Member Benefits

Why Join Our Community 

The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) is a mosaic of our membership - artists, dreamers, cultural workers, educators, emerging scholars, feminist possibility models, multi-hyphenates, organizers, seasoned professionals, and curious life-long learners threaded together through their collective investment in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality studies (WGSS). 

Our Members connect and collaborate with one another through shared scholarly interests and/or socio-political locations in academia, and benefit from our community-informed resources and yearly programming.  The NWSA is humbled to support over one thousand WGSS-connected folks in the United States of America and beyond. 

Our Vibrant Community Hub

The NWSA provides a secure Member Hub to both our individual and institutional members. Folks can engage in discussion threads on trends within the discipline, share Calls for Proposals for sibling conferences and writing opportunities, engage in resource sharing (ex. syllabi and tenure tools), and develop deeper connections with one another.

Feminist Pedagogy

The Association strives to strengthen feminist pedagogical innovation and interventions through our support for students as well as educators via resource sharing and Community Events. As a member-driven Association, we encourage thoughtful sharing of curiosities, existing resources, and opportunities to collaborate in and outside of the classroom through our Constituency Groups as well as our member discussion threads.

Networking and Career Advancement

Ranging from our annual convening to our Job Board we foster meaningful connections amongst our membership in-person and virtually. Whether you’re looking to find a new position or to advertise a position, the NWSA Job Board is our hub for connecting with WGSS educators, postsecondary institutions, and organizations. Interested in connecting with experts in the field? Utilize our Member Directory to communicate with one another and seed connections.

Resource Library

The Association works, via our leadership and member-driven committees/constituency groups/taskforces, to develop a number of resources available to both the public and exclusively for our members.

Leadership Development

Membership provides access to leadership development opportunities such as our Pre-Conference offerings, participation in our array of Constituency Groups, and contributing to the reach of our community by serving on committees, task forces, and our Board of Directors. Association leadership works to fostering new approaches to WGSS education and scholarship, setting standards for the discipline, celebrating feminist scholar activism, and more.

Free & Discounted Opportunities

The Association curates online events, opportunities, and resources for our interdisciplinary and multi-hyphenate membership; members receive free access and/or discounted rates for events such as virtual programs and our annual convening.

Membership Types

The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) offers two types of memberships: individual and institutional memberships.

  • Our institutional membership is designed for departments, sibling activist and non-profit organizations, academic programs, and Women's, Gender, and Equity Centers (WGECs). 
  • Individual memberships are tailored for individuals - a quite literal definition, we know. Individual members range from artists, activists, academic administrators, educators across the K-12 sphere to postsecondary institutions, independent scholars, multi-hyphenates, retirees, students of all grade levels, feminist disruptors, and we welcome anyone interested in feminist studies no matter their educational or professional backgrounds. 

Association  membership runs on a calendar year period (expiring 12/31) with membership purchases in October (10/01) of each year rolling into the following year. Sign up for auto-renewal to never miss a membership payment!

Individual Membership

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Institutional Membership

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Our Membership Authentication Process

Our authentication process involves three steps: 

  1. Complete your account profile. We ask robust questions in order to develop a more accurate understanding of who our members are and how to best support them in our programming. 

  2. Profile Review. All account profiles must be authenticated. We do this to ensure - as much as possible- that no harmful accounts, such as anti-DEI/anti-feminist organizations, gain access to our Membership Hub and directory.

  3. Purchase your membership. Once authenticated, members are prompted to pay their membership dues.

The National Office authenticates accounts within 48 business hours; our National Office is anchored by a two-person staff and we appreciate your patience.

As a gentle reminder, the National Women's Studies Association does not refund or transfer membership payments.

Not Able to Be a Member but Want to Stay Connected?

We understand that due to various limitations, purchasing an Association membership may not possible. For folks interested in staying connected with us, we provide authenticated user accounts at no cost.

Complete steps 1-2 in our authentication process (as listed above) and you will be able to: 

  • Receive our Association Newsletter
  • Access select portions of our Resource Library
  • Register for our events that are open to the public, such as our Community Events series and Annual Conference, at their respective free or non-member rates

Questions? Explore our Membership FAQs

Explore our curated resources and details regarding our most frequently asked questions about our membership!

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