Honours BA in Women and Gender Studies - St. George in Toronto Canada | University of Toronto

For fifty years, our program has educated students to critically examine gender and sexuality across personal, social, institutional, and worldwide contexts. As an interdisciplinary department, we bring together faculty specializing in diverse areas such as historical and literary analysis, legal and sociological perspectives, cultural critique and queer theory, along with African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, East Asian, and Equity studies. Our students learn to tackle pressing contemporary issues - from how militarization limits male life choices to wage disparity causes, from societal sexual norms to unexpected parallels between pop culture icons and classical authors. We teach students to examine various media - whether music videos, literature, or official documents - with equal analytical rigor while emphasizing contextual awareness: knowing when to generalize and when to recognize crucial differences, how to make meaningful cross-cultural and historical comparisons. The University of Toronto's Women & Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) stands out for its global perspective. We examine how national boundaries and nationalist ideologies shape understandings of gender, race, class, indigenous identity, sexuality, ability, and other key social categories. Our curriculum explores how migration, diaspora, and displacement affect concepts of home, ancestry, relationships, and personal identity. Students gain frameworks to link imperial and global systems with evolving economic structures, labor patterns, and consumer behaviors. We also guide students in considering feminism's diverse historical trajectories as they develop their own contemporary activist approaches.
Our alumni pursue groundbreaking careers across government, arts, business, and academia. They become documentary creators, community organizers, economic policy experts, and university faculty. Each applies the critical perspectives honed in our program, joining an engaged network of graduates who sustain connections with each other and return to our inclusive classrooms to inspire current students with their professional journeys.