Gender

Our Gender area of specialization for graduate students is intentionally intersectional. We approach gender as a multifaceted structural system of inequalities that shapes, and is shaped by, other structures including, but not limited to, race and ethnicity, body and embodiment, sexualities, borders, disabilities and more. We also center the ways in which gender is controlled by powerful institutions notably medicine and the criminal legal system which are other core areas of specialization in the department. In addition, we focus on social movements, such as reproductive justice and disability rights, that resist oppressive gender structures.  

We are deeply committed to collaboratively working as a community of scholars across specializations. Those specializing in gender regularly meet throughout the semester to workshop research papers, discuss our research ideas, and foster a meaningful and welcoming community of intersectional gender scholars.   

In addition to the broad training in methods, theory, and the art and practice of teaching that graduate students receive in our department, as an area of specialization we offer numerous courses that intersect with the sociological field of gender. These courses include: 

  • Sociology of Gender 
  • Sociology of the Body 
  • Reproductive Justice  
  • Social Inequalities 
  • Gender and Crime 

Graduate students in the gender area can also take advantage of the graduate certificate in gender, women, and sexuality studies to augment their theoretical and methodological training.