45th National Women's Studies Annual Conference

Thursday, November 13th - Sunday, November 16th 

The National Women’s Studies Association  leads the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Established in 1977, NWSA has more than 2,000 members worldwide. Our annual conference regularly draws more than 2,300 attendees and is the only annual meeting in the continental United States of America and its territories that is exclusively dedicated to showcasing the latest feminist scholarship. 

The 2025 conference is hosted at the Puerto Rico Convention Center and will open on Thursday, November 13th with three pre-conferences:. The Program Administration and Development Committee (PAD) and Women’s Centers Committee (WCC) meetings offer networking and professional development opportunities for women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and women’s center administrators. The Women of Color Leadership Project (WoCLP) is designed to support women of color in their professional goals and leadership development; interested candidates must apply separately to participate. 

The General Conference begins on Thursday afternoon and concludes Sunday afternoon; it will feature concurrent breakout sessions, receptions, an awards celebration honoring members of the Association, and opportunities for connection. 

Download the 2025 Call for Proposals

Download an Accessible Version of the 2025 Call for Proposals

Image from the September 28, 2017 NYC protest against the United States of America’s government response to the devastation of Hurricane Maria. Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press

About the Land of the Valiant and Noble Lord: Borikén

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States and is the smallest island of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, located east of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We reckon with the ongoing impact of Spaniard, US colonization and empire as it informs the occupation of Borikén, the original name of Puerto Rico given by the Táino; the Táino are of the Arawak Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Borikén translates to Land of the Valiant and Noble Lord.

In curating our 45th Annual Conference, the Association is committed to moving beyond land acknowledgement in ways that align with Borikén leadership, reconciliation, and action. This entails educating ourselves - from our Governing Council, National Office, to our Membership - on the histories, investments, and systems of dispossession that impact the people who call Puerto Rico home.

How We Develop Our Conference Program

Each year, the National Office invites submissions via our official Call for Proposals. The Association President sets the theme and areas of focus (sub-themes) that guide the curation of our conference program. We welcome proposals from activists, administrators, artists, educators, dreamers, practitioners, and feminist trouble makers with a vested interest in and commitment to promoting and supporting the production and dissemination of knowledge about gender and sexuality through teaching, learning, research and service in academic and other settings. Our commitments are to: illuminate the ways in which women’s, gender, and sexuality studies are vital to education; to demonstrate the contributions of feminist scholarship that is anti-racist, comparative, decolonial, global, intersectional and interdisciplinary to understandings of the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences; and to promote synergistic relationships between scholarship, teaching and civic engagement in understandings of culture and society.

As a gentle reminder, the Association limits presenters to two (2) presentation sessions to assist us with building the conference schedule as well ass honor all of our needs for balance and wellness in what can be a very capitalist space of expected (constant) production, and to allow for more diverse presenter participation!

Types of Submissions

Individual Paper proposals are submitted individually and arranged into sessions by the Proposal Review Committee. In paper sessions, authors present 10-12-minute papers followed by audience discussion. A typical structure for a session with four papers allows approximately 5 minutes for the moderator to introduce the session, 10 minutes for each presenter, and 30 minutes for discussion. 

If you intend for more than 2-3 authors to attend the conference and present a co-authored paper, we request that you consider switching your submission type to a panel presentation or a poster. 

Should your submission be accepted to the 2025 Conference, your individual paper submission will be grouped into panels based upon alignment with our conference sub/themes and area(s) of focus.

Poster proposals present research or analysis on a topic by combining graphics and text on a poster board. We schedule poster sessions together in a gallery-style time block in order to make space for presenters to interact on a one-on-one basis with the attendees viewing the poster. A well-planned poster communicates its message in a visually and textually powerful way, allowing the attendees to grasp the information quickly with the author(s). 

We understand that many of our applicants are traveling across the United States of America and across human-made borders; we understand traveling with a poster board is no easy feat for some. Therefore, we do not impose specific guidelines for re: design and poster size, we want you to have as much flexibility as you need.

Panels provide an opportunity for examining specific problems or topics from a variety of perspectives given that they include 3-4 participants. Panels may present alternative solutions, interpretations, or contrasting points of view on a specified subject or in relation to a common theme. Panel members are expected to prepare papers addressing central questions described in the proposal. The National Women’s Studies Association and the Proposal Review Committee especially encourage complete panel submissions.

Roundtables typically include a moderator and 4-6 presenters who make brief, informal remarks about a specific idea or project. They allow for extensive discussion and audience participation. 

Workshops provide an opportunity to exchange information or work on a common problem, project, or shared interest. Workshops are typically experientially oriented, grounded in a Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies anchored research agenda, and include brief presentations that allow adequate time for reflective discussion and interaction.

NWSA’s members often create and introduce incredibly interactive and exciting sessions that lean outside the ‘standard’ academic conference proposal model. We ask that should your session involve movement, sound activities, or what may be considered a ‘non-traditional’ activity, that you select this category. This designation allows our Proposal Review Committee to meaningfully evaluate the proposed general conference session and how to best assign meeting space to meet the needs of our presenters.

Authors Meet Critics sessions are designed to bring authors of recent, cutting-edge books, deemed to be important contributions to the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS), together with discussants chosen to provide a variety of viewpoints.  

A maximum of five such sessions may be included in the program and NWSA members are invited to nominate books published between 2023 and 2025.  Both single- authored books and edited collections that are the result of collaborative engagement among the contributors will be considered. Only NWSA members may submit nominations, including self-nominations; nominations by presses will not be accepted.  

Constituency Group ​​Sponsored Sessions may be submitted by all NWSA Constituent groups on topics of particular interest to group members and NWSA members as a whole. One sponsored session per group will be offered space in the Conference Program if submissions are received by the proposal deadline and proposals meet review criteria. Constituency Group Sponsored Sessions may be panels, roundtables or workshops. 

A number of Constituency Groups may develop particular themes, areas of focus, or criteria for their 2025 Sponsored Session; particular Call for Proposals for our 45th Annual Conference will be provided as our Constituency Groups finalize their relevant materials !

Submissions Portal

Members and community members will be able to submit Annual Conference proposals in February 2025!

Volunteer for the 2025 Conference Committees

The NWSA honors the practice of working with members in the hopes of leveraging their expertise, awareness, and creativity through our Annual Conference Committees. As we begin conference planning there are a number of committees available for members to join as volunteers. These working committees collaborate with the National Office, Governing Council, and Conference Co-Chairs throughout conference planning. We're hoping to work alongside members for the following focus areas:

  • Local Committee
  • Access and Inclusion Committee\
  • Proposal Review Committee

Each committee may have separate and distinct volunteer parameters or service commitments. Please explore each Committee Interest Form to learn more and submit your details!

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2025 Presenter Requirements and Resources

Each year, the Association hosts our Annual Conference - drawing over 18,000 attendees interested in the expanding scholarship and activism that shapes our interdisciplinary field. Should your conference proposal be accepted into our program, NWSA requires presenters to adhere to particular requirements and expectations. 

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Accessible Presentations & Best Practices

The NWSA works alongside our Access and Inclusion Committee to help curate how we fortify access and inclusion initiatives at the Annual Conference and develop resources to enact a culture of inclusion beyond reasonable accommodations amongst our presenters and attendees.

Our commitments serve to meet the needs of attendees with disabilities but also work to the benefit of all conference attendees in an effort to normalize accessibility interventions as well as disability justice measures throughout our culture and community.

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Submitting Your Proposal | Resources and Support

We know that navigating a submission platform can be confusing, tedious, and daunting. In an effort to provide as much support as we are able, the National Office develops resources in navigating this process. 

For example, we encourage you to begin mapping out your submission content by utilizing our 2025 Submission Templates. Please note these templates do not take the place of our formal submission platform and are here to assist you in organizing your content before submitting.

Explore our Submission Templates 

Have a Question?

Please explore our Annual Conference Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page to learn more about our ongoing and expanding accessibility commitments, support services (such as childcare needs), and more! As we collaborate with our Borikén-based vendors and liaisons, we will update our resources accordingly.

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