CWS

Centre for Women's Studies

Courses offered in Winter Semester 2026

Centre for Women's Studies (CWS), JNU, is a pioneering Centre that seeks to study questions of gender in an interdisciplinary and comparative framework. It was established in 2000 and started the teaching program in 2009. Now offering both MA and PhD programmes in Women’s Studies, it provides the space for creating a vibrant community of academics concerned with issues of gender, sexuality and power in society. 

The Centre emerged out of the conjunction of diverse forces such as the women's movement, as well as state initiatives, that critically examined the status of women in the country. The growth of the Centre for Women’s Studies, JNU has demonstrated the recognition of path-breaking feminist research in different disciplines, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. 

Activities of the CWS involve both teaching and research. Students learn to examine the historical, social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions of gender and its interlinkages with the working of power, and inequality. Students are trained to develop their critical thinking skills in ways that prepare them to work in multiple spaces such as academia, government and non-governmental organisations, and media and publishing.

The Centre regularly organizes lectures, seminars, workshops and film screenings on a wide range of subjects to which all are welcome. The Centre has a library which is open to students and faculty members from all over the University.  Click for more....