Membership Assembly

The Association hosts a Membership Assembly each year at the Annual Conference to 

  • Receive an annual report of the status of NWSA
  • Receive reports from committees and constituent groups as appropriate
  • Deliberate upon recommendations for fostering the mission of NWSA, and
  • Consider such other business as may properly come before the membership

The Membership Assembly is a vital practice of transparent communication and accountability with members of the Association; we encourage you to review our Association Bylaws's outlining of the Membership Assembly.

View the Bylaws

The Meeting

The Membership Assembly is chaired by the Association President and involves reports from the Executive Director and members of the Executive Committee (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary) and the Governing Council as appropriate. A meaningful component of this gathering is space for questions and discussion with our membership rather than a stringent report-out to attendees.

Member Recommendations

Active individual members can propose member recommendations in support of the mission of NWSA and in line with the field's commitments to feminist liberation and education.

Member recommendations that meet the requirements as outlined in the Bylaws will be distributed to current members electronically, discussed at the Membership Assembly meeting, and voted on after the Annual Conference.

Please refer to Article III Section D and section E 3, which refer to recommendations, in our Bylaws.

The Specifics

Article III D 5

Any member of NWSA may propose recommendations for consideration under conditions prescribed by the GC.

  • Recommendations must be signed by at least three (3) percent of NWSA’s voting members and meet prescribed timelines in order to be considered for the agenda.

Three percent of the NWSA individual membership for 2024 is 60 members.

Article III E 3

Limitations. No action of the membership or of the MA may proceed to a vote if it will:

  • Commit NWSA resources or negatively impact its financial position
  • Impede NWSA’s ability to carry out its fiduciary responsibilities
  • Violate NWSA’s Code of Ethics
  • Threaten NWSA’s legal standing as a tax-exempt organization
  • Open NWSA up to possible liability or lawsuit (e.g., contain erroneous, tortious, or possibly libelous statements)
  • Alter the mission, purpose of NWSA, or bylaw provision that the resolution did not explicitly intend to alter

Association Governance

The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) is governed by elected members with varying leadership and service experience within the organization. Each member of our Governing Council (GC) serves two-year terms with our President serving an addition ex-officio year of service on the GC. NWSA recognizes the breadth and depth of how our members engage in women's, gender, and sexuality studies - therefore we welcome any interested members in serving on the GC and encourage you to nominate a colleague or run for a position during our annual Elections season. 

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Unless we know ourselves and our history, and other people and their history, there is really no way that we can really have positive kind of interaction where there is real understanding.

~ Yuri Kochiyama