MA in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies

In the pioneering Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Master of Arts degree program, students create an individualized program of study that combines course work with opportunities for practical experience at top agencies and organizations in the nation's capital. Graduates gain the professional skills needed to become competitive participants in the realm of public policy, nonprofit leadership, business, law and more.

Students are expected to develop intellectual depth and a degree of expertise through a four-course concentration in either a specific discipline or a topical area. Examples of specific disciplines include anthropology, sociology, English, history and philosophy, among others. Examples of topical areas include women and health, international development, race and gender and LGBT sexuality.

Who We Are

At GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences , research thrives, critical thinking is endemic, collaboration is constant, and real-world training goes hand-in-hand with learning. Because of the college’s enviable location in the heart of the nation’s capital, active engagement begins in the classroom and continues within the halls of government, the galleries of museums, the laboratories of NIH, NASA, and DOE, the embassies of international diplomats, and the backrooms of the Smithsonian and other venerable institutions.

The college is the intellectual and creative backbone of the university, a place where the arts, the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences come together to form a nexus of ideas and opportunity. As a leader among the nation’s liberal arts institutions because of an innovative curriculum that emphasizes perspectives, analyses, and communication, undergraduate students are equipped with the competencies needed to be effective and responsible citizens of the 21st Century. At the professional and doctoral level, graduate students partner with a faculty of scholars that include Fulbright recipients, award-winning choreographers, published researchers, and critically acclaimed authors to advance a spectrum of research on topics ranging from controlling greenhouse gas emissions to delving into autism’s causes, prevalence, and treatment.

Welcome to Columbian College Graduate Studies

Graduate programs in GW's Columbian College of Arts and Science are a magnet for top scholars and a catalyst for learning and discovery in a wide spectrum of arts, humanities, and social and hard science fields. Our degrees and certificates integrate the highest caliber of education, from our world-renowned programs in subjects like History, Political Science and Public Policy, to our pioneering work in Art Therapy, Forensic Sciences, and LGBT Health Policy and Practice. An advanced degree from one of GW's 82 Arts & Sciences Programs is unlike any other graduate school experience.

Not only are we step from the most influential institutions in Washington, D.C., but our faculty and alumni networks include an extraordinary variety of internationally-recognized leaders. At Columbian College, you will be given the tools to thrive both intellectually and professionally.