The mission of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at DePaul is premised on the recognition that Women’s Studies and Gender Studies are complementary interdisciplinary fields whose research, scholarship, and creative activities examine women’s lives, conditions, and contributions within their historical, social, cultural, national, and transnational contexts and explore how gender is constructed and negotiated within and across societies.
The department’s curriculum examines women’s and men’s identities and experiences through the constructs of gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, culture, religion, nation etc. within broader historical, social, and global contexts, such as colonialism and globalization, among others. Through feminist and gender-based theories and methodologies, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies offers critical analyses, reflections, and contributions to knowledge regarding interlocking systems of oppression and privilege, thereby addressing issues of power, resistance and social transformation. In addition, the emphasis on critical theory and analysis allows for work that interrogates feminist discourses as well as those of other disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. By crossing the boundaries of traditional fields of study, the department seeks to create new, coherent understandings of human experiences.
The Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at DePaul University offers an undergraduate major and minor, a Five Year BA/MA Program, a Master of Arts (MA) Graduate Program, a joint MSW/MA in Women’s and Gender Studies program, and a four-course Graduate Certificate Program.
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