Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies Programs and Resources

Introduction

These pages provide information on gender and women’s studies (GWS) and LGBTQ+ studies as academic disciplines in the United States and around the world. Below you will find a list of professional and academic organizations. Use the links on the right side of this guide to navigate through the various lists, including programs, periodicals, libraries and archives, research centers, and more. Also included are resources on advocating for these programs as well as curriculum materials for GWS and LGBTQ+ studies. Most of this material is intended for faculty and staff in higher education, although some resources are also suitable for the K-12 level.

This resource was originally created as one of the GWSL office’s bibliographies: Gender and Women’s Studies: Periodicals, Programs, and Resources. Over time, some of the information became outdated and inaccurate. With the bibliography as a starting point, Kelsey Foster, GWSL Administrative Assistant, and Karla J. Strand, GWS Librarian, updated and greatly expanded on the information to create this resource. It went live in fall 2025. The original is still accessible on our website for posterity, but we’ve created this resource to be a living, continually updated set of webpages, rather than a static bibliography. We will note the date of the last update on each page.

We welcome suggestions for additions, updates, and corrections! Please email suggestions to askgwsl@library.wisc.edu.

Organizations

• The American Association of University Women empowers women and girls by championing their success in higher education and pushing for bold policy solutions to create lasting change.
• Asian Association of Women’s Studies is a forum for discussion and cooperation on new ideas in feminist education and research with a focus on Asia, and to promote the dissemination of information on relevant community programs.
• Association for Middle East Women’s Studies is an organization of scholars and individuals with an interest in women’s and gender studies in the context of the Middle East/North Africa and beyond, including transnational and diasporic communities in Europe as well as North and South America.
• Australian Women’s & Gender Studies Association is the peak body representing researchers, academics and students of Women’s & Gender Studies in Australia.
• The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians illuminates the histories of women, genders, and sexualities while embracing the full breadth of historical scholarship.
• Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals support individuals who work on campuses to educate and support people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.
• Coordinating Council for Women in History connects women historians throughout the world from all career stages, supporting students and emerging scholars through prizes, mentoring programs, and workshops. 
• The Feminist Studies Association is a UK and Ireland based network promoting feminist research and teaching, and gender and women’s studies nationally and internationally.
• Indian Association for Women’s Studies is a premier professional association that aims to further women’s studies as an interdisciplinary academic field concerned with women, the politics of women’s studies and the women’s movement, feminism and gender.
• National Women’s Studies Association is the central gender and women’s studies association in the United States. It has as its primary objectives the promotion and support of the production and dissemination of knowledge about women and gender through teaching, learning, research, and service in academic and other settings.
• Organization for Feminist Research on Gender and Communication promotes dialogue, discussion, research, and scholarship concerned with women, feminism, gender, oppression, and social change.
• Rural Women’s Studies Association is an international association for the advancement and promotion of farm and rural women’s gender studies in historical perspective.
• Sexuality Studies Association is an interdisciplinary association for scholars, artists, activists, and other community members who have an interest in the teaching and study of sex, sexuality, and gender diversity.
• University of Wisconsin Women’s & Gender Studies Consortium works to ensure the continued development of Women’s, Gender, and LGBTQ Studies in the UW System, to maintain our current national prominence in the field, and to create a unique inter-institutional model for educational innovation.
• The Women and Gender Studies Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries was formed to discuss, promote, and support women’s studies collections and services in academic and research libraries.