Key papers in Gender Studies

Pofolia’s corpus holds 71 papers from the Gender Studies subfield (2002–2024). The list below starts with the most cited.

Most cited

Ranked by citation count. Because citations accumulate over time, this list naturally leans towards work published a few years ago; for where the field is now, see “recently added”.

  • Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics [1989]

    2018 · FWCI 2589.88 · 9,529 citations

    This chapter introduces Black feminist criticism, arguing that treating race and sex as separate categories erases Black women's experiences within legal, feminist, and political frameworks.

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  • Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics

    2018 · FWCI 1382.57 · 7,310 citations · Open access

    This chapter argues that dominant single-axis frameworks in law, feminist theory, and antiracist politics erase Black women by focusing on the experiences of privileged group members, distorting the analysis of racism and sexism.

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  • The Cultural Politics of Emotion

    2013 · FWCI 254.08 · 4,697 citations

    This work argues that emotions are central to political identity and power, and explores how they can be leveraged by feminist and queer movements.

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  • Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies: Theory, Applications, and Praxis

    Signs · 2013 · Q1 · FWCI 167.12 · 3,971 citations

    This paper proposes a new field of "intersectional studies" by fusing theoretical applications, methodological debates, and political interventions related to intersectionality.

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  • The Evolution of Parental Care

    Princeton University Press eBooks · 2019 · FWCI 54.03 · 3,163 citations

    This book synthesizes animal studies to explain why parental care varies across species, the roles of males and females, and how care is adjusted based on offspring benefits and parental costs.

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  • Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2012 · Q1 · SJR 3.00 · FWCI 241.46 · 3,143 citations · Open access

    Science faculty at research-intensive universities rated identical student applications, assigning male applicants significantly higher competence, hireability, starting salary, and mentoring than female applicants.

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  • White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (1989) 1

    2019 · FWCI 727.80 · 2,595 citations

    Men often deny or resist acknowledging male privilege, even when they concede women's disadvantages, protecting this unearned advantage from being addressed or dismantled.

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  • Visual methodologies : an introduction to researching with visual materials

    2012 · FWCI 115.83 · 2,318 citations

    This classic text offers a step-by-step guide to researching with visual materials, providing key skills and rationale for interpreting images.

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  • Bananas, Beaches and Bases

    2014 · FWCI 118.17 · 2,132 citations

    Cynthia Enloe's radical analysis reveals that women's personal strategies, from marriage to coping with beauty ideals, are fundamental to global politics.

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  • Discipline and Punish

    2013 · 2,112 citations

    Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" is analyzed not just as a historical and philosophical work, but as radical social criticism that influenced queer theory.

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  • A Theory of Racialized Organizations

    American Sociological Review · 2019 · Q1 · SJR 3.00 · FWCI 242.18 · 1,923 citations · Open access

    This paper proposes a new theory that organizations are not race-neutral but are inherently racial structures, shaping how racial groups interact with resources and how inequality is maintained.

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  • Women on Boards and Firm Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis

    Academy of Management Journal · 2014 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 13.28 · 1,856 citations

    Combining 140 studies, this meta-analysis finds that having women on corporate boards is positively linked to accounting returns, especially in countries with stronger shareholder protections. The relationship with market performance varies, being positive in countries with greater gender parity.

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  • Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation

    The Review of Economic Studies · 2024 · Q1 · SJR 23.00 · FWCI 1026.61 · 1,840 citations · Open access

    New difference-in-differences methods are developed for staggered adoption and heterogeneous effects, offering an efficient estimator that overcomes limitations of conventional regression approaches.

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  • The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation *

    The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2012 · Q1 · SJR 33.00 · FWCI 111.80 · 1,589 citations

    Norway's 2003 law mandating 40% female board representation led to a significant drop in firm stock prices and Tobin's Q, indicating that firms were forced to compromise value-maximizing board compositions.

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  • Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines

    Science · 2015 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 180.02 · 1,510 citations

    Academic fields that emphasize innate talent for success show greater gender imbalance, with women underrepresented where 'brilliance' is prioritized over effort.

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  • Dude, You’re a Fag

    2020 · FWCI 81.82 · 1,373 citations

    This ethnography reveals how the "specter of the fag" functions as a disciplinary mechanism to regulate masculinity among heterosexual and homosexual boys in a working-class high school.

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  • An Introduction to Visual Culture

    2023 · FWCI 52.49 · 1,312 citations

    This paper introduces the field of visual culture by tracing its history and theory, examining how visual media became central to contemporary life.

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  • 19. The Second Treatise of Government

    Democracy · 2016 · FWCI 420.45 · 1,287 citations

    John Locke presents a theory of civil society, positing a more stable state of nature than Hobbes and asserting the inherent equality of all individuals.

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  • The Benefits of Climate for Inclusion for Gender-Diverse Groups

    Academy of Management Journal · 2012 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 29.39 · 1,266 citations

    A new 'climate for inclusion' construct is introduced, which reduces interpersonal bias and conflict in gender-diverse groups, thereby eliminating the negative impact of conflict on unit-level satisfaction.

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  • Language and Gender

    Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2013 · FWCI 67.81 · 1,261 citations

    This book argues that the connections between language and gender are deep yet fluid, arising in social practice and often involving conflict and competing norms.

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Recently added

  • Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation

    The Review of Economic Studies · 2024 · Q1 · SJR 23.00 · FWCI 1026.61 · 1,840 citations · Open access

    New difference-in-differences methods are developed for staggered adoption and heterogeneous effects, offering an efficient estimator that overcomes limitations of conventional regression approaches.

    Go to source

  • Diversity in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Societies

    Arthroscopy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation · 2023 · Q1 · FWCI 5.01 · 13 citations · Open access

    Orthopaedic sports medicine societies AANA and AOSSM saw modest increases in racial/ethnic and gender diversity in leadership and committee roles between 2010 and 2020, with Caucasian representation decreasing and female representation increasing.

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  • An Introduction to Visual Culture

    2023 · FWCI 52.49 · 1,312 citations

    This paper introduces the field of visual culture by tracing its history and theory, examining how visual media became central to contemporary life.

    Go to source

  • Revisiting event study designs: robust and efficient estimation

    2022 · 695 citations · Open access

    A new framework for difference-in-differences designs with staggered adoption and heterogeneous effects yields an efficient estimator that corrects bias from conventional methods, showing the marginal propensity to consume tax rebates is 8-11% in Q1.

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  • On Intersectionality: Essential Writings

    2022 · FWCI 237.83 · 1,151 citations

    Kimberlé Crenshaw's seminal concept of intersectionality, developed from black feminist and critical legal theory, is presented in a new collection of her key essays, offering a framework to understand and address multiple forms of power, disadvantage, and inequality.

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