The Center for Women's and Gender Studies

The Center for Women's Studies, now called "The Center for Women's and Gender Studies", was founded by Hélène Cixous in 1974 at Paris VIII (Vincennes). It was one of the first university programs dedicated to the study of feminism and women's studies in Europe. Its creation coincided with the development of the first Women's Studies programs in the US at the beginning of the 1970's. In France, it remains to this day, one of the rare University programs able to confer diplomas in this field of study.

The Center for Women's and Gender Studies is a departmental component of the University, affiliated with the UFR (Unité de Recherche et de formation), "Literature, Human and Social Sciences".

It offers preparation for two diplomas :

- The Master's degree "Gender(s), theories of difference and the social relations of sex"
- The Ph.D. in Women's and Gender Studies, the only doctoral program in France in this field.

While some faculty work directly for the Center for Women's and Gender Studies, the majority of the supervisory staff for the Master's and Ph.D. are Research Professors from other departments, laboratories and branches of the University (Anthropology, Film, History, Foreign Languages and Cultures, Comparative Literature, French Literature, Philosophy, Social Psychology, Educational Science, Political Science, Sociology, Sociology of Work).



The administrative office is in B 342.
Telephone: 01 49 40 68 13
Fax: 01 49 40 68 89.