The Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto is distinctive for its transnational approach, critically addressing how national borders and nationalist discourses frame the constructions of gender and sexuality. We study the effects of migration, diaspora and wars on experiences of home and heritage, family, desire and selfhood. We provide students the conceptual tools to connect processes of imperialism and globalization with emergent economies and forms of labor and consumption. Finally, we encourage students to reflect on the varied histories of feminism when framing their own activism in the present.

Our graduates go on to do innovative work in the public service, creative, and corporate sectors, becoming everything from documentary film-makers to grassroots activists to policy analysts in economic development agencies. All of them draw on the critical lens they develop in this program, becoming part of a rich community of graduates who maintain their connections with one another, and who come back to the classroom where they once were students to share their experiences.