Women and Gender Studies Program

The Women and Gender Studies program is an interdisciplinary field of study that places women and questions of gender at the centre of inquiry. Our field emphasizes the important role that gender plays in shaping an individual's experiences and how women's lives continue to be left out of traditional approaches to knowledge. We stress the complex ways in which gender is fundamentally linked to class, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and sexual orientation, and how these aspects shape and construct our sense of self, our roles in society and our institutions. The goal of the Women and Gender Studies program is to encourage students to develop an understanding about the ways in which society thinks about gender by attaining the analytical, oral and writing skills needed to think about the interconnection and nuanced interactions of all these forces in society. Through our devotion to teaching, learning, research, scholarship and creativity, our aim is to engage students in a field that provides tools that can help them to shape their lives and the world around them. Students can earn an Honours BA Women and Gender Studies in combination with another Honours BA program (such as Global Studies, English, Communication Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Psychology or History). A minor in Women and Gender Studies is also available.