About

Exploring Gender and Sexuality Across Disciplines

Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) brings together a wide range of academic fields in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences (including history, literature, visual studies, anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, LGBT studies, political science, psychology, and biology, to name just a few). As an interdisciplinary field of study, WGS pays close attention to how social norms have changed over time and how they vary across cultures.

Students and faculty explore the ways in which ideas about gender and sexuality have shaped public policy, civil rights, health care, religion, education, and the law, as well as the depiction of women and men in art, literature, and the popular media. We also offer a variety of courses that count towards Harvard College's distribution requirements, the Program in General Education. You can learn more about course offerings in the Courses section of our website.

Encouraging Students' Intellectual Curiosity

Many of our students also take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad or to write a senior thesis. About half of our students choose to pursue a joint concentration. Students have joint concentrated with (among others):

  • African and African American Studies
  • Anthropology
  • East Asian Languages and Civilizations
  • English and American Literature
  • Government
  • History
  • History and Literature
  • History of Science
  • Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology
  • Philosophy
  • Romance Languages and Literatures
  • Social Studies
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • Visual and Environmental Studies

Preparing Students for a Wide Range of Careers

WGS courses are characterized by a strong commitment to critical thinking, preparing our alumni for a variety of careers and post-graduate degrees, including law school, education, public policy, medical school, PhD programs in the humanities and social sciences, and careers in writing, media, and the arts.

Fostering Student-Faculty Exchange

All WGS students receive individual attention and advising from a core group of dedicated and highly-engaged faculty. Faculty members are closely involved with students’ academic development at every stage of the concentration. Many of the courses offered by WGS are small seminars, allowing for an exciting and productive dialogue between students and faculty.

Special lectures and workshops occur throughout the year, creating multiple opportunities for the exchange of ideas between undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty, and the development of a vibrant intellectual community.

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