Departments

• As of fall 2023, approximately 276 departments were awarding degrees in women’s and gender studies at colleges and universities in the United States. These departments included large, freestanding departments in the discipline as well as programs within departments awarding degrees in multiple disciplines. In the latter case, the department chairs were asked to report information for women’s and gender studies only.
• Of the 276 departments awarding degrees in women’s and gender studies, 52 (or 19%) were awarding graduate degrees in the subject, with 24 (9%) awarding PhDs.

Faculty

• Women’s and gender studies departments employed 2,090 full- and part-time faculty members in fall 2023, with an average of 8 faculty members per department (and a median of 7).
• Approximately 60% of the women’s and gender studies faculty members either had tenure or were on the tenure track.
• Faculty members employed full-time with tenure or on the tenure track taught an average of 25 undergraduate students in fall 2023, while full-time faculty employed off the tenure track taught an average of 66 undergraduates. Faculty employed part-time taught an average of 38 undergraduate students during that fall term.
• While 34% of women’s and gender studies departments had made at least one new hire for the 2023–24 academic year, amounting to 110 new permanent faculty, the departments collectively had lost an average of 250 faculty per annum over the previous two years. Among the faculty who left, 52% had retired.
• An estimated 21% of women’s and gender studies department chairs thought the number of tenure-line faculty in their departments had increased from fall 2020 to fall 2023, while 27% estimated that their tenure-line faculty count had decreased during that period. In addition, 34% of chairs thought the number of nontenure-track faculty had increased over the same period, while 17% thought the number had decreased.
• Looking ahead, 21% of women’s and gender studies chairs expected the number of tenure track faculty to increase in their departments, while 25% thought the number would decrease. (The remainder thought the most likely outcome would be no change or were not sure what would happen.) In contrast, 23% thought their nontenure-track faculty count would increase, while 20% thought the number would shrink.
• About 35% of the departments had a faculty member come up for tenure during the previous two years. Averaging over these two years, 50 faculty were granted tenure per annum nationwide, none were denied tenure, and 30 left prior to a tenure decision.
• Because it is not appropriate for a person to assign a demographic identity to another person, the survey did not ask department chairs to report their faculty members’ races or genders. However, the survey did ask chairs to describe themselves. Women constituted 91% of the chairs in women’s and gender studies departments in fall 2023 (the largest share among the 14 disciplines surveyed), and 84% identified their race/ethnicity as white.

Undergraduate Students

• In fall 2023, departments that awarded degrees in women’s and gender studies had undergraduate course enrollments of 74,220, with an average enrollment of269 per department. (These are duplicated enrollment figures, with students taking multiple courses in the discipline counted in every course.) The average is skewed upward by large programs, typically at research universities, which had significantly larger-than-average enrollments, as indicated by a median enrollment of only 240.
• Approximately 77% of women’s and gender studies department chairs thought undergraduate enrollments had held steady or increased from fall 2020 to fall2023.
• On average, women’s and gender studies departments awarded 9 bachelor’s degrees per department in the 2022–23 academic year (with a median of 7 per department). These departments had an average of 18 juniors or seniors with a declared major in the subject (and a median of 12).
• In the 2022-23 academic year, women’s and gender studies departments awarded an average of 17 minors in the subject (with a median of 10 per department) and 9certificates or other microcredentials per department (with a median of 7). About 62% of the departments awarded minors, while less than half (46%) reported awarding a certificate or other microcredential, though the latter was the largest share among all the disciplines in the survey.

Graduate Students

• Degree-granting departments in women’s and gender studies had 9,460 enrollments in graduate courses in fall 2023, with an average of 182 enrollments (and a median of 20) per department with a graduate program.
• Approximately 510 students were working toward graduate degrees in women’s and gender studies. The average number of students pursuing advanced degrees in women’s and gender studies was 10 (with a median of 9) per department that granted such degrees—both relatively low among the disciplines in the survey.
• The 24 departments awarding PhDs admitted an average of approximately 3 new doctoral students into their programs in fall 2023, for a total of 70 new doctoral students in the discipline.

Departmental Practices and Concerns

• Approximately 41% of department chairs were optimistic about the future of women’s and gender studies at their institution, while 35% were pessimistic. (The remainder were either unsure or neither optimistic nor pessimistic.)
• The survey found that 49% of chairs in women’s and gender studies were concerned about the academic freedom of faculty members in their departments (equal to the share among race and ethnic studies programs, and a larger proportion than in any of the other surveyed disciplines). Among those chairs with concerns, the most common worry was threats to such freedom from academic administrations and federal or state governments (each cited by 76% of chairs). The second most common source of concern was boards of trustees (cited by 64%).
• While 90% of women’s and gender studies departments provided research support for their full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members, and 71% offered such support for full-time nontenured faculty, only 32% offered such support for part-time faculty.
• Asked what their departments had done in recent years to attract additional majors into their departments, 84% of women’s and gender studies chairs reported outreach to students who were in other majors or undeclared. The
  second most common strategy, reported by 71% of chairs, was to offer events, classes, or other activities designed to aid students in thinking about future jobs or careers in the discipline.
• An estimated 49% of departments supported the career development of their undergraduates by offering (and for a small share of departments, by requiring) occupationally oriented lectures, while 86% offered internships, and 52% offered occupationally oriented coursework or workshops.