing women at the center of its analysis.

Acceptance Rate

16.39

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

Bates College's Gender and Sexuality Studies analyzes local and global entanglements of knowledge, power, pleasure, and resistance. The program draws on histories of anti-racist, decolonial, feminist, queer, and trans work. Examining the shifting dynamics of privilege, exclusion, and marginalization. It also cultivates action, practice, and reciprocal engagement with the many communities. Studying the course is to refute simple assertions about identity in favor of richly detailed accounts of the specific conditions through which particular social positions are maintained and transgressed.

Acceptance Rate

12.14

Student to Faculty Ratio

10:1

The University of California at Berkeley offers a highly touted Gender and Women's Studies that offers students a unique opportunity to interact with their prolific instructors. The Department is known for its investment in the well-being of its students. The program allows students to pursue an array of careers and interests after graduation. Students in the course receive significant personalized attention to promoting quality instruction.

Acceptance Rate

16.25

Student to Faculty Ratio

20:1

The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor's Women's and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary academic unit within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. The Department has a diverse intellectual community dedicated to excellence through feminist research, teaching, and activism. The program seeks to build interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty and students that link gender, racial, ethnic, economic, and national divides. After completing the program, graduates are well-equipped with the essential knowledge they need to excel in the field.

Acceptance Rate

22.91

Student to Faculty Ratio

11:1

Educational Requirements in Women's Studies

In terms of educational requirements, Womens Studies degree holders will have typically studied the following courses while in college:

  1. English Language
  2. Foreign Language
  3. International Studies
  4. History
  5. Archeology
  6. Sociology
  7. Anthropology
  8. Education & Curriculum Training

Skills & Abilities Required in Women's Studies

  • Oral Comprehension
  • Speech Recognition
  • Written Comprehension
  • Speaking
  • Instructing
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Listening
  • Writing
  • Speech Clarity
  • Oral Expression
Schools Other Students Requested Information From:

Employment Information & Specializations

For students that earn a college degree in Womens Studies, there are several fields of specialization that one can pursue. The options range from high school teachers, post-secondary teachers, communications, philosophers, political scientist, sociologist, and psychologist to name a few possible career tracks.

Job Growth, Salary, and Related Fields

The job growth in the greater Womens Studies domain are well above average. More specifically, the rate of job growth in the Southwest and Northeast are growing faster with a higher median income than other areas of the United States. Given the broad nature of the Womens Studies degree, compensation after graduation can vary greatly from career field to career field given prior experience and geographic location. Related fields include teaching, philosophers, sociologists, historians, and communication specialists.

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