Women and Gender Studies


Women and Gender Studies: Introduction

Faculty Affiliation

Arts and Science

Degree Programs

Women and Gender Studies

MA and PhD

Collaborative Specializations

The following collaborative specializations are available to students in participating degree programs as listed below:

Overview

The overall graduate program is cutting edge for its focus on transnational feminist studies. Graduate students and faculty investigate how gender and sexuality are informed, lived, and reinvented amidst entwined yet discrepant narratives, geographies, and histories.

Graduate work at the Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) encourages an engagement with an interdisciplinary range of theories and methods that 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 core faculty brings 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. In doing so, the institute seeks to ask feminist questions as well as put feminism into question.

Areas of focus within the transnational feminist approach include:

  • gender, sexuality and queer studies

  • political economy and critical development studies

  • feminist studies of technology, science, environment and biomedicine

  • feminist cultural studies.

The MA and PhD degree programs also feature the option of a practicum that aspires to strengthen students’ ability to interrogate the application of theories and methods to lived practice.

Contact and Address

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

Graduate Program in Women and Gender Studies
Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto
Wilson Hall, New College, 40 Willcocks Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C6 Canada


Women and Gender Studies: Graduate Faculty

Full Members

Bamford, Sandra - BA, MA, MPA, PhD
Bhuyan, Rupaleem - BA, MA, PhD
Boddy, Janice - BA, MA, PhD
Boler, Megan - BA, PhD
Brown, Elspeth - MA, PhD
Cobb, Michael - BA, MA, AM, PhD
Columpar, Corinn - BA, PhD
Cossman, Brenda - LLB, LLM, Goodman/Schipper Chair
Cowen, Deborah - BA, MCP, PhD
Dave, Naisargi N. - BA, MA, PhD
Diaz, Robert - PhD
Georgis, Dina - PhD (Graduate Coordinator)
Johnson, Chris - PhD
Keith, Alison - BA, MA, PhD, FRSC
Klassen, Pamela - BA, MA, PhD
Larson, Katie - BMus, AB, MPH, PhD
Lo, Marieme - BA, MA, MSc, PhD
Lord, R. Cassandra - BA, BA, MA, PhD
Magnusson, Jamie-Lynn - BA, MA, PhD
McElhinny, Bonnie - BA, MA, MA, PhD, PhD
Mirchandani, Kiran - BA, MPH, PhD
Mojab, Shahrzad - BA, MEd, EdD
Morgenstern, Naomi - BA, MA, PhD
Murphy, Michelle - BA, PhD
Murray, Heather - BA, MA, PhD
Newton, Melanie - BA, PhD
Nyquist, Mary - BA, MA, PhD
Rankin, Katharine - BA, MA, PhD
Recollet, Karyn - PhD
Rittich, Kerry - BAMus, LLB, SJD
Salih, Sara - BA, DPhil
Silvey, Rachel - BA, MA, PhD
Song, Jesook - BA, PhD
Sykes, Heather - BSc, PhD
Tahmasebi-Birgani, Victoria - MA, PhD
Taylor, Judith - BA, PhD
Titchkosky, Tanya - BA, MA, PhD
Trotz, Alissa - AB, MPH, PhD (Director)
Tuck, Eve - BA, PhD
Valverde, Mariana - BA, MA, PhD, FRSC
Walcott, Rinaldo - BA, MA, PhD
Wane, Njoki - BE, MSc, MEd, PhD
Ye, Shana - BA, MA, PhD
Yoneyama, Lisa - BA, MA, PhD

Members Emeriti

Larkin, June - PhD

Associate Members

Desai, Chandni - PhD
Ellapen, Jordache Abner - BA, MA, MA, PhD
Goldstein, Tara - BA, PhD
Sweeney, Shauna - PhD
Trimble, S. - PhD


Women and Gender Studies: Women and Gender Studies MA

Master of Arts

Program Description

The MA program in Women and Gender Studies focuses on feminist colonial, post-colonialism, diasporic, and transnational studies as rubrics for studying gender, sex, and feminism. This perspective explores the temporal and geographic processes through which women’s and men’s lives, sexed relations, gendered subjectivities, and sexualities are situated.

The MA program is a full-time program and cannot be taken on a part-time basis.

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Women and Gender Studies Institute’s additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate bachelor's degree in women's studies and gender studies or a related area at an approved university. Applicants must have obtained an average equivalent to a University of Toronto B+ or better in their final year of undergraduate study.

  • Letter of intent outlining the academic goals the applicant wishes to pursue in the program, two letters of recommendation, and transcripts from all post-secondary institutions.

Program Requirements

  • The student's program of study must be approved by the Women and Gender Studies Institute. Students must complete a total of 3.5 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:

    • 0.5 core FCEs in women and gender studies (WGS5000H).

    • 1.0 elective FCE in women and gender studies; either a special topics seminar (please see course list of special topics seminars) or an independent research/reading course (WGS1007H).

    • 1.0 FCE MA Research Paper (WGS1005Y).

    • 1.0 FCE (one year-long or two half-year courses) offered by other departments and chosen in consultation with the faculty advisor.

    • Completion of WGS2000H (0.0 FCE; Credit/No Credit), requiring participation in the WGS Research Seminar Series. To complete this requirement, students must attend at least 80% of the seminars during the Fall/Winter academic session.

  • The MA degree program is not offered on a part-time basis.

Program Length

3 sessions full-time (typical registration sequence: F/W/S)

Time Limit

3 years full-time


Women and Gender Studies: Women and Gender Studies PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

Program Description

The PhD program in Women and Gender Studies has four areas of focus:

  • gender, sexuality, and queer studies

  • feminist cultural studies

  • feminist studies of technology, science, environment, and biomedicine

  • transnational political economy and development studies.

The offerings bring feminist scholarship to the tasks of challenging and investigating colonial, postcolonial, and transnational contexts. Central themes of the program include global capitalism, nation and state formation, empire, citizenship, diaspora, and cultural flows, all of which are examined through the lenses of diverse feminist scholarship. The program welcomes applications from international students.

Applicants may enter the PhD program via one of two routes:

  • following completion of an appropriate MA

  • direct entry after completing a bachelor’s degree.

 

PhD Program

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Women and Gender Studies Institute’s additional admission requirements stated below.

  • A master’s degree in women and gender studies, or a master’s degree in a related discipline from a recognized university. Applicants must have obtained an average of A– or better in the master’s program.

  • Letter of intent outlining the academic goals the applicant wishes to pursue in the program, two letters of recommendation, a writing sample, and transcripts from all post-secondary institutions.

Program Requirements

  • The student’s program of study must be approved by the Women and Gender Studies Institute.

  • All coursework should normally be completed by the end of Year 1 of PhD study. Students must complete 3.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:

    • 1.0 FCE in Women and Gender Studies (WGS5000H and WGS5001H). Students who have already taken these courses, or their equivalent, will be required to enrol in alternate course selections, with institute approval.

    • 0.5 elective FCE in Women and Gender Studies.

    • 1.5 FCEs offered in Women and Gender Studies or by other graduate units and chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor.

  • WGS Research Seminar Series. Normally, students enrol in WGS2000H (0.0 FCE, Credit/No Credit) in Year 1 of their PhD program. Attendance at 80% of the seminars is required in Year 1. After completion of this course, students are recommended to attend this seminar regularly, as a crucial part of their graduate education. In addition, students must present their research in the seminar series once before graduation after they have achieved candidacy, a milestone captured by WGS2001H (0.0 FCE, Credit/No Credit). Students will enrol in WGS2001H during the session in which they plan to present.

  • Comprehensive examinations:

    • Completion of two comprehensive exams, one in a primary (major) and one in a secondary (minor) area of study, defined in consultation with the advisor and other committee members.

    • The dissertation proposal, an integral part of the comprehensive exams, should be defended and accepted no later than August 31 of Year 2.

    • Examinations are marked on a pass/fail basis. Candidates are allowed two attempts to pass a comprehensive examination. A failure to pass on the second attempt results either in the student’s voluntary withdrawal from the program, or a recommendation by the institute for termination of the student’s registration in the program.

    • The major comprehensive examination should be completed by January 31 of Year 2. The minor comprehensive examination should be completed by May 31 of Year 2.

  • Completion of a PhD dissertation based on original research conducted by the candidate on an approved topic in women and gender studies, and successful defence at the SGS Final Oral Examination.

  • Each student will meet at least annually with their supervisor and other doctoral committee members to review academic progress and to consult about future directions.

Program Length

4 years

Time Limit

6 years

 

PhD Program (Direct-Entry)

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Women and Gender Studies Institute’s additional admission requirements stated below.

  • In exceptional cases, direct-entry admission is offered to outstanding students with a bachelor’s degree in women and gender studies or a related area, from a recognized university. Direct-entry students must have a cumulative average of A or better. Applicants must also have obtained an average equivalent to an A– or better in their final year of undergraduate study.

  • Letter of intent outlining the academic goals the applicant wishes to pursue in the program, two letters of recommendation, a writing sample, and transcripts from all post-secondary institutions.

Program Requirements

  • The student’s program of study must be approved by the Women and Gender Studies Institute.

  • All coursework should normally be completed by the end of Year 2 of PhD study. Students must complete 5.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:

    • 1.0 FCE in Women and Gender Studies (WGS5000H and WGS5001H).

    • 2.0 elective FCEs in Women and Gender Studies.

    • 2.0 FCEs offered in Women and Gender Studies or by other graduate units and chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor.

  • WGS Research Seminar Series. Normally, students will enrol in WGS2000H (0.0 FCE, Credit/No Credit) in Year 1 of their PhD program. Attendance at 80% of the seminars is required in Year 1. After completion of this course, students are recommended to attend this seminar regularly, as a crucial part of their graduate education. In addition, students must present their research in the seminar series once before graduation after they have achieved candidacy, a milestone captured by WGS2001H (0.0 FCE, Credit/No Credit). Students will enrol in WGS2001H during the session in which they plan to present.

  • Comprehensive examinations:

    • Completion of two comprehensive exams, one in a primary (major) and one in a secondary (minor) area of study, defined in consultation with the advisor and other committee members.

    • The dissertation proposal, an integral part of the comprehensive exams, should be defended and accepted no later than December 31 of Year 3.

    • Examinations are marked on a pass/fail basis. Candidates are allowed two attempts to pass a comprehensive examination. A failure to pass on the second attempt results either in the student’s voluntary withdrawal from the program or a recommendation by the institute for termination of the student’s registration in the program.

    • The major comprehensive examination should be completed by May 31 of Year 2. The minor comprehensive examination should be completed by September 30 of Year 3.

  • Completion of a PhD dissertation based on original research conducted by the candidate on an approved topic in women and gender studies, and successful defence at the SGS Final Oral Examination.

  • Each student will meet at least annually with their supervisor and other doctoral committee members to review academic progress and to consult about future directions.

Program Length

5 years

Time Limit

7 years


Women and Gender Studies: Women and Gender Studies MA, PhD Courses

Course Code Course Title
WGS1004H
Special Topics in Feminist Theory
WGS1005Y
MA Research Paper
WGS1007H
Directed Research/Reading
WGS1009H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies 1
WGS1010H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies 2
WGS1011H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies 3
WGS1013H
Special Topics in Feminist Theory 1
WGS1014H
Special Topics in Feminist Theory 2
WGS1016H
Migration, Mobility, and Displacement in Contemporary Africa
WGS1017H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WGS1018H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WGS1019H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WGS1020H
Gender and Globalization: Transnational Perspectives
WGS1021H
Black Diasporic Feminisms: Modernity, Freedom, Belonging
WGS1022H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WGS1023H
Aesthetics of Radical Hope
WGS1024H
Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WGS1025H
Indigenous Aesthetics: Hip Hop, Media, and Futurities
WGS1027H
Special Topics in Queer Studies and Feminism
WGS1028H
Queer of Colour Critique
WGS2000H WGS Research Seminar (Credit/No Credit)
WGS2001H WGS Research Seminar — Presentation (Credit/No Credit)
WGS5000H
Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements I
WGS5001H
Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements II