As of Spring 2008, our department has a new name: Gender and Women’s Studies. This better reflects our department’s mission, curriculum learning objectives, and scope of our faculty members’ scholarship.
The Gender & Women’s Studies Department at CSUN emphasizes interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and transnational studies with a focus on gender.
It includes course work in feminist theories, women and social movements, transnational feminisms, women of color feminisms, postcolonial feminism, women’s economic conditions in the context of globalization and development, productions of women in the media and literature, queer studies, women’s health and masculinity studies.
The Gender and Women’s Studies Department teaches students to view the world with a critical analytical approach grounded in a social justice framework. The department adheres to a disciplinary practice that centers on an integrative, intersectional framing of issues concerning gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, age and the differently abled.

The Major and Minor
The major and minor provide a background for various careers such as law, counseling and healthcare or advanced graduate degrees in fields such as Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, education, communication, political, cultural and media studies.
Gender and Women's Studies Major
Gender and Women's Studies offers a 45 unit major.
Gender and Women's Studies Major Requirements.
Gender and Women's Studies Minor
Gender and Women's Studies offers a 21 unit minor.
Gender and Women's Studies Minor Requirements
Gender and Women's Studies Learning Outcomes
Phenomenal Woman Awards
Phenomenal Woman Awards
The Gender and Women’s Studies Department at CSUN honors five outstanding women every two years with a Phenomenal Woman Award. The Phenomenal Woman Awards event celebrates women who have made important contributions to our community.
It also allows the Gender and Women’s Studies Department to raise funds to sponsor special programming, support student and faculty research, and finance scholarships for Women’s Studies majors. In addition, these contributions support the Women’s Resource & Research Center, the oldest continuing women’s center within the California State University system.
