Women's Studies academic job market

[speedracer05]

Does anyone have information on the way the academic job market has been playing out for folks in Women's Studies? I'm a graduate student (Master's) considering a field-change from English literature to Women's Studies for a PhD program, and I wanted to gather some preliminary thoughts. I'd also be interested in anyone's experience with Women's

Comments

[indigo_black]

I am in a WS PhD program and know that graduates have gone on to non-academic jobs. One is now one of the leading authorities in the state on family and domestic violence. (I think she heads up this commission on this but I could be wrong. Either way, it's a great job, and she got it because her research was related to the field.) Other grads have gone on to tenure track jobs in women's studies or other interdisciplinary fields, or postdocs. My program requires all students to have a concentration in a disciplinary field of their choice. I am doing two, one in English and one in film as my dissertation includes both. Also, I was advised it would make me more marketable to both WS programs and other interdisciplinary departments. I probably don't have enough film background to get hired by a film department, but I could teach film classes within WS, become affiliated faculty with film departments, cross-list classes, etc. all of which make me a bit more marketable than if I didn't have a disciplinary specialization. (This is the theory anyway. I'll let you know how that pans out 3 years from now.)