Welcome to the Women's Studies Association

The Women's Studies Association (WSA) is a feminist organisation formed to promote radical social change through the medium of women's studies. It is a small, voluntary, non-profit organisation, independent of any institution.

We believe that a feminist perspective necessarily acknowledges oppression on the grounds of race, sexuality, class and disability, as well as gender. We acknowledge the Maori people as the tangata whenua of Aotearoa. This means we have a particular responsibility to address their oppression among our work and activities.

The main aims of the Association are:

To undertake, promote and disseminate research about women, by women from a feminist perspective.
To inform and educate women about women in culturally appropriate ways.
To encourage the preservation of existing material about women in culturally appropriate ways.
To facilitate the establishment of women's studies courses with a feminist perspective.
To undertake and promote the publication of material about women.
To organise and participate in activities, conferences, seminars and displays in furtherance of the aims of the Association.

Read about 25 years of WSA(NZ)!

Women's Studies Journal

The Women's Studies Journal is now published electronically on this website. It is also available internationally via the EBSCO literature database.

The Editorial Collective is calling for submissions for a general issue, and as well as good topic ideas and possible guest editors for special issues. See more...

Rosemary Seymour Awards

Each year the Women's Studies Association makes a number of small awards in memory of Rosemary Seymour, a Waikato University sociologist who was a key figure in the establishment of women's studies in New Zealand. The deadline for applications is 31 October .