Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
About Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Our Program and Courses
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies is a major and minor at F&M. Unlike other programs — which focus solely on the West or on the United States — F&M's global focus weaves together a unique blend of lenses including: languages, psychology, biology, sociology, history, anthropology, American studies, film and media, and more.
As a major or minor, you’ll explore how social, historical, philosophical, and scientific constructions of gender and sexuality shape both academic discourses and lived experiences. Through coursework and independent research, you’ll learn to apply feminist theories, queer theory, and other critical theories to reflect on how experiences are shaped by gender and sexuality within historical, economic, and cross-cultural contexts.
By the time you graduate, you will:
- Be familiar with the major issues related to gender and sexuality, and understand the scholarly debates about their causes
- Understand the ways in which gender and sexuality intersect with other axes of power including race, class, ability, nation
- Differentiate among a variety of feminist theories and use them in argument and activism
- Apply cross-cultural, historical, and global frameworks to the analysis of experiences and representations of gender and sexuality
Wondering what a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies course is like? Take a look at our course catalog to explore what’s available to you.
Learning Outside the Classroom
Research Opportunities
Every student at F&M has extraordinary opportunities to engage in independent or faculty-led
research. As a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies student, you can join one of the 40 F&M
faculty members across 22 academic disciplines who have conducted research incorporating
the study of gender or sexuality into their areas of expertise. You can also dive
into a relevant topic that interests you most through an independent study.
Explore research at F&M
Annual Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference
The Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) — composed of Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, and Gettysburg Colleges — holds an annual undergraduate Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference each spring at one of the three consortium colleges. Our students have presented their research at this conference, covering topics ranging from reproductive justice to queer politics.
Off-Campus Study
Extend your understanding of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies beyond borders.
F&M’s exceptional off-campus study program empowers you to study abroad and further explore gendered experiences in other parts
of the world.
Explore off-campus study at F&M
The Alice Drum Women’s Center
The Alice Drum Women's Center was founded in 1992 to encourage dialogue on women’s and gender issues, advocate for women, and promote equality and mutual respect on the F&M campus. The Center offers resources and information on gender and sexuality, as well as a myriad of opportunities to develop leadership skills. Many Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies students engage with the Center, attending events or serving on the Center’s board.
Explore the Alice Drum Women's Center
The Phillips Museum of Art
Located right in F&M’s Steinman College Center, the Phillips Museum of Art fosters an understanding and appreciation of the arts, including contemporary, historical and multicultural materials. The museum often partners with academic departments to offer opportunities for faculty and staff to extend the walls of their classrooms and engage students in tours, object-based learning workshops, and research opportunities.
Students of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies have turned to the museum to curate their own exhibitions, working with F&M’s collection of art and objects under the direction of College faculty and museum staff.
Success Beyond F&M
What happens after you graduate with a degree in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies? The skills you gain — including the ability to critically analyze the ways gendered perspectives inform fundamental concepts like race, class or ethnicity — are valuable for any post-graduate pursuit.
Graduate School
Many Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies majors go on to study in graduate programs in the U.S. and abroad. They have pursued advanced degrees in:
- Business Administration
- Criminal Justice
- Food Studies
- Global Health and Development
- Education
- Journalism
- Law
- Mental Health Counseling
- Public Administration
- Public Policy
- Social Work
- Sociology
- Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Career Paths
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies graduates are prepared for a wide array of careers including in healthcare, education, law, and the nonprofit sector. They hold positions such as:
- Agrarian Apprentice
- Attorney
- Care Advocate
- Director of Student Affairs
- Editor
- ESOL Specialist
- Law Clerk
- Marketing Account Director
- Media Strategist
- Mental Health Intake Coordinator
- Police Officer
- Program Manager
- School Administrator
- Social Justice Program Coordinator
- Social Media Specialist
- Social Worker
- Teacher
- Technical Recruiter
- Title IX Coordinator
Alumni Spotlight
“I'm really passionate about economic development and feminism.”
After taking a class at her high school in Nepal, Kamakshi Shah '22 uncovered a unique interest. "I'm really passionate about economic development and feminism," she said. This blended affinity stemmed from an independent research project Shah completed for her high school economics class. "I studied microfinance and women's empowerment in a small village in rural Nepal," she said. "I looked at how access to loans and financial literacy helped women gain a sense of autonomy and agency they wouldn't (typically) have in their everyday lives. Giving women access to finance and financial literacy helps them realize that they're capable." At F&M, Shah further explored this intersection of economics and feminism as an economics major with a minor in women's, gender and sexuality studies.Read More »
Research Spotlight
Students Uncover Lancaster’s Secret Side
With its bucolic landscape and Amish roots, many visitors to Lancaster assume the region’s past is nothing less than virtuous. But a group of Franklin & Marshall College students is uncovering a more salacious side. Through the Lancaster Vice History tour, F&M students travel back in time to explore reform group efforts to curb prostitution, gambling and liquor law violations in the 1900s. The tour and ongoing research is facilitated by Alison Kibler, professor of American studies and women's, gender & sexuality studies.Read More »
Related Fields of Study
American Studies
Engage with the oldest multifaceted major at F&M. As a student of American Studies, you’ll enjoy a true liberal arts experience, exploring several disciplines to develop analytical skills and critical judgment and to examine the range and diversity of American experiences, identities and communities.
Film and Media
Think visually, explore the media arts, and create films and videos with nuance and sophistication. Film and Media at F&M provides you with a core foundation in film history, theory, and practice, helping you learn how to examine the world through the lens of a motion picture camera.
Sociology
One field of study engages in all sorts of questions about people, institutions, and social structures: sociology. How does power operate in society? How do politics shape our lives? How and why have family relationships changed over time? As a student of sociology, you will explore these interactions to better understand how they shape the world and cultures that we live in.
Student & Alumni Stories
April 25, 2023
'I Left As a Leader': Young Alumni Share Stories
In a panel sponsored by the Alumni Leaders of Tomorrow program, Franklin & Marshall College graduates Emma Corrado '16, Wyatt Behringer '18 and Danielle Sang '18 spoke to students...In a panel sponsored by the Alumni Leaders of Tomorrow program, young graduates spoke to the strength of an F&M degree.
April 7, 2023
Observing Disability Everywhere
At Franklin & Marshall's Phillips Museum of Art one recent morning, 22 students and their professor went downstairs to large tables spread with mostly black-and-white photographs. Franklin & Marshall College offers students a hands-on education that emphasizes close relationships with faculty. Students flourish in a supportive community that treats them as an individual, and their successes continue long after F&M. The College is a national leader in launching students and alumni to opportunities where they make a difference in the community and the world.
March 21, 2023
In the Crosstalk—Race, Racism and Pain
In her Africana studies research, Franklin & Marshall senior Amira Henry's paper, Franklin & Marshall College offers students a hands-on education that emphasizes close relationships with faculty. Students flourish in a supportive community that treats them as an individual, and their successes continue long after F&M. The College is a national leader in launching students and alumni to opportunities where they make a difference in the community and the world.