GWS Department Mission

We see our department as a force for change in California, in the nation as a whole, and in the world, change which strives to achieve social justice, deepen democracy, and create world peace. 

We do this by offering students an outstanding undergraduate education in Gender & Women’s Studies. Courses in Gender & Women’s Studies are taught by faculty from numerous disciplines and different parts of the world. Our international and diverse faculty members provide excellent teaching, engaged mentoring, cutting-edge research and scholarship, and provide valuable community service locally and globally.

We seek to develop a new generation of compassionate and critical thinkers, and professionals who, with us, will advance our mission to recognize, understand, and interrogate the persisting injustices and inequalities based on gender, race, class, sexuality, nation, geography, ability, ethnicity, and religion that plague societies. We expect our GWS students to stretch their social imagination to become agents of social change. 

We believe that through the nurturing of the mind, the elevation of historical and moral consciousness as well as opportunities to put into practice social justice skills we can make a better world for all.