Women and Gender Studies (Collaborative Specialization)

Women and Gender Studies: Introduction

Lead Faculty of the Collaborative Specialization

Arts and Science

Participating Degree Programs

Adult Education and Community Development — MA, MEd, PhD
Anthropology — MA, MSc, PhD
Cinema Studies — MA
Classics — MA, PhD
Comparative Literature — MA, PhD
Counselling and Clinical Psychology — MA, PhD
Counselling Psychology — MEd, EdD
Criminology and Sociolegal Studies — MA, PhD
Curriculum and Pedagogy — MA, MEd, PhD
Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies — MA, PhD
East Asian Studies — MA, PhD
Educational Leadership and Policy — MA, MEd, EdD, PhD
English — MA, PhD
French Language and Literature — MA, PhD
Geography — MA, MSc, PhD
Germanic Languages and Literatures — MA
Germanic Literature, Culture and Theory — PhD
Health Administration — MHSc
Health Policy, Management and Evaluation — MSc, PhD
Higher Education — MA, MEd, EdD, PhD
History — MA, PhD
Information — MI, PhD
Kinesiology — MSc, PhD
Language and Literacies Education — MA, MEd, PhD
Law — LLM, SJD
Medieval Studies — MA, PhD
Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations — MA, PhD
Philosophy — MA, PhD
Planning — MScPl, PhD
Political Science — MA, PhD
Public Health Sciences — MPH, PhD
Religion — MA, PhD
Social Justice Education — MA, MEd, EdD, PhD
Social Work — MSW, PhD
Sociology — MA, PhD
Spanish — MA, PhD

Overview

The Graduate Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) provides students with an opportunity for advanced feminist studies in concert with an MA or PhD degree in another discipline. The Collaborative Specialization offers a rich interdisciplinary environment in which to grapple with how gender and sexuality are entangled with questions of race, citizenship, embodiment, colonialism, nation, global capitalism, violence, political economy, cultural formations, aesthetics, and other pressing concerns.

The graduate programs listed above participate in the Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto. The collaborating units contribute courses and provide facilities and supervision for graduate research. The collaborative specialization is administered by the Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI), bringing together 34 graduate programs, more than 100 courses, and more than 100 graduate faculty members. Core faculty members bring transnational feminist commitments to the study of diverse sites and their interconnection with particular focus on Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the United States.

Upon successful completion of the degree requirements of the participating home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization, students will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies” on their transcript.

Contact and Address

Web: www.wgsi.utoronto.ca/graduate/collaborative-program
Email: wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 978-3668
Fax: (416) 946-5561

Graduate Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies
Women and Gender Studies Institute
University of Toronto
Room 2036, Wilson Hall, New College
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C6
Canada

Women and Gender Studies: Master's Level

Admission Requirements

  • Applicants who wish to enrol in the collaborative specialization must apply to and be admitted to both the collaborative specialization and a graduate degree program in one of the collaborating graduate units. Applicants must fulfil all the degree requirements in the home graduate unit.

  • Applicants to the collaborative specialization should have a substantial undergraduate background in gender and feminist studies or an equivalent focus within a discipline. In exceptional cases, extensive work or activist experience which also requires academic knowledge of research on women and/or gender will also be considered.

  • In order to be considered for the collaborative specialization, applicants must submit a two-page, tailored letter of intent focusing on work in women and gender studies. This letter should be addressed to the Admissions Committee for the Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies. Please note that this letter is separate and distinct from any letters submitted to the home graduate unit. In this letter, students must demonstrate their background and knowledge of the field. The collaborative specialization will only accept students who are able to demonstrate strength in the field of women and gender studies. The application deadline is May 31, 2024.

  • Two letters of reference outlining the applicant’s background in women and gender studies.

Specialization Requirements

  • The course of study should be planned in consultation with the CWGS graduate coordinator as well as the coordinator of graduate studies in the student's home graduate unit.

  • Courses should be selected from the established cross-listed courses or approved by the graduate coordinator of the collaborative specialization.

Non-thesis Master's

  • A required 0.5 full-course equivalent (FCE) (WGS5000H).

  • 0.5 FCE of cross-listed or approved courses with a focus on women/gender/feminist/sexuality/critical race/postcolonial studies.

  • Regular attendance at the WGS Research Seminar.

Thesis Master's

  • A required 0.5 FCE (WGS5000H).

  • 0.5 FCE of cross-listed or approved courses with a focus on women/gender/feminist/sexuality/critical race/postcolonial studies.

  • Regular attendance at the WGS Research Seminar

  • The thesis, or major paper, dealing with a subject in the area of women and gender studies.

  • Theses will be supervised and evaluated in the same manner as those in the home graduate unit. Normally, at least one cross-listed or core graduate faculty member of WGSI will be a member of the thesis or supervisory committee of collaborative specialization students.

Women and Gender Studies: Doctoral Level

Admission Requirements

  • Applicants who wish to enrol in the collaborative specialization must apply to and be admitted to both the collaborative specialization and a graduate degree program in one of the collaborating graduate units. Students must fulfil all the degree requirements in the home graduate unit.

  • Applicants to the collaborative specialization should have a substantial undergraduate or graduate background in gender and feminist studies or an equivalent focus within a discipline. In exceptional cases, extensive work or activist experience which also requires academic knowledge of research on women and/or gender will also be considered.

  • In order to be considered for the collaborative specialization, applicants must submit a two-page, tailored letter of intent focusing on work in women and gender studies. This letter should be addressed to the Admissions Committee for the Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies. Please note that this letter is separate and distinct from any letters submitted to the home graduate unit. In this letter, students must demonstrate their background and knowledge of the field. The collaborative specialization will only accept students who are able to demonstrate strength in the field of women and gender studies. The application deadline is May 31, 2024.

  • Two letters of reference outlining the applicant's background in women and gender studies.

Specialization Requirements

  • The course of study should be planned in consultation with the CWGS graduate coordinator as well as the coordinator of graduate studies in the student's home graduate unit.

  • Courses should be selected from the established cross-listed courses approved by the graduate coordinator of the collaborative specialization.

  • A required 0.5 FCE selected from WGS5000H or WGS5001H.

  • Any other 0.5 FCE course in women and gender studies.

  • 1.0 FCE of cross-listed or approved courses with a focus on women/gender/feminist/sexuality/critical race/postcolonial studies.

  • Regularly participate in the WGS Research Seminar.

  • Students are required to present their work in the seminar at least once before graduating.

  • Doctoral thesis dealing with a subject in the area of women and gender studies. Theses will be supervised and evaluated in the same manner as those in the home graduate unit. Normally, at least one cross-listed or core graduate faculty member with WGSI will be a member of the thesis or supervisory committee of collaborative specialization students.

Women and Gender Studies: Courses

Core Courses

Course Code Course Title
WGS5000H
Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements I
WGS5001H
Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements II

Elective Courses

For courses offered by WGSI and cross-listed by the participating units offered in a particular year, check the collaborative specialization website.