Social stress is a common occurrence in our society that can negatively impact health. Therefore, we wanted to study the effects of a mild stressor designed to model social stress on seizure susceptibility and GABA A receptors in male and female rats. The mild chronic stress of individual housing consistently decreased bicuculline (but not pentylenetetrazol, PTZ) seizure thresholds by 10–15% in both sexes. Housing conditions did not alter the anticonvulsant activity of diazepam or ethanol, although the anticonvulsant effect of ethanol was significantly greater against PTZ-induced seizures. Experiments testing the addition of an acute restraint stress unmasked sex differences in seizure induction. The acute stress also selectively decreased the potency of GABA to modulate GABA A receptor-mediated chloride uptake in group-housed females. There were additional sex differences by housing condition for GABA A receptor-gated chloride uptake but no differences in [ 3H]flunitrazepam binding. We also found significant effects of sex and housing on ethanol-induced increases in corticosterone (CORT) levels. In summary, there were complex and sex-selective effects of mild chronic stress on seizure induction and GABA A receptors. Gaining a better understanding of mechanisms underlying interactions between sex and stress has important implications for addressing health concerns about stress in men and women.