Incorporating Women’s Studies into a Traditional Social Science Doctoral Program
Kimala Price
Download Advice and Essay section
There are many questions to consider when deciding to pursue a graduate degree. What are
my intellectual interests? What are my future career aspirations? Academia? Public Service? Social
Activism? Industry? What kind of graduate program is best suited to my needs and desires? What
kind of financial aid is available? Why do I even want to go to graduate school at all?
I remember wrestling with these questions in the mid-1990s. I had taken a four year
educational break. During that time, I worked for a number of feminist advocacy groups in
Washington, DC. After a while, I grew restless, as I missed the intellectual stimulation of academe.
I wanted to find a way in which I could connect my work experience in reproductive justice and
social policy with feminist social and political theory. I wanted to be a scholar as well as an
activist. It was a question of how best to go about this.
At the time, there were only a handful of doctoral programs in women’s studies, including joint Ph.D. programs. Furthermore, I was interested in studying public policy and really wanted to be grounded in a traditional social science discipline in order to do so. Besides, I had been a political science major as an undergraduate. I eventually narrowed my choices to universities that had strong graduate programs in political science as well as strong women’s studies programs where I could pursue either a graduate certificate or a masters’ degree.
I ultimately decided to purse a minor concentration in women’s studies. The minor allowed me to systematically explore and challenge how gender, race/ethnicity, class and knowledge are conceptualized and studied within political science. It also raised questions about what it means to be a practicing feminist political scientist and was crucial in helping me shape my dissertation which focused on women’s reproductive health policy.
Although I did well on the job market, I found being an interdisciplinary job candidate a challenge. After all, I had to work twice as hard to prove myself to multiple sets of departmental faculty. After undergoing eight, exhausting interviews for both faculty and postdoctoral positions in political science, public policy, women’s studies and African American studies, I accepted a threeyear postdoctoral position at a nonprofit research center. Not only has this position given me the time and resources to build a research and publication agenda, it has also allowed me to bridge my interests in policy research and reproductive justice advocacy in exciting ways.
Pursuing dual, yet complementary, tracks in graduate school wasn’t easy. It took a lot of planning to make it work. For those of you considering a similar track, I would like to share a few strategies that I learned along the way.
Be clear about what you want and then set specific criteria for selecting potential graduate
programs in both disciplines.
The questions posed at the beginning of this essay are a great way to start this process.
Gather as much information as possible to make an informed decision.
Conduct research on the courses offered, the teaching and research interests of faculty, the program
requirements, whether the social science department in question is open to interdisciplinary workin other departments, and other pertinent information. Consult graduate guides such as NWSA’s guide,
the various Peterson’s Guides and guides produced by the professional association(s) of your social
science discipline, such as the American Political Science Association’s Guide to Graduate
Programs in Political Science. It also helps to call departments/programs directly with specific
questions. While it is good to talk with faculty, don’t forget to talk to graduate students as well.
Learn about financial aid options for support in your first year through the dissertation stage.
One advantage to being interdisciplinary is that you expand your financial aid options. Great
resources to check are the Peterson’s guide Getting Money for Graduate School (2002) and Laurie
Blum’s Free Money for Graduate School (2000). I also checked the financial aid websites of
potential graduate schools. These sites often provide information on funding support specifically
geared toward graduate students.
Know what the requirements are for both programs and then develop a strategy for finishing.
Balancing the requirements for a dual degree was difficult. My women’s studies certificate not only
required taking an additional 18 credits, but also required writing a publishable thesis. This was in
addition to my political science doctoral work. Creating a timeline for coursework, teaching,
research assistanceships, qualifying exams and a thesis or dissertation will help you stay on track
and finish in a reasonable amount of time. Robert Peters’ Getting What You Came For: The Smart
Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or a Ph.D. (1998) is a great resource to consult for this task.
Pursue teaching and research experience in both fields.
In the long run, it will help you when you’re on the job market, especially if you want to be
considered for joint appointments. Keep in mind that many universities have research centers that
focus on women and gender. These centers often hire grad students across the disciplinary spectrum
and are great places to gain interdisciplinary research skills and training.
Prepare early for the job market.
Don’t wait until you’re on the verge of finishing your degree(s) to think about the job market. Learn
the professional norms of both worlds early in your graduate career. Go to job search and other
career development workshops within your department(s) and at your university’s career center.
Attend the talks of job candidates at your department(s) to see how they’re done. Join both social
science and women’s studies professional associations, and present and network at conferences in
both disciplines. It also helps to have an advisor who can help you navigate both disciplines as I
had. To get a sense of what academic life is like from the job search to getting tenure, I suggest
reading The Academic’s Handbook (Daneef and Goodwin 1995) and Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable
Advice to Women in Academia (Toth 2002).
Good Luck!
Works Cited:
American Political Science Association. (1995). Graduate Faculty and Programs in Political Science, 1995-97. (15th edition) Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. (Compiled by Patricia Spellman)
Blum, Laurie. (2000). Free Money for Graduate School. New York: Facts on File.
Deneef, A. Leigh and Craufurd D. Goodwin (ed.). (1995). The Academic’s Handbook. (2nd ed.) Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Peters, Robert L. (1997). Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or a Ph.D. New York, NY: The Noonday Press.
Peterson’s. (2002). Getting Money for Graduate School. Princeton, NJ: Peterson’s.
Toth, Emily. (2002). Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable Advice to Women in Academia. Philadelphia, PA:
University of Pennsylvania Press.