Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession
The Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession (CWGSP), formerly the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession, was founded to act as an advocate for women’s interests and as a catalyst for promoting the status of women in the profession. In its ongoing work, the committee strives to promote gender equity and inclusivity; to attend to matters of sexuality and gender in the profession, including discrimination; and to promote scholarship and awareness of the field through publications and programs.
The committee will
- gather and review information and sponsor publications concerning inequality and inclusion of women in the profession (understood as trans inclusive) and discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, giving special attention to conditions of employment throughout the academic labor system, including part-time employment, differential salary levels, service expectations, and matters of professional advancement;
- gather and review information and sponsor publications on the fields of gender and sexuality studies and their place in the study of language and literatures;
- gather and review information and sponsor publications on issues relating to feminist studies as well as studies on gender and sexuality, understood as intersectional and related to race, ethnicity, class, age, and disability;
- gather and review information and sponsor publications about the professional status of individuals across the gender spectrum and of all sexual orientations to promote advocacy efforts against discrimination and for equality and inclusion at all levels in the fields of languages and literatures;
- build coalitions with MLA committees and allied organizations that share the CWGSP’s interests in advancing the importance of gender and sexual diversity at the MLA, including the fields of gender and sexuality studies;
- make available to the profession in a timely and effective way the results of the CWGSP’s studies; and
- organize programs for the MLA Annual Convention on topics drawn from this charge.
Staff liaisons: Erika Suffern and Julie Frick Wade (cwgsp@mla.org)
Executive Council adviser: Erin D. Graff Zivin
Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, 2023–26
Ryan Fong, 2022–25
Regis Fox, 2023–26
Jennifer Goodlander, 2022–25; 2023–25 (Coch.)
Milo Obourn, 2021–24
Stephanie Pietros, 2021–24; 2022–24 (Coch.)
Shiao-ling Yu, 2021–24
Committee Resources
- History and Mission
- An Interactive Time Line of the Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession
- Projects and Publications
- "Women in the Profession, 2000"
- Standing Still: The Associate Professor Survey
- 2020 MLA Convention Sessions on the Status of Women in the Profession
The Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession is interested in your comments, questions, and concerns. Please write us at cwgsp@mla.org.