Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies

Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at Union is an interdisciplinary academic program rich with opportunities for research, inquiry and critical analysis. It examines and challenges assumptions and constructs about gender that affect people's lives around the globe.

In keeping with the Union tradition of offering robust experiential and immersive opportunities, our program strongly encourages a one-term internship at a local organization. Students intern with local social services, law and media centers, childcare centers, gay and lesbian groups, women's advocacy groups and healthcare providers.

Our students gain a global perspective of this academic discipline through several international programs. A faculty-led fall term abroad in São Paulo, Brazil, delves into women, environment and social change. A three-week, winter break mini-term focused on social movements in Argentina features meetings with women’s activists and political leaders.

The GSWS program sponsors the Valerie J. Hoffman ’75 Lecture Series feminist scholars who emphasize the links between feminist politics, the struggle for racial justice and human rights activism. The program brings a variety of artists, from filmmakers to folksingers, to Union through the Sadock Women in Arts endowed lecture series. Students also are active in Women’s Union, a student support and action group that encourages campus-wide discussion of issues of importance to women and to achieving gender equality.