About the Program

The Women and Gender Studies Program provides a physical and intellectual space for exploring social inequalities, grounded in the concepts of gender, sexuality, race and class, across interdisciplinary lines in sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and policy.   

Teaching

David Corwin teaching a course Teaching is one of core missions of Women and Gender Studies.  Women and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program that includes several core faculty and affiliates from across the university. We offer a variety of courses each semester, including two courses that meet Mason CORE requirements: WMST 200: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies (social science CORE requirement) and WMST 100: Representations of Women (global understanding CORE requirement).  We also offer courses in Feminist Theory (WMST 330 and WMST 630) and Feminist Research Methods (WMST 410, WMST 610, WMST 411 and WMST 611) each year.  Additionally, our core faculty bring their research directly into the classroom teaching a variety of special topics courses on issues such as human rights, queer theory, feminist and queer disability studies, sexuality, immigration, gender based violence, and intersections of race, class and gender.

 

Activism

Student donating clothes to Women Giving Back

Women and Gender Studies faculty, staff and students are committed to social justice and working to reduce inequalities of all kinds in our communities.  Faculty and staff work closely with local activists addressing gender based violence, trans rights, sex trafficking, street harassment, racial injustices, immigration issues, and economic inequality.  Women and Gender Studies faculty and staff regularly teach courses that require their students to be involved in social change in their communities, and we support activism by our student organizations as well.  Our signature programs include Intersectionality 101 Trainings, Take Back the Night, and the Sojourner Truth lecture.

 

 

Research and Scholarship

Dr. Tianna Cobb: Brown Bag Lecture Scholarship is central to the mission of Women and Gender Studies. Core and affiliate faculty members are actively engaged in research and the arts in Women and Gender Studies and at the intersection of their home disciplines. Many of our faculty have national and international reputations, serve as editors of major journals in their fields, hold offices in national and international professional organizations, generate a steady stream of books, peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters,  share their work at local, regional, national and international conferences, and their creative work is displayed in prominent spaces around the country.