National Women's Studies Association
Mapping Women’s and Gender Studies Data Collection
Executive Summary
The National Women's Studies Association established its Mapping Women’s and Gender Studies project to collect data that could provide a comprehensive portrait of these programs and how they manifest themselves in different U.S. institutions of higher education.
Established in 1977, NWSA leads the field of women’s studies in educational and social transformation. NWSA has more than 2,000 individual and institutional members worldwide.
With generous support from The Ford Foundation, NWSA partnered with the National Opinion Research Center to conduct its national survey. Some key results from the data are listed below:
- There are 652 women’s and gender studies programs at community colleges,
colleges, and universities in the U.S. based upon survey responses
- Undergraduate women’s studies courses enrolled nearly 89,000 students in
2005-06, and 85% of women’s and gender studies courses fulfilled general
education requirements
- Undergraduate majors enrolled nearly 4,300 students, while undergraduate
minors enrolled nearly 10,500 students in 2005-06
- Graduate courses had a total enrollment of nearly 2,700, with 1,076 students
registered in doctoral courses in 2005-06
- 30.4% of women’s studies faculty are faculty of color, compared with 19% of faculty nationally based upon a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 2003 report on post-secondary faculty at degree-granting institutions
The full report contains additional information about how the survey was conducted, curricular offerings, faculty, program administration, and program budgets. NWSA welcomes comments on this report and suggestions for future research. For additional information please contact NWSA Executive Director Allison Kimmich at allison.kimmich@nwsa.org