Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Program Overview

Through the course of your studies, you will investigate how people’s lives are affected by gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, age, race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and religion.

You’ll learn flexible thinking skills that will prepare you for a satisfying career in the nonprofit sector, public policy, law, media, social work, and for-profit institutions, among other spheres.

Major in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Minor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Graduate Minor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies

What Can I Do With My Degree?

Our graduates enjoy careers in law, counseling, public policy, social work, business management and more — or go on to pursue advanced degrees in various fields.

Explore career paths

Student Testimonials

Adrianna Moore ’19

“Women’s and gender studies has been so fulfilling for me because it’s not the same thing for everybody. I can take from it what I want to take from it, I can put into it what I want to put into it.… it’s been really good for finding myself and finding out what my feminism is and what I want it to be.”

Kat Kirby ’19

“Women’s and gender studies applies to so many different fields. It applies medicine, it applies to law, it applies to public policy… So whether WGS is your second major or whether it’s your primary major, you can definitely utilize the theory and the skills that you learn from being a WGS major to critically think and analyze everything that you do and make a difference in the world.”

Get Involved

Below are two NC State “Living and Learning Villages” with a strong connection with the WGS Program. Upon linking to this page, you may scroll down to locate more information about the WISE and WOW Villages.

Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program

The WISE Program was created to address the underrepresentation of women and people of color in sciences and engineering.  Faculty in both WGS and Science and Engineering encourages students’ interests in scholarship on women in science and engineering. To learn more about the WISE Village, a living and learning community for first and second year women in STEM majors click below.

Women of Welch (WOW)

University Housing, WGS, and the Women’s Center have worked together to create a living and learning community residence hall for undergraduate female students. 

Helpful resources

NC State Women’s Center
Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)
GLBT Center‌
African American Cultural Center
Women and Minority Engineering Programs (WMEP)
Southeastern Women’s Studies Association (SEWSA)
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)
NC Council for Women
American Association of University Women (AAUW)