Masters degrees in Gender Studies examine the influence of social institutions and relationships on the concept of gender. Courses are usually Masters of Arts (MAs) but it’s possible to study gender from a more scientific angle, and in these cases you’d normally be awarded an MSc.
Related postgraduate specialisms include Women’s Studies, Sexuality Studies and Gender & Media Studies.
You will gain competence on gender policies and politics, and acquire the ability to work independently on central issues related to gender, feminism, gender equality, production of power and knowledge.
This Programme is a great choice especially for students who wish to pursue a career in research, politics, equal opportunities policies and human rights institutions. Also, organisations in private and public sector as well as non-governmental organisations and civil society are possible career paths.
The Programme is organised in co-operation with the University of Tampere.
General studies
Coordination: Language Centre & UTU
ECTS: 20
Programme-specific studies (advanced studies in Gender Studies)
Coordination: UTU Master’s degree programme or partner universities
ECTS: 40
Master’s thesis and seminar
Coordination: Master’s degree programme
ECTS: 40+20
TOTAL 120 ECTS
The multidisciplinary Master’s degree in gender studies provides you with advanced training in the field of gender studies. The Programme is aimed at both Finnish and international students with a variety of academic backgrounds and career plans.
It is built around the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality, bridging the divide between social sciences and arts and humanities. You will get to address the latest debates, using cutting-edge research from this exciting and growing area of study.
The curriculum incorporates local, cross-cultural and transnational emphases. It will encourage you to develop innovative, intersectional and interdisciplinary ways of expanding knowledge about gender and sexuality in global, local and historical contexts.
The degree engages the wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives associated with gender studies:
The Master’s Degree Programme in Gender Studies will give you competence on gender policies and politics. You will also acquire the ability to work independently on central issues related to gender, feminism, gender equality, and the production of power and knowledge. These competences include the use of gender as an analytic category and a critical perspective on crucial questions within science, politics, art and culture, and social issues.
In the Master’s thesis the student must prove their ability to do scientific work and manage research methods, knowledge of the research field, and skill of scientific writing.
Examples of thesis topics are:
The scope and extent of this Programme is unique. As a joint degree co-operation of two universities, the University of Turku and the University of Tampere, it combines two special research and teaching profiles of gender studies. This guarantees a wide, interdisciplinary expertise.
At the University of Turku, the Master’s Degree Programme in Gender Studies is organised in the Faculty of Humanities. Students also have the possibility to benefit from many other courses offered by the other programmes within the University. The main research areas are:
At the University of Tampere, the Programme is a part of the Global Society framework of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Within this framework, students have the possibility to benefit from many other courses offered by other programmes. In addition, a network of gender researchers organises regular research seminars. The key research and teaching themes are
Master’s Degree Programme in Gender Studies will provide you with a high-quality and extensive expertise on issues related to gender, sexuality, gender equality and equal opportunities in society. In the Programme, you learn:
You acquire the following practical skills:
This Programme is a great option especially for students who wish to pursue a career in
Graduates’ knowledge of power relations and social justice issues prepares them for government and jurisprudence positions. Due to the interdisciplinarity of the Programme, the graduates will be well prepared for research career.
Working life connections are realised by inviting visiting lecturers to the courses, for example, from Finnish, Nordic and European governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Students will also be encouraged to complete an internship during the Programme. The internship is optional but can be included in the degree.
You will be closely integrated into on-going research in the area. The Programme provides eligibility for scientific postgraduate degree studies. Degrees can be completed at the University of Turku.
The MSc Applied Gender Studies degree at Strathclyde is a Master’s level course for those who wish to study how gender ‘works’ in relation to other structural inequalities such as race, sexuality, class and disability within society.
If you wish to pursue a career in the charitable, education, government or civil service or the heritage sectors then this course is ideally suited to you. It will also appeal to those who may already be working within an organisation with a strong interest in gender in society.
For those who are interested in pursuing a more research focussed option the MSc Applied Gender Studies can also be taken as a Research Methods route. This allows graduates to meet the criteria for ESRC funding, an important factor if you plan to go on to PhD study in the Social Sciences.
By completing this course you will develop the analytical and practical skills necessary to engage critically with contemporary gender issues including:
A key focus of this course is how these concepts can be applied within real-world contexts. You will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience working on a research project with an external organisation from the feminist third sector and organisations committed to gender equality in arts, culture and sport.
Glasgow has a diverse range of key women’s and equalities organisations in the city. The University of Strathclyde has particularly strong links with the Glasgow Women’s Library, the only accredited museum in the UK dedicated to women’s lives, histories and achievements. You'll benefit from access to the unique archival collections held by the Library as part of this course.
Gender studies is a multi-disciplinary field dealing intersectionally with various social and cultural dimensions.
Reflecting this, the MSc Applied Gender Studies combines interdisciplinary core courses on gender theory, feminist research and the history of feminist thought, with optional classes within a range of disciplinary traditions.
Strathclyde has particular strengths in feminist and queer approaches within Journalism and Media Studies, English Literature, History, Creative Writing, Education, Politics and International Relations, Criminology and Social Policy.
This course comprises of three core courses:
These core modules focus on providing students with an interdisciplinary frame for the critical study of gender that is underpinned by feminist theory and acknowledges the ways in which gender informs – and is informed by – other structural inequalities.
Understanding how feminist theory, research and activism has developed over time is a key element of the degree, and our core courses include visits to Glasgow Women’s Library to learn about feminist archiving and work with their original collections.
Collectively, these courses equip students with a knowledge and understanding of key feminist debates about ontology, epistemology and methodology, and enable them to identify both commonalities and differences in the ways these debates have been taken up in different disciplinary contexts over time.
Students also take three optional courses chosen from a range of modules. These are updated annually and may include:
The Gender Studies Research Placement and Advanced Topics in Gender Studies options run every year. You'll also complete a Gender Studies dissertation. We're well placed to supervise projects aligned to a range of disciplinary interests and using diverse methodologies.
In addition to the MSc Applied Gender Studies, we also offer the MSc Applied Gender Studies (Research Methods) which is the recommended route for students intending to apply for a PhD in the Social Sciences.
Students on this programme take core modules Feminist Knowledge and Research, Advanced Topics in Gender Studies, Perspectives on Social Research, Quantitative Methods and Qualitative Methods.
Students following this route take only one of the optional courses listed above and similarly complete a dissertation.
The Research Placement option provides students with the opportunity to put their Gender Studies learning and research training into practice in a real-world environment.
Students conduct a piece of research according to a brief produced in consultation with the host organisation.
The course team have established links with potential placement providers - in Glasgow and beyond - from the feminist third sector and a range of organisations committed to gender equality in arts, culture and sport.
Examples of organisations we have links with include Women in Journalism, Engender, Glasgow Women’s Library, Zero Tolerance, Rape Crisis Scotland, Women’s Support Project, Scottish Football Association, The Parliament Project and the National Union of Journalists.
The core courses are delivered in weekly seminars where there is an emphasis on student participation and engagement.
On both Feminist Knowledge, Feminist Research and Feminisms – Continuity and Change, some of our classes are held at Glasgow Women’s Library.
The assessment is all in the form of coursework, with a range of assessments designed to allow students to demonstrate different research and writing skills.
All the core courses have more than one assessment point so that receiving and responding to feedback is built in to the course design. Optional modules are taught and assessed in a variety of ways.
On the Research Placement module, students will deliver their research in a form agreed in advance with the Placement provider so as to best meet their needs and provide the student with the opportunity to develop skills in delivering research in real world contexts.
The MSc Applied Gender Studies is a great route into working in the feminist third sector, or into equality and diversity work across a range of contexts.
We positively encourage part-time study and where students are already working in these areas there may be possibilities to conduct research for their placement and/or dissertation within their workplace.
The MA in Gender and Women’s Studies and English combines teaching and scholarship in Gender and Women’s Studies and in English Literature. This is a unique MA for students interested in Gender and Women’s Studies who want to pursue literary studies or who have a particular interest in women’s literature or feminist literary theory.
Students take core courses in each of the disciplines and can choose from a range of optional courses in addition to these. This combination is administered from the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies - one of the largest centres in the UK for feminist research, gender studies and women’s studies.
Taught jointly with the http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/english-and-creative-writing/, the programme is run by the http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sociology/research/research-centres/centre-for-gender-and-womens-studies/, part of the Sociology Department at Lancaster and one of the largest centres in the UK for feminist research, gender studies and women’s studies.
As an MA student, you will be immersed in the busy academic and social life of the centre, and part of a supportive and dynamic community of students and researchers from across the world. It is an ideal environment in which to learn and carry out research – and allows you to meet other scholars and activists, take part in seminars and workshops, and exchange ideas and insights with world-leading feminist and literary academics.
Graduates from this MA are now working in universities throughout the world, having used the programme as a springboard to PhD study. Others have gone on to work in local and national government, in public-sector, non-governmental or voluntary organisations, or are teaching in schools and colleges.
Find out more about the http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sociology/research/, research centres and conferences that make studying in the Sociology Department at Lancaster so stimulating.
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Core
Optional
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research.
The graduate concentration in Women's and Gender Studies provides graduate students the opportunity to study gender and sexuality from a variety of disciplinary perspectives in conjunction with their study toward a master's or doctoral degree. Interdisciplinary by nature, Women’s and Gender Studies courses primarily address the diversity of gendered experiences based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, nationality, and sexual orientation. The graduate concentration is an appropriate option for graduate students who wish to focus on gender and/or sexuality in their particular disciplinary field.
The graduate concentration in Women's and Gender Studies is offered to students in the following programs: Master of Arts (M.A.) in American Studies, English, History, Liberal Studies, and Political Science; Master of Science (M.S.) in the Division of Global Affairs, Public Administration and Social Work; and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in American studies and the Division of Global Affairs.
The graduate concentration consists of a total of 12 credits. Students will take two courses cross-listed with Women's and Gender Studies from their own department and two core courses offered by the Women's and Gender Studies Program, taught by faculty members affiliated with the Graduate School.
The two core courses are:
Because the way that the graduate concentration in Women's and Gender Studies fits with each program is slightly different, students should seek advisement from the director of the graduate program in their own department as well as from the director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the beginning of their graduate studies. Full-time students should be able to complete the course of study for the graduate concentration in Women's and Gender Studies and for their master's or doctoral degree within their program's normal time frame.
Students interested in pursuing the graduate concentration in Women's and Gender Studies should contact the director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program after they have been accepted into the graduate program in their discipline.
The Women’s and Gender Studies Program offers its own activities to help students achieve learning goals, including brown-bag lunch discussions of student and faculty research and the annual WGS conference. The goals and assessments below for the English courses required for the Concentration are in addition to those above for all English MA students.
Learning Goal 1: Familiarity with the ways feminist epistemologies have reshaped the agendas of intellectual inquiry in numerous fields; command of the foundational methodologies of doing interdisciplinary work in WGS as well as those most appropriate to the student’s area of disciplinary study, including the lexicons required to do this work; understanding of the research and the research methodologies employed by scholars across the disciplines to study women’s and gender issues, and ability to use these tools competently in the student’s own academic work.
Learning Goal 2: Understanding in historical perspective of the issues in American and other cultures that are based on assumptions about male/female sexual differences, differences in gender and sexual orientation, and their ideologies; command of the intellectual history within which feminism and gender studies have come to be defined and reframed and the complex dynamic of women’s histories in various times and places as they intersect with gendered social and cultural formations; understanding of the development of feminist and gender theories in the contexts of differing cultures, subcultures, and global histories; and ability to apply contemporary varieties of these theories to literary and cultural texts with rigor, creativity, appropriateness, and critical thought.
Learning Goal 3: The ability to connect broader issues in women’s history, feminist and gender theory, and related theories and methodologies to literary works under study.
Gender Studies is an exciting area of research, exploring gender relations in the past, present and future. This programme draws on a variety of perspectives to analyse social and cultural phenomena through the lens of gender.
Supported by our Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, you’ll be able to explore approaches from across a range of academic disciplines. You’ll learn the principles of conducting research on gender and examine issues that both shape and are shaped by gender relations, such as family roles, reproductive technologies, citizenship, sexuality and culture.
Core modules in gender theory and research will lay these foundations, and you’ll build on them by choosing from a range of options on topics such as gender and development, care, gender equality in the workplace, race and sexuality. There has never been a more exciting time to study gender, and this programme will give you an insight into this vital and fascinating field.
Research insight
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds is at the forefront of gender research, working closely with other research centres within the School and maintaining strong links with universities around the world. It’s a welcoming and stimulating environment in which to explore gender issues from a range of perspectives.
Core modules in your first semester will introduce you to research and different theoretical approaches in gender studies.
You’ll consider feminist research practices, including ethical and epistemological issues. At the same time, you’ll engage with contemporary theoretical approaches to analyse different – and sometimes contradictory – explanations for the source and operation of gender, and how it affects different areas of social life.
These modules lay the foundations of the programme, supporting your learning as you choose from optional modules to focus on specific topics.
This programme will give you strong research skills as well as a broad base of knowledge. You’ll put these into practice when you complete a dissertation on a topic of your choice, which you’ll submit by the end of the programme in September.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
For more information on typical modules, read Gender Studies MA Full Time in the course catalogue
For more information on typical modules, read Gender Studies MA Part Time in the course catalogue
We use a range of teaching and learning methods including presentations, seminars, tutorials and lectures, depending on your choice of optional modules. Independent study is also crucial to this degree, as an opportunity to develop your skills and form your own ideas.
Assessment methods may vary, depending on the modules you choose. They could include presentations, book reviews, research proposals and essays. We offer plenty of support including feedback on essay plans and draft dissertation chapters and regular opportunities to meet with academic staff on a one-to-one basis.
This degree programme equips students with transferable skills such as research, analysis and communication, as well as a range of subject-specific knowledge and skills.
Graduates have gone on to further study, or into careers in teaching, policy forums, NGOs, campaigning and activism, and local, national and international agencies.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website
The MSc Gender is a flexible degree which offers you the opportunity to develop expertise in the fullest possible range of gender theories, and stresses the significance of gender for knowledge and research design.
You are trained in how to treat gender as an object of study, as an analytic approach or perspective and as a way of thinking across disciplinary boundaries. A key focus of the degree concerns the ethical as well as intellectual issues that arise from practicing gender studies. In addition to the compulsory courses of the degree, you are able to choose options, from within and outside of the Department, in order to develop your own gender studies pathway and focus on key research areas.
The MSc Gender (Research) degree combines a thorough grounding in contemporary theories of gender with advanced training in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
This programme is particularly useful for students considering further study. You will be located in the Department of Gender Studies and take one or two units in the Department of Methodology, which is a base for cross-disciplinary research and teaching in the broad area of social science methodology.
The sexuality pathway of the MSc Gender introduces you to the field of sexuality and gender studies and explores the significance of theories, politices and representations of sexuality for understanding everyday life from a transnational perspective.
Our students go on to work in varied career paths: research and consultancy for government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in developed and less developed countries, international organisations, humanitarian and charity work, personnel work, civil and diplomatic services, representative politics, advocacy, the legal profession, academia, media and communication and in education.
Further information on graduate destinations for this programme
Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Gender and Culture at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).
The MA in Gender and Culture offers an innovative interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to the study of Gender and Culture.
This is an interdisciplinary MA scheme in Gender and Culture taught by Gender specialists across the Arts and Humanities – in the subject areas of Development Studies, Political and Cultural Studies, English Literature, Egyptology, European Languages, History, Media Studies, and Political and Cultural Studies.
If you are interested in gender and gender relations in politics, literature, culture, and history, like engaging in discussion and intellectual argument, and are excited about the idea of working within and across different subject areas, this MA in Gender and Culture is ideal for you.
The MA Gender and Culture examines the production, reproduction and transformation of gender in culture and society.
The Gender and Culture degree is supported by the research activity of GENCAS, the Centre for Research into Gender in Culture and Society in the College of Arts and Humanities. The College of Arts and Humanities has a Graduate Centre. The Graduate Centre fosters and supports individual and collaborative research activity of international excellence and offers a vibrant and supportive environment for students pursuing postgraduate research and taught masters study. The Centre provides postgraduate training to enhance academic and professional development and facilitates participation in seminar programmes, workshops and international conferences.
The full-time Gender and Culture course comprises three modules taken in each academic semester (a total of six modules) and then a dissertation over the summer. In part one, students study three compulsory modules and three optional modules. In part two, students are required to write the dissertation component which draws on issues and themes developed throughout the year.
Part-time study is available for the Gender and Culture programme.
To develop independent thinking and writing. You devise your own essay projects in consultation with a gender specialist - this combines the benefits of expert guidance with the rewards of shaping an intellectual project for yourself. To sharpen and develop your skills and take them to a new level by providing the chance for original thinking and intellectual freedom in writing the ‘dissertation’ element, where you complete your own research project.
Modules on the Gender and Culture programme include:
• Women and Politics
• Civil Society and International Development
• Critical Security Studies
• Rights-Based Approaches to Development
• War, Technology and Culture
• Approaches to IR
• Violence, Conflict & Development
• Governance, Globalization and Neoliberal Political Economy
• Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention
• The Policy Making Process
• State of Africa
• Politics in Contemporary Britain
• War in Space
• Politics and Public Policy in the New Wales
• Postcolonialism, Orientalism and Eurocentrism
• War, Identity and Society
• Approaches to Political Theory
• International Security in the Asia Pacific
• Gender Trouble: the Medieval Anchorite, and Issues of Wombs and Tombs
• Women Writers of the 1940’s
• Women Writing India
• ‘The Great Pretender’: Masculinity in Contemporary Women’s Fiction
• ‘The Unsex’d Females’: Women Writers and the French Revolution
• British Women’s Fiction 1918-1939
• Contemporary Women’s Writing
• Angela Carter
• Gender in Contemporary European Culture
• Literature in Social Context
• Women and Gender in Ancient Egypt
• Nature’s Stepchildren: European Medicine and Sexual Dissidents, 1869-1939
• The making of Modern Sexualities, 1650-1800
Students interested in Gender and Culture from a Classics and Ancient History, English, European Languages, History, Media Studies, and Political and Cultural Studies or related background. Professionals interested in the challenge of digital studying Gender and Culture. Students interested in preparation for postgraduate research, MPhil or PhD, or who wish to develop skills and knowledge related to gender and culture.
Career expectations are excellent for Gender and Culture graduates. Our graduates are employed in diverse and dynamic vocations such as education, business, law and finance, marketing, sales and advertising; commercial, industrial and public sectors; media and PR; creative and professional writing; social and welfare professions; heritage and tourism; government and politics; foreign affairs and diplomatic corps; humanitarian organisations and some go on to study a PhD.
Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Gender and Culture (Extended) at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).
This is an interdisciplinary MA scheme in Gender and Culture taught by Gender specialists across the Arts and Humanities – in the subject areas of Development Studies, Political and Cultural Studies, English Literature, Egyptology, European Languages, History, Media Studies, and Political and Cultural Studies.
If you are interested in gender and gender relations in politics, literature, culture, and history, like engaging in discussion and intellectual argument, and are excited about the idea of working within and across different subject areas, this MA in Gender and Culture is ideal for you.
The MA Gender and Culture examines the production, reproduction and transformation of gender in culture and society.
The Gender and Culture degree is supported by the research activity of GENCAS, the Centre for Research into Gender in Culture and Society in the College of Arts and Humanities. The College of Arts and Humanities has a Graduate Centre. The Graduate Centre fosters and supports individual and collaborative research activity of international excellence and offers a vibrant and supportive environment for students pursuing postgraduate research and taught masters study. The Centre provides postgraduate training to enhance academic and professional development and facilitates participation in seminar programmes, workshops and international conferences.
The full-time Gender and Culture course comprises three modules taken in each academic semester (a total of six modules) and then a dissertation over the summer. In part one, students study three compulsory modules and three optional modules. In part two, students are required to write the dissertation component which draws on issues and themes developed throughout the year.
Part-time study is available for the Gender and Culture programme.
The Extended MA (EMA) in Gender and Culture is a 240-credit postgraduate qualification that is equivalent to 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) and is thus a recognised Masters qualification throughout the European Union. The EMA is a standard UK MA plus an additional 60 credits (30 ECTS) and this additional coursework is undertaken in one semester at a partner institution overseas. The EMA is therefore not only an EU recognised postgraduate qualification it also adds a study abroad experience thus enhancing the qualification’s employability credentials.
The partner institution for EMA Gender and Culture is the University of Regensburg. Founded in 1962, Regensburg is a renowned international centre of teaching and research. Although it has over 21,000 thousand students, the university offers a broad range of disciplines of study, as well as having excellent infrastructure and a favourable staff-student ratio. Regensburg is also active in research, with six special research areas supported by the German Research Society and a strong presence in German- and EU-funded research initiatives. The university has a significant international presence, offering exchange links with more than 200 European institutions and 45 overseas universities. Students will have access to the complete range of services and facilities offered at the university, along with inclusion in the many academic and social activities that take place. Located right in the heart of the old town of Regensburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the university is situated in the centre of a culturally and socially rich area with over 2000 years of history.
To develop independent thinking and writing. You devise your own essay projects in consultation with a gender specialist - this combines the benefits of expert guidance with the rewards of shaping an intellectual project for yourself. To sharpen and develop your skills and take them to a new level by providing the chance for original thinking and intellectual freedom in writing the ‘dissertation’ element, where you complete your own research project.
Modules on the Gender and Culture programme include:
• Women and Politics
• Civil Society and International Development
• Critical Security Studies
• Rights-Based Approaches to Development
• War, Technology and Culture
• Approaches to IR
• Violence, Conflict & Development
• Governance, Globalization and Neoliberal Political Economy
• Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention
• The Policy Making Process
• State of Africa
• Politics in Contemporary Britain
• War in Space
• Politics and Public Policy in the New Wales
• Postcolonialism, Orientalism and Eurocentrism
• War, Identity and Society
• Approaches to Political Theory
• International Security in the Asia Pacific
• Gender Trouble: the Medieval Anchorite, and Issues of Wombs and Tombs
• Women Writers of the 1940’s
• Women Writing India
• ‘The Great Pretender’: Masculinity in Contemporary Women’s Fiction
• ‘The Unsex’d Females’: Women Writers and the French Revolution
• British Women’s Fiction 1918-1939
• Contemporary Women’s Writing
• Angela Carter
• Gender in Contemporary European Culture
• Literature in Social Context
• Women and Gender in Ancient Egypt
• Nature’s Stepchildren: European Medicine and Sexual Dissidents, 1869-1939
• The making of Modern Sexualities, 1650-1800
Students interested in Gender and Culture from a Classics and Ancient History, English, European Languages, History, Media Studies, and Political and Cultural Studies or related background. Professionals interested in the challenge of digital studying Gender and Culture. Students interested in preparation for postgraduate research, MPhil or PhD, or who wish to develop skills and knowledge related to gender and culture.
Career expectations are excellent for Gender and Culture graduates. Our graduates are employed in diverse and dynamic vocations such as education, business, law and finance, marketing, sales and advertising; commercial, industrial and public sectors; media and PR; creative and professional writing; social and welfare professions; heritage and tourism; government and politics; foreign affairs and diplomatic corps; humanitarian organisations and some go on to study a PhD.
This MA introduces you to recent debates on gender in the disciplines of sociology and media and communications studies, and to the interdisciplinary domains of feminist social and cultural theory.
Drawing on the internationally recognised and pioneering expertise of staff in the Department of Sociology and Department of Media and Communications, as well as the Centre for Feminist Research (CFR), the programme offers you the opportunity to develop cutting-edge critical skills in relation to cultural approaches to gender formation and gender theory.
As well as these theoretical and analytical points of orientation, the MA in Gender, Media and Culture aims to help you grasp the importance of epistemology and methodology for the evaluation of empirical investigations of gender formations.
The programme therefore introduces you to, and offers training in, the key socio-cultural methods for the study of gender in the contemporary world, including methods for the study of visual culture; the body and affect; and memory.
These two elements of the programme are brought together in a dissertation study, which involves tailored supervision in the application of research methods to a specific topic.
This programme relates to the following disciplines:
Core components of the programme will familiarise you with the wide range of debates integral to the fields of gender studies, feminist theory, and cultural studies. These include:
You complete one core module and one option module each term, as well as a dissertation module in the spring term. The first core module introduces key debates and developments in feminist theory, cultural theory and, in particular, feminist cultural theory. It introduces both early debates which defined these fields and contemporary developments and departures. More specifically, you will be introduced to social constructivist and post-structuralist perspectives, to ‘new materialism’, to debates on feminism and the critique of universalism; to key questions in relation to feminism and biology; to debates on psycho-analysis and the emergence of queer theory and its intersection with feminist theory.
The second core module examines the place of gender, affect and the body in feminist theory and feminist practice. The course offers you different angles on what has become known as “the affective turn,” placing a strong emphasis on the history of feminist contributions to the study of affect and emotion as well as the body. We ask how bodies are constructed, experienced and lived from a variety of feminist perspectives, attending to questions of corporeal difference, as well as the intimacy of bodies, spaces, objects and technologies. We also reflect on the significance of affect and the body for feminist and queer cultural practices, as well feminist and queer activisms. This module therefore offers instruction in some of the most cutting edge issues in contemporary feminist theory. A team of leading feminist scholars based in the departments of Sociology and Media Communications at Goldsmiths teach this module on the basis of their research specialisms.
There will be a series of dissertation workshops to help you plan and develop your dissertation, especially in regard to issues of methodology and method. Each student will be assigned a supervisor who will work with you to develop your proposal and undertake independent research.
Core modules
Option modules
You have 60 credits at your disposal, you can choose any 30 credit modules related to gender from postgraduate modules across the University. You can choose either a regular option (30 credits) or two ‘mini-options’ (2 x 15 credits).
For your other options, you can choose modules from either the Department of Sociology or the Department of Media and Communications as they co-convene the programme. You can also choose from the following departments across Goldsmiths:
Please note that not all modules are suitable for students from all academic backgrounds; you will discuss your choices with the Programme Convenor at the start of your degree.
Assessment
Assessment consists of coursework, extended essays, reports, presentations, practice based projects or essays/logs, group projects, reflective essays, and seen and unseen written examinations.
Graduates from this programme gain conceptual and methodological knowledge of the key concepts and debates in the study of gender and culture; the skills of critical analysis; the ability to distinguish and appraise a range of socio-cultural research methodologies; the skills to design and develop a research project; and the ability to recognise and account for sensitive ethical issues relating to research and representation.
The two core courses provide you with the necessary skills to understand the relationships between early debates in the fields of gender studies, feminist theory and feminist cultural theory, and the ability to critically engage with new developments in these fields. Furthermore, you will gain a critical appreciation of the role and place of the body and affect in the development of feminist cultural theory and gender theory, and the challenges that contemporary socio-cultural changes bring to the theorisation of the body.
Previous graduates have embarked on professional careers in social research, think tanks, the arts and cultural sectors, government and public administration, development, human rights, NGOs, and in media and communications globally. They have also progressed to PhD study.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
How do gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, dis/ability and/or religion contribute to the formation of social identities? What role do ensuing power differences between these vectors play in our globalised and mediatised world? In the two-year Research MA in Gender Studies, you will approach a myriad of questions related to gender and other social categories through an intersectional approach.
The programme combines a thorough grounding in the historiography and contemporary state of Gender Studies as a discipline with intensive training in the critical practice of cultural theories and epistemologies from feminist, postcolonial, critical race, and queer perspectives. In a highly interdisciplinary setting and with academic staff and fellow students representing a range of fields from anthropology to literary studies, you will be trained to apply these theories to the analysis of representations of gender in artistic practices, literary texts, political discourses and (new) media and technology. The international and intellectually challenging setting of this programme offers you the opportunity to broaden your horizon and to build an academic and professional network.
During the courses and seminars, you will approach theories about subjectivity and representation from epistemological, political, and ethical perspectives. How have feminist theorists rethought Freud’s and Lacan’s ideas on (female) subjectivity, for instance? What differences do you see constructed between the East and the West in films, literature, and art works?
You will also investigate the development of feminist theories and the history and current statuses of colonial, post-colonial, and multicultural societies. In addition, you will explore the representation of gender and ethnicity in literature, new media, and new technologies.
Utrecht University’s Research Master in Gender Studies is one of Europe’s most advanced interdisciplinary teaching and research programme in Gender Studies. Our research-focussed programme prepares students for postgraduate or PhD work in Gender Studies and related fields.
You will benefit from engaging in a challenging and international setting that offers multiple avenues of investigation into complex social phenomena. The programme is closely allied with academics and institutions both within and outside Europe and offers an internationally recognised degree.
After successfully completing this programme, you will possess advanced knowledge of and insight into the field of women’s, gender, and postcolonial studies.
You will also have the academic skills to:
After completing the Research Master in Gender Studies you are qualified to apply for a postgraduate or doctoral research programme in the field of women’s, gender, and postcolonial studies. Furthermore, gender experts can also work at governmental organisations, NGO's, national and international women's organisations, and cultural institutions. Read more about possible career prospects.
Gender, Society and Representation is an inter-faculty programme drawing on the unusual breadth of disciplines for which UCL is renowned, including development studies, law, anthropology, literary scholarship, geography and queer studies. UCL offers students an opportunity to develop their own interests within this broad intellectual landscape.
Students gain the advanced skills, methods, concepts and theories required for the study of gender in an interdisciplinary context at graduate level. Optional modules offer students a genuine opportunity to develop their own interests in a wide range of disciplines, and the dissertation provides opportunities for independent research.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme offers two pathways: Taught and Research. The taught pathway consists of three core modules (60 credits), optional modules (60 credits), and a dissertation (60 credits). The research pathway consists of three core modules (60 credits), optional modules (30 credits) and a dissertation (90 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, three core modules (60 credts), two to four optional modules (60 credits), full-time one year, part-time two years, is offered.
Core modules
All three of these modules are compulsory.
Optional modules
Options may include the following (not all will be available in a given year, and some have prerequisites such as existing studies in the field):
Other UCL Master's modules may be chosen, subject to the convenor's approval, if their relevance to the programme of study is demonstrated.
Dissertation/report
Students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 12,000 words (taught pathway) or 18,000 words (research pathway).
Teaching and learning
Teaching sessions are interactive, with a limited amount of lecturing and an emphasis on student participation and critical discussion. Assessment is through a variety of methods, including essays, coursework, written papers, oral examination and the dissertation.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Gender, Society and Representation MA
Engaging with gender and sexuality concerns is now an integral aspect of research and planning activities in a wide range of fields. The need to address different forms of discrimination has created a demand in both public and private sectors for highly qualified graduates with a broad theoretical background in gender and sexuality studies, a familiarity with the intersectional nature of inequality, and a commitment to social change. Our graduates have gone on to careers as researchers, administrators and communications officers for charities, cultural institutions, NGOs and the private sector, and in academic research in related disciplines.
Recent career destinations for this degree
Employability
Students graduating from this Master's programme will possess a broad understanding of gender issues in social practice and discourse. They will have demonstrated intellectual flexibility in engaging successfully with a diverse and challenging range of subject areas and disciplinary approaches to gender. They will be able to develop and sustain a convincing argument on a variety of complex subjects, supporting their conclusions with appropriate evidence, clearly expressed. They will have experience in researching a topic from scratch, learning to identify and choose between different routes into exploring that topic and producing a coherent account of their research and findings.
Careers data is taken from the ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013–2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.
Gender and sexuality studies have expanded rapidly in recent decades, to emerge as dynamic interdisciplinary field of study.
As a multi-faculty institution located in the heart of cosmopolitan London and covering an exceptionally wide range of disciplines, UCL offers an ideal environment for gender studies, enabling students to tailor their degrees according to their specific interests and providing a wealth of opportunities for interdisciplinary work.
Staff contributing to MA level and research work in gender studies are drawn from different faculties including Arts & Humanities, Social & Historical Sciences, Laws, and Life Sciences.
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.
Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.
Understanding the sources, nature and consequences of human conflict has never been more vital for societies.
