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ABOUT US

Gender and Women’s Studies Graduate Programme at Middle East Technical University (METU) was established in February 1994 under a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded project to the Directorate General on the Status and Problems of Women of the Government of Turkey.

Mission Statement

Gender and Women’s Studies Graduate Programme, which offers a two year interdisciplinary curriculum, aims to examine the issues of knowledge, society and gender within a feminist perspective in order to contribute towards an understanding of the social position of women and the inequality between women and men with a primary focus on the case of Turkey. In this regard, the program has a three-fold mission - education, research and advocacy – and it endeavours to actualize the following five goals:

· To contribute to the development of education and research on issues of gender and women’s studies both theoretically and empirically;

· To contribute to the creation of public awareness and sensitivity on the concept of gender, the field of women’s studies, and the social position and problems of women in society;

· To contribute to the process of building mental constructs that are compatible with the notions of women’s empowerment and equality between women and men;

· To sponsor institutional and policy oriented initiatives towards the creation of gender sensitivity both on and off campus;

· To benefit from and contribute to global developments in the area of education, research and advocacy on gender issues.



Vision of the Programme

As such, in its essence the mission of the Gender and Women’s Studies Programme eminates from a transformative vision of society. In order to contribute towards social change, the program aims at linking three areas of activity and their related institutions, these are: (i)production of knowledge (academic institutions); (ii)practice/implementation (women’s movement and NGOs); and (iii)policy formation (local, national and international decision making bodies). Within this context, the education and research activities of the Gender and Women’s Studies Programme of Middle East Technical University aims, on the one hand, to critically examine the existing theory/knowledge in terms of their implications for policy and practice and on the other hand, serve as an active agent of change through establishing a feedback system between its activities and those of other relevant actors.

When considered within such a vision, METU Gender and Women’s Studies Programme has a multiple task in actualizing its mission: offering a specialized interdisciplinary education of high academic caliber; providing advisory services on gender issues; and serving as a reference point for expanding a gender equality perspective within and outside the university in the production of knowledge, drawing of action plans and formulation of policies.