Doctor of Philosophy in Political Studies - Gender and Politics

Queen's University

The Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University has long been known for its graduate programs. We are small enough to provide our students with a highly personalized graduate experience, and our faculty are strong, diverse, and well recognized for their research so that we can provide a well-rounded education that gives our graduates a strong basis for a wide range of careers. The department is particularly well known for its strength in the study of ethnically divided and diverse societies. Our M.A. program will help you refine your crucial analytical skills, while our Ph.D. program will help you prepare for a rewarding career in university research and teaching as well as leadership roles in other sectors related to political studies. Most of our students are offered teaching assistantship positions. We encourage our students to present papers at academic conferences, and we provide partial support for conference travel. Many of our faculty offer Research Assistantship opportunities. We also encourage and support our students in their field research, and our faculty help students with networking in Canadian and global academic and policy fields.Gender and Politics is our Department's newest graduate field. The debates regarding Gender and Politics have captured the imaginations of social and political actors over recent decades with increasing vigour, affecting every discipline in the social sciences. Today, Gender and Politics is one of the most energized fields in the discipline of Political Science. The field explores power relations and governance from a perspective that recognizes gender, along with other identity markers, as politically and socially constructed categories. Some of the questions that are addressed in the field of Gender and Politics include: the unequal status between men and women in political, economic and social affairs and processes the nature and implications of same-sex marriage rights and related debates whether and how gender structures public opinion and political behaviour, as well as, political candidacy and political communications the relevance of feminist theory to an understanding of historic and contemporary questions of justice, authority and power the meaning and significance of identities regarding gender, transgender, sexual orientation and sexuality the implications of a gendered analysis of institutions such as the state, international organizations, bureaucracy, the military, political parties, social movements and trade unions the impact of a gendered analysis of development and underdevelopment, international conflict, globalization, migration and citizenship and the gendered nature of public policy in Canadian and global politics.