History of Gender Studies at the University of Zurich

In 1998, the University of Zurich established the Center of Competence in Gender Studies (Kompetenzzentrum Gender Studies, KGS), which coordinated existing activities in the field of Gender Studies. Its aim was to institutionalize Gender Studies in research and teaching at the University of Zurich. The Center of Competence made visible projects in the field of Gender Studies and promoted interdisciplinary collaboration between individual researchers beyond the boundaries of the University of Zurich. It submitted applications for national research priorities and participated in graduate programs. The center also regularly organized workshops and events.
The KGS achieved its greatest success in its nearly 10-year history in the summer of 2006. In June of that year, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Zurich accepted the KGS’s application to create an interdisciplinary Master’s minor program in Gender Studies. At the same time, the University Executive Board approved the application to create a new chair for Gender Studies and Islamic Studies. This meant that the KGS had achieved its goal of permanently institutionalizing Gender Studies at the University of Zurich. At the end of October 2007, the KGS was dissolved because further funding was no longer available.
The new Master’s program in Gender Studies began in the fall semester of 2008, and on March 1, 2009, Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein took up her post at the newly created Chair of Gender Studies and Islamic Studies. She represents both departments equally.

The Master’s program in Gender Studies began in the fall semester of 2009 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein. The program comprises a core curriculum that focuses on the fundamentals of gender studies: its central themes, theories, and methods, as well as their place in various intellectual traditions and socio-historical contexts. From the outset, the program has been characterized by a decidedly interdisciplinary approach: on the one hand, through its institutional location at the Asia-Orient Institute, and on the other, through the active participation of numerous disciplines from several faculties.
The range of gender studies courses has been continuously expanded since 2009: It initially comprised a minor (30 ECTS), which was supplemented by a small minor (15 ECTS) in 2010. In 2013, a small major (75 ECTS) was added. By 2019, an average of 150 students were enrolled in one of these programs. As part of the “Bologna 2020” reform, a program structure consisting of major (90 ECTS) and minor (30 ECTS) programs was introduced at the PhF. Since this reform, the range of courses offered in Gender Studies has included these two Master’s programs. Following this reform, the number of students has stabilized at around 80–90.
At the doctoral level, the graduate schools (1999–2011) were replaced by the Interuniversity Doctoral Program (2012–2023). This program, run in collaboration with the Universities of Bern and Basel, was aimed at doctoral students working on a PhD project with a gender focus in one of the disciplines participating in the program. Following the discontinuation of the interdisciplinary doctoral programs at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of UZH, the collaboration with Gender Studies at the Universities of Bern and Basel is being continued in the form of a doctoral network. Since 2020, a doctorate in Gender Studies can be pursued at UZH.