Welcome to WGSS!

The Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Department at Western is community focused, interdisciplinary, and intersectional. In our classes, students study the contributions of marginalized artists and scholars, poets and politicians, public figures and private citizens. We examine the complexities of gender as historically constructed and situated within intersections of identity formations including race, sexuality, class, nationality, and ability across time and cultures. Students analyze inequalities and learn how to revise, re-envision, and reimagine social change. ​

We equip students to think critically, write effectively, and speak persuasively. Our focus includes some of the most pressing issues of today: reproductive rights, economic and political equality, health and welfare, environmental justice, and LGBTQIAA rights. Incorporating perspectives from diverse academic disciplines, WGSS students experience:

• Dynamic professors and classmates
• Small class sizes
• Practical internships
• Community based learning

Above all, we aim to create an innovative and challenging experience for students at Western. Interested in examining transnational feminist movements? Eager to do an internship on women and media? Looking to get course credit for working at the domestic violence center? Hoping to develop a senior project analyzing queer graphic novels? With course offerings from more than fifteen academic disciplines, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies introduces students to exciting ideas, dynamic professors and classmates, feminist thought, and gender perspectives in small, collaborative communities of learning.

Check out our website to find up-to-date information on our events, courses, faculty, and students. We have frequent colloquia with lectures, panels, and other events that address new research, current events, and activism around timely social, economic, political, and cultural issues.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Dr. Schwartz-DuPre, Department Chair or Ren Schreuder, Department Manager. We'd love your input, perspective, and participation.