Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Concentrators Drop To Lowest Number Since 2010

Enrollment in Harvard’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program has fallen to a more than 15-year low, as cuts to teaching positions and federal scrutiny of gender and sexuality-related programming raise questions about the program’s long-term sustainability.

22 undergraduates are currently concentrating in WGS, including joint and double concentrators, according to data from current and past concentration handbooks. The figure is the lowest since 2010 and represents a more than 50 percent decline from the program’s 2022-23 peak of 55 concentrators.

Only two are sophomores — the most recent class to declare their concentrations.

WGS markets itself as a flexible concentration, and the progam’s website notes that about half of its concentrators pursue a joint. Eight of the 18 concentrators who had declared as of December 2025 had combined WGS with another field for a joint concentration, according to the 2026-27 Fields of Concentration handbook.

While the number of solo or double concentrators has fluctuated over the past decade — dropping to a combined total of eight in both 2019-20 and 2020-21 — joint concentrators had consistently numbered in the double digits until this year.

Current concentrators said the decline reflects a lack of administrative support and shrinking course offerings, not waning student interest.

“There’s absolutely an interest in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies,” Rosalie P. “Rosie” Couture ’26 said. “There is a lack of investment in the department from the University.”

An FAS spokesperson declined to comment.

The drop in enrollment coincides with a sharp reduction in the program’s teaching capacity. Five WGS lecturer positions were eliminated this year as part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ 25 percent reduction in non-tenure-track faculty spending — a cost-cutting measure tied to the school’s $365 million structural deficit and ongoing uncertainty over federal funding.

WGS has no in-house tenured faculty, after the University denied tenure to associate professor Durba Mitra in June 2025. One department member is on tenure-track, and three faculty are jointly appointed in other departments.

The number of WGS courses offered next year will be roughly half of this year’s total, according to Harvard’s course catalog. The sophomore tutorial — formerly a concentration requirement — will not be offered. Instead, the department is piloting a new course, WOMGEN 1000: “Intro to WGS,” which mirrors the seminar format of the tutorial but is open to students from all concentrations and class years.

The junior tutorial, required for honors concentrators, was cancelled this year but is scheduled to return next spring.

Krupali M. Kumar ’27 said the cancellations have narrowed what students can accomplish in the concentration.

“With the types of classes they’re canceling, too, it makes it a lot harder to have a formal education in WGS,” she said.

Jorden S. Wallican-Okyere ’26, a WGS concentrator, said the reductions have left interested students with fewer entry points.

“There are a lot fewer ways to, if you just have an interest in WGS, to just take a class that you would be interested in,” she said.

She added that cuts had dampened student sentiment.

“The culture is a little sadder than it was before budget cuts,” she said.

The reductions come amid intensifying national scrutiny of gender and sexuality studies. The Trump administration has moved to eliminate diversity-related programming at universities — including at Harvard, where an April 2025 demand letter conditioned the school’s federal funding on the dismantling of DEI programs, among other concessions.

Kumar said the political climate had made her more invested in the discipline, not less.

“The political climate directly affects what kinds of classes are taught, what people are allowed to take, what they’re allowed to study, who they can take classes with,” Kumar said.

Philosophy professor Susanna C. Siegel, who serves on the WGS standing committee, defended the field’s standing.

“People across disciplines and with a diversity of viewpoints agree that gender and sex are analytically important categories and the history of discussing them deserves to be studied in its own department,” Siegel said.

Despite the cuts, Wallican-Okyere said concentrators were determined to stay the course.

“I think there’s a little bit of a loss of hope,” she said, “but also I think that there’s a lot of resilience.”

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Summer E. Rose can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ser.85. Follow her on X @summerellenrose.