The Program for the Study of Women and Gender examines gender, race, class and sexuality as important and simultaneous aspects of social worlds and human lives. Students examine the construction and operation of power relations, social inequalities and resistances to them in national, transnational, cultural, historical and political contexts. As an interdisciplinary endeavor, the program looks at how different academic disciplines view the operation of gender in the labor market, the family, political systems and cultural production. The study of women and gender is joined to an understanding of the forms of activism around the globe.

Photo above: March on Washington for Women's Reproductive Rights, Washington, D.C. (circa 1989)
Loretta J. Ross Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College

Announcements

"Pregnant? Need Help? They Have an Agenda."

Written for The New York Times by Middlebury College Assistant Professor Carly Thomsen, Smith College Professor Carrie N. Baker, and Graphics Editor for "Opinion" Zach Levitt. Read the article HERE.

"Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: The Legal Standing of Fake Abortion Clinics"

Written by SWG student Leela de Paula '23, this article has been published in the law journal feminists@law, based at the University of Kent. Read the article HERE. Congratulations Leela!

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Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Associate Professor Loretta Ross Named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow

On October 12, 2022, the MacArthur Foundation announced that Loretta Ross, Associate Professor for the Study of Women and Gender, is a member of the 2022 class of MacArthur Fellows.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE

Requirements

Study of Women & Gender Learning Goals

Not every course that is cross-listed in the program or taught by SWG faculty will address all of these goals for the major in the Study of Women and Gender, but we expect that every graduating senior will have engaged these concepts and ways of thinking more than once during the course of the major. The goals of the major are to:

  • Understand the social construction of familiar or naturalized categories, while also acknowledging that these social constructions have real effects in subordinating groups and in marking bodies.
  • Understand and be able to apply the concept of intersectionality—a dynamic analysis of how the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality, and other aspects of identity mutually and simultaneously constitute structures, social processes, ideologies and representations in the complex, multidimensional power hierarchies of society.
  • Analyze social change and understand agency and resistance.
  • Engage theory, read and write about theoretical texts, and recognize that theory emerges from different disciplinary locations.
  • Examine historical periods and beliefs different from the current moment.
  • Analyze forms of representation and discourse as they shape experience and shape our understanding of ourselves and of the world.
  • Approach problems and questions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
  • Engage in systemic analysis with attention to institutional and economic structures of power.
  • Understand theories of transnational, postcolonial and diasporic studies.
  • Understand feminist pedagogy and ethics of knowledge production.

The Major

Advisers

All members of the Program Committee for the Study of Women and Gender serve as advisers for the major and minor.

Requirements for the Major

The major requires the completion of 10 semester courses, including at least two 300-level seminars, totaling 40 credit hours. These courses shall comprise SWG prefix courses and department-based courses chosen from a list of possibilities compiled yearly by the Program for the Study of Women and Gender. These courses must include:

1. SWG 150 Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender (normally taken in the first or second year; may not be elected S/U)
2. One course with a queer studies focus
3. One course with a race and ethnicity studies focus
4. One course with a transnational, postcolonial or diasporic studies focus
5. Four courses with the SWG prefix, including 150 and one 300-level seminar
6. Two 300-level courses (total)

A single course can be used to fill more than one of these requirements. Transfer students are expected to complete at least half of their major (or five courses) at Smith (or with approved Five College courses). Students with double majors may count a maximum of three courses toward both majors.

In the senior year, a student will complete a statement reflecting on the connections among the courses in their major. The senior statement and SWG advising checklist are due to the faculty adviser by the Friday prior to spring break.

The Minor

Advisers

All members of the Program Committee for the Study of Women and Gender serve as advisers for the major and minor.

Requirements for the Minor

The minor requires the completion of six semester courses, totaling 24 credit hours from SWG-prefix courses or cross-listed courses. These courses must include:

1. SWG 150, Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender (normally taken in the first or second year, and which may not be elected S/U)
2. One course with a queer studies focus
3. One course with a race and ethnicity studies focus
4. One course with a transnational, postcolonial or diasporic studies focus

A single course can be used to fill more than one of these requirements.  Minors are strongly encouraged to elect at least one course at the 300 level.

Honors & Special Studies

Honors Requirements

A student may honor in SWG by completing an 8-credit, two-semester thesis in addition to the 10 courses in the major and fulfilling all the general requirements. Eligibility of students for honors work, and supervision and evaluation of the thesis, are determined by the Program Committee for the Study of Women and Gender.

SWG 430D Honors Project
An 8-credit, two-semester thesis in addition to the 10 courses that fulfill the major. Eligibility requirements for honors work, and supervision and evaluation of the thesis are determined by the Program Committee for the Study of Women and Gender.
Credits: 4
Members of the department
Normally offered each academic year

Special Studies

SWG 400 Special Studies
For qualified juniors and seniors. Admission by permission of the instructor and director of the program. No more than 4 special studies credits may be taken in any academic year and no more than 8 special studies credits total may be applied toward the major. Credits: 1-4
Members of the department
Normally offered each academic year

Courses

Current SWG Courses

Spring 2022 SWG Courses


For more information, see the Smith College Course Search.

SWG 150 Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender
An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of the study of women and gender through a critical examination of feminist histories, issues and practices. Focus on the U.S. with some attention to the global context. Primarily for first- and second-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. {H} {S} Credits: 4
Carrie Baker


SWG 238 Women, Money and Transnational Social Movements
Flickers of global finance capital across computer screens cannot compare to the travel preparations of women migrating from rural homes to work at computer chip factories. Yet both movements, of capital and people, constitute vital facets of globalization in our current era. This course centers on the political linkages and economic theories that address the politics of women, gender relations and capitalism. We will research social movements that challenge the raced, classed and gendered inequities, and the costs of maintaining order. We will assess the alternatives proposed by social movements like the landless workers movement (MST) in Brazil, and economic shifts like the workers cooperative movement. Assignments include community-based research on local and global political movements, short papers, class-led discussions & written reflections. {S} Credits: 4
Elisabeth Brownell Armstrong


SWG 241 White Supremacy in the Age of Trump
This course will analyze the history, prevalence, and current manifestations of the white supremacist movement by examining ideological components, tactics and strategies, and its relationship to mainstream politics. We will also research and discuss the relationship between white supremacy and white privilege and explore how to build a human rights movement to counter the white supremacist movement in the U.S. Students will develop analytical writing and research skills while engaging in multiple cultural perspectives. The overall goal is to develop the capacity to understand the range of possible responses to white supremacy, both its legal and extralegal forms. Enrollment limited to 50. {H} {S} Credits: 4
Loretta Ross


SWG 270 Colloquium: Oral History and Lesbian Subjects
Grounding our work in the current scholarship in lesbian history, this course explores lesbian, queer and bisexual communities, cultures and activism. While becoming familiar with the existing narratives about lesbian/queer lives, students are introduced to the method of oral history as a key documentation strategy in the production of lesbian history. How do we need to adapt our research methods, including oral history, in order to talk about lesbian/queer lives? Our texts include secondary literature on 20th-century lesbian cultures and communities, oral history theory and methodology, and primary sources from the Sophia Smith Collection (SSC). Students conduct, transcribe, edit and interpret their own interviews for their final project. The oral histories from this course are archived with the Documenting Lesbian Lives collection in the SSC. Prerequisite: SWG 150 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 20. {H} {L} Credits: 4
Kelly Anderson


SWG 271 Colloquium: Reproductive Justice
This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of reproductive health, rights and justice in the United States, examining history, activism, law, policy, and public discourses related to reproduction. A central framework for analysis is how gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and nationality intersect to shape people's experiences of reproductive oppression and their resistance strategies. Topics include eugenics and the birth control movement; the reproductive rights and justice movements; U.S. population control policies; criminalization of pregnant people; fetal personhood and birth parents' citizenship; the medicalization of reproduction; reproductive technologies; the influence of disability, incarceration and poverty on pregnancy and parenting; the anti-abortion movement; and reproductive coercion and violence. Prerequisite SWG 150 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 20. {S} Credits: 4
Loretta Ross


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SWG 290 Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture
In this course we will consider the manner in which norms of gender and sexuality are reflected, reinforced, and challenged in popular culture. We use theories of knowledge production, representation, and meaning-making to support our analysis of the relationship between discourse and power; our engagement with these theoretical texts helps us track this dynamic as it emerges in popular culture. Key queer theoretical concepts provide a framework for examining how the production gender and sexuality impacts cultural production. Through our critical engagement with a selection of films, music, television, visual art, and digital media we will discuss mainstream conventions and the feminist, queer, and queer of color interventions that enliven the landscape of popular culture with which we contend in everyday life. Enrollment limited to 25. Prerequisite: SWG 150 or permission of the instructor. Credits: 4
Jennifer M. DeClue


SWG 303 Seminar: Queer of Color Critique
Students in this course gain a thorough and sustained understanding of queer of color critique by tracking this theoretical framework from its emergence in women of color feminism through the contemporary moment using historical and canonical texts along with the most cutting-edge scholarship being produced in the field. In our exploration of this critical framework, we engage with independent films, novels and short stories, popular music, as well as television and digital media platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. We discuss what is ruptured and what is generated at intersection of race, gender, class and sexuality. Prerequisites: SWG 150. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {A} {S} Credits: 4
Jennifer M. DeClue


SWG 305 Seminar: Queer Histories & Cultures
This course is an advanced seminar in the growing field of queer American history. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the histories of same-sex desire, practice, and identity, as well as gender transgressions, from the late 19th century to the present. Using a wide range of sources, including archival documents, films, work by historians, and oral histories, we will investigate how and why people with same-sex desire and non-normative gender expressions formed communities, struggled against bigotry, and organized movements for social and political change. This course will pay close attention to the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality and the ways that difference has shaped queer history. Prerequisite: SWG 150. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {H} Credits: 4
Kelly P. Anderson


SWG 360 Seminar: Memoir Writing
How does one write a life, especially if it's one's own? This writing workshop addresses the profound complexities, challenges, and pleasures of the genre of the memoir, through intensive reading, discussion, and both analytical and creative writing. Our readings will be drawn from a range of mostly contemporary memoirists with intersectional identity locations—and dislocations—drawing from a range of voices, experiences, and representations, pursuing what the class comes to identify as our own most urgent aesthetic and ethical questions. Our attention will be to craft, both in the memoirs we read and those we write. Writing sample and instructor permission required. Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. {H} {L} Credits: 4
Cornelia D.J. Pearsall

Cross-Listed Courses

Spring 2022 Cross-Listed Courses

For more information, see the Smith College Course Search.

AFR 155 Introduction to Black Women's Studies
Traci-Ann Wint

AMS 201 Introduction to American Studies
Evangeline Heiliger, Kevin L. Rozario

 ANT 238 Anthropology of the Body
Pinky Hota

ARH 278 Race and Gender in the History of Photography
Kathleen Pierce

EAL 244 Japanese Women's Writing
Kimberly Kono

ECO 201 Gender and Economics
Lucie Schmidt

ENG 219 Poetry, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Limits of Privacy
Melissa Parrish

ENG 241 The Empire Writes Back: Postcolonial Literature
Ambreen Hai

ENG 333ca Seminar: Topics-Major Writer in English-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Ambreen Hai

FYS 184 Educating Women: A History and Sociology, at Home and Abroad
Rosetta Marantz Cohen

GOV 224 Colloquium: Globalization from an Islamic Perspective
Bozena C. Welborne

HST 267 The United States since 1877
Jennifer Mary Guglielmo

HST 383dw Seminar: Topics-Research in U.S. Women's History-Domestic Worker Organizing
Jennifer Mary Guglielmo

JUD 214 Women in the Hebrew Bible
Sari Fein

SPP/POR 381fw Seminar: Topics in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies-Multiple Lenses of Marginality: New Brazilian Filmmaking by Women
Marguerite I. Harrison

PSY 265 Colloquium: Political Psychology
Lauren E. Duncan

PSY 266 Colloquium: Psychology of Women and Gender
Randi Garcia

PSY 364 Research Seminar in Intergroup Relationships
Randi Garcia

PSY 374 Seminar: Psychology of Political Activism
Lauren E. Duncan

REL 214 Women in the Hebrew Bible
Sari Fein

REL 238 Mary: Images and Cults
Vera Shevzov

SDS 364 Research Seminar in Intergroup Relationships
Randi Garcia

SOC 224 Family and Society
timothy Recuber

SOC 237 Gender and Globalization
Payal Banerjee

SPN 260dl Topics in Latin American Cultural History-Decolonizing Latin American Literature
Michelle Joffroy

THE 319 01 Colloquium: Shamans, Shapeshifters and the Magic If
Andrea D. Hairston

WLT 270  Colloquium: Health and Illness: Literary Explorations
Sabina Knight

For Five College SWG courses, seehttps://www.umass.edu/wgss/spring-2022-course-guide

Making History

Students in the Program for the Study of Women & Gender have frequent opportunities to meet and learn from leading activists, scholars, writers and feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Rachel Maddow, Roxane Gay, Laverne Cox, Loretta Ross and more.

Faculty

Emeriti

Martha Ackelsberg
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita of Government & Professor Emerita of the Study of Women & Gender

Paula Giddings
Elizabeth A. Woodson Professor Emerita of Africana Studies

Marilyn Schuster
Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities (Study of Women & Gender) & Provost and Dean of the Faculty Emerita

Susan Van Dyne
Professor of the Study of Women and Gender and Chair of the Archives Concentration Emerita

Adviser: Mehammed Mack

All students should work with their academic adviser to define their academic goals for study abroad before meeting with the SWG study abroad adviser.

Requirements

Minimum eligibility for study abroad: 3.0 GPA (some programs require higher) and program approval from your SWG adviser.

Study Abroad Programs

See the Office for International Study for Smith-approved programs.

Graduate Programs

Ph.D. Programs

Ph.D. Programs

UNITED STATES

Arizona State University, Ph.D. in gender studies

Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, CA), Ph.D. and M.A. in women's studies in religion

Emory University (Atlanta, GA), Ph.D. in women's studies

Indiana University, Bloomington, Ph.D. in gender studies

Ohio State University, Ph.D. and M.A. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

Oregon State University, Ph.D. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), Ph.D. in women's and gender studies

Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY), Ph.D in women's and gender and sexuality studies

University of Buffalo, Ph.D in global gender studies

University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D. in gender studies

University of California, Santa Barbara, Ph.D. in feminist studies

University of California, Santa Cruz, Ph.D. in feminist studies

University of Kansas, Lawrence, Ph.D. in women, gender, and sexuality studies

University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ph.D. in women's studies

University of Iowa, Iowa City, Ph.D. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

University of Maryland, College Park, Ph.D. and M.A. in women's studies

University of Michigan, joint Ph.D. programs in women's studies and English, history, psychology, or sociology

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (with Center for Advanced Feminist Studies), Ph.D. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

University of Washington, Seattle, Ph.D. and M.A. in gender, women's and sexuality studies

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D. in gender and women's studies

Yale University (New Haven, CT), Combined Ph.D. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

INTERNATIONAL

Central European University, Budapest, M.A. and Ph.D. in gender studies (a Smith alum directs the program)

Josai International University, Ph.D. and M.A. in women's studies

London School of Economics and Political Science, Gender Institute, England, Ph.D. and M.Phil. in gender studies; M.Sc. in gender and social policy

Manchester University, M.A. in women's studies

Monash University (Melbourne, Australia, Ph.D. and M.A. in women's studies

The Netherlands Research School of Women's Studies (NOV), Ph.D. in women's studies at six Dutch universities

Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada), Ph.D. and M.A. in gender, sexuality and women's studies

University of Auckland, New Zealand, M.A. and Ph.D. in gender studies

University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC, Canada), M.A. and Ph.D. administered by Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice

University of Melbourne (Melbourne, Australia), Ph.D. and M.A. in gender studies

University of Sussex (Brighton, UK), D.Phil. and M.A. programs in gender studies

University of Sydney (New South Wales, Australia), Ph.D. and M.A. (by research) in women's studies

University of Toronto (Women and Gender Studies Institute), Ph.D. (Doctoral Program in Women and Gender Studies (DWGS)) and M.A. programs

University of Warwick, England, Ph.D. programs in women and gender; M.A. in interdisciplinary gender studies, gender and international development, or gender, literature and modernity

University of York (York, England), D.Phil., M.A., and M.Phil. programs in women's studies

York University (Ontario, Canada), Ph.D. and M.A. in gender, feminist and women's studies

Other Gender and Law Programs

Other Gender and Law Programs

American University, Women and International Law Program L.L.M. in international legal studies with a specialization in gender and international law.

For more information, including law schools with feminist journals and women's rights clinics, see this listing (pdf).

See also "Second-Degree Feminism,"Ms. Magazine (Fall 2014), p. 15.

M.A. Programs

M.A. Programs

UNITED STATES

Brandeis University (Waltham, MA), M.A. in women's, gender and sexuality studies

Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, CA), interdisciplinary M.A. program in applied women's studies

Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA), M.A. in Africana women's studies

DePaul University (Chicago, IL), M.A. in women's and gender studies

Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI), M.A. of liberal studies in women's and gender studies (interdisciplinary)

Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL), M.A. and graduate certificate in women's studies

George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), M.A. Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in women and gender studies

George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), M.A. in women's studies; M.A. in public policy with a concentration in women's studies

Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA), M.A. in women's studies

Jewish Theological Seminary, M.A. in Jewish women's studies

Loyola University, Chicago, M.A. in women's studies, and a three-course graduate certificate; Mary Griffin Graduate Scholarship in WST available to one full-time graduate student in the program

Minnesota State University, M.S. in women's studies

Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), M.A. in women's studies

Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL), M.A. and graduate certificate in women's and gender studies

San Diego State University (San Diego, CA), M.A. in women's studies

San Francisco State University, M.A. in women's studies

Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, New York), M.A. in women's history

Simmons College (Boston, MA), Interdisciplinary M.A. program in gender/cultural studies

Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, M.A. in women's studies and a graduate certificate in women's studies

State University of New York, Albany, M.A. in women's, gender sexuality studies

Texas Woman's University, M.A. in women's studies

Towson University (Maryland), M.S. in women's and gender studies

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa M.A. in women's studies

University of Cincinnati, M.A. in women's studies

University of Florida, M.A. and M.W.S. in gender, sexuality and women's studies

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, self-designed, interdisciplinary M.A. in women's studies

University of Louisville, M.A. in women's and gender studies

University of Memphis, interdisciplinary M.A. program in women's studies

University of North Carolina, Greensboro, M.A. in women's and gender studies

University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, M.A. in women's studies

University of Wisconsin-Madison M.A. in women's studies/gender studies

INTERNATIONAL

Manchester University, M.A. in women's politics and policy research

Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's (Newfoundland, Canada), M.A. in gender studies

Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), M.A. in women's and gender studies offered jointly by Dalhousie, Mount Saint Vincent, and Saint Mary's universities

Oxford University (England), One-year interdisciplinary master's degree

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby (British Columbia, Canada), M.A. in women's and gender studies

Trinity College at University of Dublin, The Centre for Women's Studies offers the M.Phil. in women's and gender studies, also welcomes applications from those wishing to do the M.Litt. and Ph.D. degrees, which are by research alone

University of Leeds, multiple post graguate programs at the master's and Ph.D. levels in women's, gender and sexuality studies in multiple contexts

University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), M.A. degree specializations, including feminist theology

University of Ottawa (Canada), collaborative program in women's studies at the master's level

University of Toronto (Canada), graduate collaborative program in women's studies, M.A. and Ph.D.

University of Western Ontario (Canada), M.A. in women's studies and feminist research

University of Wollongong (Australia), M.A. in women's studies

University of York (England), standalone M.A. in women's studies. Also offers M.A. in women's studies by research and an M.Sc in women, development and administration

SWG Alumnae Network

SWG alumnae and current majors are welcome to search the SWG alumnae database.

  • Current majors can identify alumnae who have worked in their fields of interest or who have done graduate work or could provide tips about internships.
  • Alumnae can help prospective and current students see all that a major in women's and gender studies has mattered and catch up with what classmates have been doing.
  • Members can create a profile and make information available for others to search (you control what information appears in search results).

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Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism

Meridians is an intersectional feminist journal based at Smith College that has been showcasing the ideas and voices of women of color for more than 20 years. Founded by former Smith College president Ruth J. Simmons, Meridians' goal is to make scholarship by and about women of color central to U.S. and global economic conditions and political practices. It is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal that publishes cutting-edge creative work at the intersection of race, gender, ethnicity and nation.
EXPLORE MERIDIANS

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