Gender and Women’s Studies (M.A.)

Master of Arts

The graduate program in Gender and Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary critical social theory program. It provides students with a solid grounding in how relations of gender are embedded in social, economic and political formations with a particular focus on the Middle East/ North Africa and the comparative global south.

The interdisciplinary training in gender and women’s studies prepares students for doctoral programs in social science disciplines, in addition to a variety of professional career paths in social research, international development agencies, and non-governmental organizations.

Admission

Applicants seeking admission to the graduate program should have an undergraduate degree of high standing in the social sciences or humanities with an overall grade of gayyid giddan or a grade point average of 3.0 or above. Those who lack this background but who are exceptionally well qualified may be admitted provisionally. Provisional admission usually involves additional non-credit coursework to prepare the applicant for graduate work over one or two semesters. Provisionally accepted students must successfully complete the required prerequisites before being admitted to enroll in GWST graduate courses. Students are admitted to the graduate degree program in the fall and spring semesters.

Requirements

Eight courses (24 credit hours) are required for the MA Thesis Track.

Ten courses (30 credit hours) are required for the MA Comprehensive Examination Track.

Students are required to take the following two courses:
GWST 5100 - Theorizing Gender (3 cr.)
GWST 5205 - Gender and Feminist Research Methodologies (3 cr.)
Students select three out of the following courses for the thesis track and select four out of the following for the comprehensive exam track.
GWST 5101 - Visual, Literary, and Critical Approaches to Gender in MENA (3 cr.)
GWST 5104 - Mobilities: Gender and Migration (3 cr.)
GWST 5109 - Theorizing the Urban (3 cr.)
GWST 5170 - Special Topics in Gender and Women’s Studies (3 cr.)
SOC/ANTH 5220 - Gender and Sexuality (3 cr.)
SOC/ANTH 5230 - Theorizing the State (3 cr.)
Students, in consultation with the IGWS director, need to select three additional electives for those on the thesis track and four additional electives for those on the comprehensive exam track from the list below. One 4000 level course may be taken towards the MA with the permission of the IGWS director.
ECON 5252 - Economic Development in Middle East Countries (3 cr.)
EDUC 5212 - Comparative Gender, Youth, and Human Development Policy (3 cr.)
LAW 5116 - Law and Economic Development (3 cr.)
LAW 5273 - Introduction to International Human Rights Law and Critique (3 cr.)
MRS 5101 - International Refugee Law (3 cr.)
MRS 5200 - Introduction to Migration and Refugee Studies (3 cr.)
MRS 5202 - Migration & Refugee Movements in the Middle East and North Africa (3 cr.)
PHIL 5120 - Advanced Seminar in Feminist Philosophy (3 cr.)
PPAD 5136 - Gender in Public Policy and Administration (3 cr.)
SOC/ANTH 5205 - Time and Temporality (3 cr.)
SOC/ANTH 5270 - Environments, Ecologies and the Anthropocene (3 cr.)
SOC/ANTH 5275 - Insurgent Publics (3 cr.)

MA Program Tracks

MA Thesis Track

All students on this track must complete a thesis according to university regulations. Students must register for GWST 5299 each semester in which they work on their thesis. Before commencing work on the thesis, the student must have a thesis proposal approved by a thesis committee consisting of a thesis advisor and two readers. Students should familiarize themselves with the specific procedural requirements of the IGWS thesis. Guidelines are available in the IGWS office.

MA Comprehensive Examination Track

This option allows students who do not wish to write a MA thesis to complete, as an alternative, two further courses and take a comprehensive exam.

Students not opting to do a thesis will, after the completion of all course requirements, take a comprehensive examination administered by an Examination Committee. An oral examination may be given following the written test.

After completing the required ten courses students must enroll in GWST 5289 . The written and oral parts of the comprehensive exam are on three topics (one theoretical, one focused on methodological/ practical concerns, one based on the interests of the student). The comprehensive examination may be repeated once as per University regulations for graduate studies. A student who fails the comprehensive examination a second time would be dismissed from the degree program at the end of the semester in which the examination was retaken.

AUC New Cairo Campus

AUC Tahrir Square Campus

New York