Minimum 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, 2025.

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

Completion 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 full-course equivalent (FCE selected from WGS5000H Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements I or WGS5001H Feminist Theories, Histories, Movements II.

• 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 (WGS2000H).

• 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.