Graduate Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS)
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 Ph.D. degree in another discipline. The specialization offers a rich interdisciplinary environment in which to grapple with how gender and sexuality is tangled with questions of race, citizenship, embodiment, colonialism, nation, global capitalism, violence, aesthetics, and other pressing concerns.
The CWGS is administered by the Women & Gender Studies Institute (WGSI). The CWGS brings together 37 graduate programs, more than 100 courses, and over 100 graduate faculty members across six faculties (Arts & Science, Information Studies, Law, Medicine, OISE, and Social Work). Our 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.
Students who successfully complete the requirements of the collaborative specialization will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies” on their transcript, in addition to the master’s or doctoral degree from their home graduate unit.
Collaborative specializations offer graduate students at University of Toronto the ability to study and work interdisciplinary with faculty and students across departments. WGSI houses its own collaborative specialization and participates in a dozen collaborative programs housed in other departments. Collaborative specializations are not stand-alone programs, nor dual degree programs.
Application Information
In order to qualify for admission into the Graduate Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS), applicants must be offered admission to a graduate degree program at University of Toronto. Applicants to CWGS should have some background in Women’s Studies, Feminist Studies and/or Gender Studies. Graduate students at the University of Toronto are under the auspices of the School of Graduate Studies (SGS).
Application Deadline:
We are now accepting application to the Graduate Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies for the 2024-2025 academic year. All applications must be submitted to the Women and Gender Studies Institute by May 30, 2025.
Note: It is expected that students apply to the collaborative specialization after admission and prior to starting their first year of study, however, students in all years can apply.
Application Documentation and Procedures
Students will only be accepted into CWGS upon confirmation of their acceptance into their home department’s graduate program.
To apply to the Collaborative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies, students must submit the following documents:
- A double-spaced two-page tailored statement of intent pertaining to women and gender studies. This statement should not be the one that was submitted to your home graduate unit and should focus work on related to women and gender studies. You can upload the tailored statement of intend to the SGS Graduate Admissions Portal or email the statement to the Women and Gender Studies Institute at: wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca
- Other documents submitted in your original application:
- Transcripts from all previous post-secondary institutions.
- Your Offer of Admission to U of T.
Application Procedure:
- Ensure that your tailored statement of intent is emailed to WGSI (wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca) by the application deadline.
- Request that your home graduate unit send a copy of your complete graduate admission file (including all the documents mentions above) to WGSI at wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca by our application deadline.
For interested students who belong to an academic unit that does not participate in the WGSI collaborative specialization, you are still encouraged to apply by following the steps above. Before you apply, you should check with your home graduate unit to see if they will support a non-standard admission request.
If you have any questions about this process, please reach out to Stefanie Steele, Graduate and Undergraduate Administrator, WGSI at wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca.
Accepted students are sent a letter outlining the program requirements; a copy of this letter is also sent to the home graduate unit for review and signature.