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Now is the time to abandon ship, if you are going to do it. Normally you can only transfer one year. Make sure you are upgrading to a higher level program, ideally top 10. If it was in your first semester and your grades improved, they will account for that. They will probably be familiar with your situation. Once you defend your proposal, it is kind of late to switch, so its now or never.

Wendy Brown and Bonnie Honig are some other names that would pop up in a feminist syllabus, probably more name recognition than the ones I mentioned.

If you are looking for quantitative scholars that work on gender, the same strategy will work. However, your masters will not be an asset in your applications.

Google graduate syllabi and find articles that fit your interest. Don't regurgitate the fundamentals of poli sci from undergrad (this will not help) and try and use your masters to make yourself standout. You should tailor your SOP for each program, and given your interests, you should choose your program based on potential advisers and write your SOP for that person. Only apply to the top ten qualitative programs (maybe even top five) in your subfield, but keep in mind that you should be able to find a person that you want to work with BEFORE you apply. American and Comparative are pretty quantitative these days, so that leaves IR and Political Theory (Of course there are exceptions). Some big names from feminist political theory are Jane Bennet, Lisa Disch and Mary Dietz. International Relations has a large feminist contingent, Ann Tickner and Cynthia Enloe are prominent authors. Look for syllabi with those names (and ideally your potential adviser) and read the articles, see if you can find survey articles that will get you up to speed. You may also want to consider Sociology PhD programs.

You are asking the wrong question. If you are wondering what Urban Geography is like, you should google syllabi. Sounds like you would be interested in programs like Berkeley or University of Washington, which are strong on Urban ethnography and Asia.

I attempted to get a Vitem I visa for my field research, but the embassy denied it because they argued that that visa was for professional research purposes and I was a student. They said that since I was enrolled at my home university, that I was a student and the Vitem was therefore not appropriate. I think they decided they wanted to help me. I had an affiliation with a Brazilian university and a faculty member that was willing to sign a letter of support, and they gave me a student visa for one year. The Vitem is difficult to get because you have to get approval of their science and technology bureaucracy for that. FRAT- One bureaucracy>Two bureacracies.