Welcome to WGSI – Women and Gender Studies Institute

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We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land

About Us

For the past 50 years, WGSI has trained students to think about the entanglements of gender, race and sexuality. Our teaching and research is distinctive for its transnational feminist approach, critically addressing how national borders, colonialisms, labour, and migration shape life, knowledge, and politics.

WGSI Statement on Palestine

The Women & Gender Studies Institute has adopted the statement made by the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at UTSC. We are resolute in our support for all faculty who speak up about the current war in Palestine/Israel, who bring their expertise to bear on public conversations, and who refuse the Palestine exception. We also invite you to read the statement issued by the Women & Gender Studies Graduate Student Union.

WGSI also shares the National Women’s Studies Association’s (NWSA’s) initial statement of October 11 mourning the extensive loss of civilian life since October 7 and over the last 75 years, and its later call for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, issued on October 29. Our joint efforts of preserving academic freedom, and naming the relentless humanitarian injustices being committed in Gaza and Palestine as a whole are a reflection of our transnational feminist politics as a department and community of scholars.

For staff, students and faculty, please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you want to check in, and here is a link to resources, that WGSI faculty and students compiled of on-and off-campus services that we know have been helpful.