montage of women

Women’s & Gender Studies

Explore Gender and Sexuality Around the Globe

Explore gender inequalities ~ Promote equality and justice

Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) emerged from the civil rights and feminist movements around the globe, and its goal is to change the unjust world and end gender, racial, sexual, and other forms of oppression. It is an interdisciplinary field that examines the oppression, activism, and research contributions of women and other marginalized people groups, and issues related to gender, race, class, (dis)ability, indigeneity, and sexuality through intersectional lenses and with cross-cultural perspectives in a global context.

Classes cover a wide range of subject areas including history, education, sociology, political science, biology, communication, and cultural studies; queer & LGBTQ+ studies; and ethnic, regional, and post-colonial studies. Students look critically at the practices of gender and sexuality in different societies and at different historical periods. The feminist method of teaching used in Women’s & Gender Studies courses empowers students to become active learners and social change agents through discussion, written work, collaborative projects, and practical involvement beyond the classroom.

close up of hands on a laptopStarted in 1974 – one of the oldest WGS programs in the U.S.

Get to know us!

Average24.3Class Size
Number of Countries22for Study Abroad
Students Who Are81%Wisconsin Residents
Student300Organizations

Department News

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.