Gender Studies interrogates the relationships that impact all of us: in families, workplaces, friendships, schools, clubs, online and elsewhere. At a time when more people than ever are contesting deeply held notions of sex, gender and sexuality, it’s especially important to understand how gender intersects with other identities like class, ethnicity, and religion and then impacts our self-perceptions.

Given this, Gender Studies examines the processes of being sexed and gendered, incorporating critical perspectives on, amongst other things, the family, education, media, politics and the workplace while taking into account the impact of class and race, colonisation and coloniality. Our courses cover key issues and debates on women and femininity, men and masculinity, and LGBTQI+. Taught by leading scholars in the field, our courses address the latest developments in feminist, gender, queer and transgender theory and practice.

You can take courses across multiple disciplines to understand how the social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities function in human society. How do ideas about gender and sexuality change? How do they persist across time, place and communities? And how does this matter for all of us?

Courses in Gender Studies

Understanding the complexities of being sexed and gendered is key to improving and transforming society in all its facets: political, economic, institutional, cultural and subjective. In each of these respects, an education in Gender Studies is useful across a broad range of careers. These include social services, government, public relations, the law, counselling and mediation, teaching, public policy, community work, politics, and the media. Interventions are needed to address structural inequities that impact the health and wellbeing of individuals and society both locally and globally.

Career options with an Arts degree

Consider issues of social justice through Sociology, Criminology, Gender Studies and Māori Studies.