About

The Gender, Politics and Sexuality (GPS) programme was created at EHESS in 2005, and in 2019 became the Master’s in Gender studies with three specialisation options in Sociology, History and Anthropology. After it was awarded project funding under the Investment in the Future programme, in 2020 the Master’s in Gender studies became the first level of graduate study at the School for Gender and Sexuality Studies (SGSST), a partnership between EHESS and Ined. The Doctoral Training Programme in Social Sciences and Gender is the second level of graduate study at SGSST.

SGSST was set up by EHESS in partnership with Ined. The two-year Master’s degree (Master’s level 1 (M1) launched in 2020, Master’s level 2 (M2) in 2021) incorporates intensive, progressive methodological study of quantitative and qualitative survey methods, together with seminars to develop professional skills around discrimination, gender violence etc. The Master’s in Gender Studies has three specialisation options, in sociology, history and anthropology.

This Master’s degree is unique among similar courses currently offered in French universities, thanks to its central focus on the practice of quantitative and qualitative empirical research, and its attention to the intersection between gender and sexuality. Its field is thus social sciences of gender and sexuality. It also incorporates empirical analysis of these power relations in articulation with other social relations of class, age and race.

Classes for the Master’s in Gender Studies are held on the Condorcet Campus in Aubervilliers.

The full list of 2022-2023 seminars approved by SGSST for the course is available on the EHESS Néobab platform.

If you have any questions about the course, please email: orientation.genre@ehess.fr

More information on how to apply to the Master’s degree is available below or on the master’s page on EHESS website.

Teaching team

• Head of teaching: Céline Béraud and Clyde Plumauzille
• Course secretary: Christine Garcia – master.genre@ehess.fr
• Doctoral and post-doctoral teaching team:
  • Estelle Fisson and Anaïs Lehmann (Temporary Teaching Associates)
  • Lise Cottet and Amélie Nillus (Doctoral Teaching Associates)
• Programme leader: Sociology: Céline Béraud
• Programme leader: History: Clyde Plumauzille
• Programme leader: Anthropology: Michel Naepels

The different specialisation options of the Master’s in Gender Studies are designed to enable students to acquire not only theoretical tools for gender and sexuality studies but also a range of social science research methodologies, encouraging a high level of reflexivity on data production in gender and sexuality studies.

Reflection on these data can address both how they reveal issues that run through the social sciences (inequality, violence, social construction of the body, representativity, the political implications of research, etc.) and how they raise questions specific to gender and sexuality studies (how to carry out objective research in the private sphere, theories relating to identity, the boundaries between public and private, etc.).

These aims are achieved through an innovative course structure, which includes:

• Preparation of a research case study (Master’s level 1) and a research dissertation (Master’s level 2), with the supervision of a member of the teaching team (tutor);
• Core seminars such as Current research in gender and sexuality studies, where discussion with invited guest speakers is led by students
• A field placement in which students, under the guidance of a supervising team, learn ethnography through ethnography (interviews, observations), immersing themselves in an under-researched area in France. Field placements could for example focus on studying gendered sociality in village bars, the gendered division of labour in very small businesses and small and medium enterprises, young people’s ways of getting together in nightclubs, etc. In M1 this field placement will be supported by a seminar on critical analysis of survey methods for investigating gender and sexuality, either ethnographic or archive-based; M2 offers a dissertation support seminar designed to guide students in their choice of research methods, data analysis and scientific writing style;
• Continuous progressive training in quantitative methodologies, provided by Ined. During their first year, students will learn to read quantitative data, familiarise themselves with databases, digital data and publications, and descriptive statistical data, and will learn to create, administer and analyse a questionnaire. During their second yeard, the learning objectives are apprenticeship in multivariate statistics, use of R software (pivot tables) and exploration of qualitative data analysis (Sonal, nVivo, ATLAS.ti software etc.).
• Taking three seminars in gender and sexuality studies from among those approved for the course by SGSST, and led by members of the teaching team. These seminars will be either research seminars focused on a field of research specific to gender and sexuality (gender, activism and trade unions; the social history of gendered and sexual categories etc.), or reading seminars focused on classic texts on gender, masculinities, intersectionality etc.
• A seminar on gender and sexuality studies in English, enabling students to become familiar with gender and sexuality studies internationally, and enhancing their career prospects, either within or outside of academic research;
• A subsidiary seminar, chosen from among those offered outside the SGSST and the student’s major (sociology, history or anthropology);
• Work experience either a placement in a research institution, private or public body (company, local authority etc.) in France or abroad, or a project in digital humanities (film, website etc.) in M1. In M2 students may organise the Master’s study day where they present the results of their research;
• A language course offered by the EHESS Language Unit : visit the EHESS langue unit’s website.

How to apply

Qualification requirements for M1

A bachelor’s degree in sociology, history or anthropology (i.e. 180 credits ECTS post-secondary education), or a dispensation from the Teaching and Learning Board issued following assessment of the application, or a degree in another social science discipline, a diploma from EHESS or an equivalent diploma (three years of higher education).

Qualification requirements for M2

Evidence of having achieved Master’s level 1 (i.e. 240 credits ECTS post-secondary education), or an equivalent qualification issued after four years of higher education, preferably in gender studies or in sociology, history or anthropology.

Applications

If you live in one of the 66 countries affected by the “Études en France” procedure, you need to apply to our master’s degree through the “Etudes en France” website between the 1st October and 15th December 2022. More information can also be found in our article about the 2023-2024 international applications (in French).

If you live in any other country, applications may be submitted on the eCandidat platform. Application dates for the academic year 2023-2024 are from the 22 March to 18 April 2023. If you are unsure about which programme you wish to follow, you may submit more than one application. Mor information in our article about the 2023-2024 national and European applications (in French).

For application to both M1 and M2, the agreement of a tutor on the Master’s in Gender Studies is required.

The list of tutors on the Sociology, History and Anthropology programmes is available in the Research section of our website.

An FAQ about the 2023-2024 applications can be downloaded here:

F.A.Q Candidatures 2023-2024 (in French – .docx, 306 Ko) | F.A.Q Candidatures 2023-2024 (in French – PDF, 405 Ko)

The Teaching and Learning Board panel will meet to assess applications in early July 2020. You will be informed of the Board’s decision on your application by the end of July. The agreement of a tutor is necessary but not sufficient for applying to the course. You will need to confirm your application before the deadline indicated on the application form. If you need any further information please email orientation.genre@ehess.fr.

More information to enrol using a preferred forename and title (in French) can be found on the EHESS website.

Continuing professional development

Continuing professional development is designed for professionals (whether practising or not) who wish to train, deepen or develop their knowledge on issues of gender and sexuality.

The Master’s in Gender Studies is available as an option within the continuing professional development programme. The Continuing Professional Development Department and the Master’s teaching team can assist with your application.

The Continuing Professional Development Department can be contacted at the following address: directionfc@ehess.fr; the Gender Studies option team can be contacted at: orientation.genre@ehess.fr

Specialist Option: Equality Professions

A specialist option in equality professions is offered as part of the Gender Studies programme. All students enrolled in the Master’s in Gender Studies are eligible to study for this specialist option by taking and passing these three seminars:

• Discrimination, inequality and organisations
• Gender and work: practices and policies
• Equality policies in organisations

The aims of this option are to train students:

• in the fundamental contributions of the social sciences (primarily sociology and political science) to understanding how gender and work influence one another, and the subjects and concepts central to this research (sexual division of labour and vertical and horizontal segregation, domestic and reproductive labour, glass ceiling(s), virility and hegemonic masculinity, sexuality and workplace harassment, state feminism and negotiation of equality at work, etc.);
• in the understanding and study of the various discrimination “criteria” (sex, race, age, disability, religion, union membership etc.), in an intersectional approach combined with an organisational perspective to understand how organisations facilitate, shape or produce discriminatory processes;
• in analysis of equality policies in organisations, the actors responsible for them, the structures and tools on which they are based and the effects they produce, but also how they are influenced by public policy, and their specific characteristics in relation to different categories of employees, in the French context compared with other national contexts.

For students who pass the course the specialist option will be listed on the Descriptive Appendix to their Diploma, so that it can be cited in job applications.