MSc Gender (Rights and Human Rights)

As a research-led MSc, this programme is designed to provide you with an in-depth knowledge of the epistemological, conceptual, and empirical contexts in which gender and human rights operate around the globe.

You’ll be encouraged to develop an independent and critical approach to the study of the entangled politics, histories and practices of gender and human rights. The programme will introduce you to a range of theories, including anticolonial, decolonial, postcolonial and interventions.

Our experienced faculty will encourage you to engage in questions of decolonisation, human rights and transnational gender politics. It’ll enable you to develop a transnational and interdisciplinary view of gender and global human rights.

The MSc will offer you the skills you’ll need to study and explore both subjects in a serious and committed way, drawing on intellectual resources, strategies and epistemologies.

This programme is designed to enable students to go directly into non-academic careers (eg, government, the voluntary sector, international human rights organisations), and become articulate, clear-thinking individuals who critically reshape the agendas of their work settings.

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
• H Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1973)
• F Fanon, The wretched of the earth (London: Penguin, 1967)
• D Fassin, Humanitarian Reason (Harvard University Press, 2012)
• CLR James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (Penguin UK, 2001)
• R Kapur, Gender, Alterity and Human Rights: Freedom in a Fishbowl (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018).
• L Lughod, Do Muslim Women Need Saving (Harvard University Press, 2013)
• K McKittrick ed., Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis (Duke University Press, 2015)
• S Tamale (2020) Decolonization and Afro-feminism (Daraja Press, 2020)
• MR Trouillot, Silencing the past: Power and the production of history (Beacon Press,1995)
• H Walia, Border and Rule: Global migration, capitalism, and the rise of racist nationalism (Haymarket Books, 2021)

You'll take three compulsory courses, options to the value of one and a half units and a dissertation.

Established in 1993, the Department of Gender Studies is an internationally renowned hub of research and teaching in the field of Gender Studies. In terms of staff and student numbers, we're considered one of the largest standalone department of our kind in Europe, and our teaching team includes world-class academics and thought leaders exploring the tenacity of gender power relations and gendered inequalities in a period of global transformation.

Currently, we offer eight master's programmes and a stimulating PhD programme, attracting around 150 talented students each year from a huge array of different academic backgrounds and countries. We pioneer intersectional, interdisciplinary and transnational teaching, and students can expect to engage with a wide range of themes during their studies, from established gender theories to emerging topics and current debates. Graduates find rewarding careers in a variety of government, non-government, international NGOs, academic and private-sector organisations.

We have a vibrant research culture, with resident research fellows, visiting scholars as well as multiple public lectures and conferences. Our research is variously positioned in relation to different fields of study within the social sciences and humanities and falls under five broad clusters.

As a department we provide a focus for gender research at LSE and work closely with other departments, centres and institutes within the School, as well as foster links and promote collaboration between policymakers, practitioners and academics around the globe.

Learn more about our programmes and research.

Department of Gender Studies

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified prospective students. At LSE, we want to recruit students with the best academic merit, potential and motivation, irrespective of background.

We carefully consider each application and take into account all the information included on your application form, such as your:

• academic achievement (including predicted and achieved grades)
• statement of academic purpose
• two academic references
• CV.

See further information on supporting documents.

You may need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency. See our English language requirements.

Please note: The applications, intake and ratio values below include the MSc Gender, MSc Gender (Research) and MSc Gender (Sexuality).

Applications for this programme are considered on a rolling basis. This means that applications will close once the programme is full.

There is no fixed deadline. However, if you’d like to be considered for any funding opportunities, you must submit your application (and all supporting documents) by the funding deadline. See the fees and funding section below for more details.

For this programme, the tuition fee is different for home and overseas students depending on their fee status.

For this programme, the tuition fee is different for home and overseas students depending on their fee status.

The programme includes courses which offer a variety of training in methods and interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks. All taught courses are required to include formative coursework which is unassessed. It's designed to help prepare you for summative assessment which counts towards the course mark and to the degree award. Assessments will range from traditional essays and exams to essay-diaries and group projects. An indication of the formative coursework and summative assessment for each course can be found in the relevant course guide.

We expect the degree to assist our students with careers in conflict and post-conflict settings; in humanitarian assistance; UN field offices; peace governance roles; and into further study.

Further information on graduate destinations for this programme

From CV workshops through to careers fairs, LSE offers lots of information and support to help you make that all-important step from education into work.

Many of the UK’s top employers give careers presentations at the School during the year and there are numerous workshops covering topics such as job hunting, managing interviews, writing a cover letter and using LinkedIn.

See LSE Careers for further details.