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For five decades CSWS has funded feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Our mission is simple: we create, fund, share, and support research that addresses the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities.

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Research

Our faculty and student affiliates generate wide-ranging research on the complexity of women’s lives and the intersecting nature of gender identities and inequalities. Discover what we are working on.

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Funding

For five decades, we have funded feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Read about our present opportunities and past awards.

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Initiatives

Through event programming and special initiatives, we foster networking, collaboration, and mentorship within our vibrant community of feminist scholars. Learn more about how to get involved.

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Media

As a research center, we disseminate new knowledge across media platforms on the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities with other scholars and educators, the public, policymakers, and activists. 

Upcoming Events

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Consortium of Oregon Diversity and Equity Scholars Conference

This mini-academic conference aims to bring together Diversity Science scholars from all disciplines, based in Oregon, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, discuss strategies to reduce group-based discrimination, and promote the inclusion of marginalized groups. Event highlights include keynote speaker, networking sessions, short talks, poster sessions, and scholars from Univeristy of Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Reed College, and more. 

Sep 26 - 9:00am
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CSWS Faculty Fellowship Info Session

Come learn about the new CSWS Faculty Research Fellowship that provides University of Oregon faculty with one course release for a term of reduced or no teaching to pursue work on any aspect of the study of women and/or gender. Career and tenure-track faculty are encouraged to submit fellowship applications for research-based and creative projects from across the disciplines. Also, learn about changes to the CSWS Faculty Research Grants (up to $6,000).

Oct 01 - 4:00pm
Hendricks 330 (CSWS Jane Grant Room)
All Events »
1973
CSWS Established
$3.5m
1983 Harris Endowment Received
$3m+
Given for Gender Research at UO
900+
CSWS Research Grants Funded
220+
CSWS Faculty Affiliates at UO

CSWS Impacts

Features

Pirctured, from left, are Akiko Hatakeyama, Barbara Lima, and Shannon Mockli.

Feminist Futures: Moments from the CSWS 50th Anniversary

Right from the start, CSWS leaders, affiliates, and collaborators imagined our 50th anniversary as an opportunity to reach beyond the usual partnerships. From the UO Environmental Initiative to the School of Music and Dance, and from UO Common Reading to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, we built a program of events that speak to the ways that intersectional feminism informs research, scholarship, and creative production across the University of Oregon and shapes our collective visions of social justice. 
Anita Hill

Anita Hill Sees Peril and Promise for Feminism

When Anita Hill testified in 1991 that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had subjected her years earlier to unwanted sexual advances, she says much of America had never even heard the term sexual harassment. Today the term is commonplace and there is “an expectation of accountability,” Hill says—and not just for sexual harassment, but for attacks ranging from partner violence to stalking to cyberthreats.
(From left) Karla FC Holloway and Ulrick Casimir

Writing A Death in Harlem: A Conversation with Karla FC Holloway

Interview by Ulrick Casimir, Career Instructor, Department of English Nella Larsen’s classic novel Passing (1929) features one hell of an ending. We know that one of its main characters, Clare Kendry, lies dead after falling from a window, but we don’t know whether she was pushed by her friend Irene Redfield or simply slipped and fell. We know what may have led Irene to do what she may or may not have done, but we don’t know whether the betrayal Irene suspects, between her husband and Clare, even occurred. We know the broad strokes and terminus of the connection between these two women—but the novel ends without the hinted-at intimate dimensions of their relationship ever finding air.

News

Picgtured from left: Data management librarian Erin Winter, research assistant Michele Pflug, and principal investigator Mattie Burkert. Photo by Nate Kersey.

Burkert's London Stage Datatbase project featured in CAS Connection

Excerpted from June 9 CAS Connection, story by Jenny Brooks — Going to the theater in London in the 18th century was a good time—and a transformative time. Playhouses across the city were bursting with activity as crowd-pleasing favorites from the heyday of Shakespeare mixed with slapstick entertainments and boundary-pushing artistic experimentation. These shows drew lively, often raucous audiences from a mix of social and economic classes that seldom crossed paths elsewhere. 

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New CSWS fellowship offers a course release for research on gender

For AY 2026-27, the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) is launching a new research fellowship that provides University of Oregon faculty with one course release for a term of reduced or no teaching to pursue work on any aspect of the study of women and/or gender.

Karen Guillemin (left) is a biology professor who studies the microbial communities that make up each and every organism.

Guillemin named as 'Emerging Inventor'

From Oregon News — CSWS affiliate Karen Guillemin, Biology, has been named to the National Academy of Inventors, a designation that recognizes visionaries and innovators whose technologies brought, or aspire to bring, a real impact on society.

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Videos

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2025 CSWS Calderwood History Seminar
CSWS Spotlight: Jina Kim on 2024 Nobel Laureate Han Kang
CSWS Spotlight: Michael Kuhn on 2023 Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin
Interview with 2023 Acker-Morgen Memorial Lecturer, Dr. M Murphy
All Videos

History of CSWS

For more than 50 years, CSWS has supported feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Our mission is simple: we create, fund, and share research that addresses the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities.

Our ability to do this resulted from an incredible act of generosity. In 1983, the hard work and vision of faculty members working in what was then called the Center for the Sociological Study of Women attracted the attention of Fortune magazine editor William Harris. His endowment, the largest single gift ever given to the university at that time, was given in memory of his wife, Jane Grant, an early feminist and co-founder of The New Yorker.

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Learn More CSWS History