Fonds 0130 - University of Toronto. Women and Gender Studies Institute fonds

The Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies was established in 1998. However, Women’s Studies has been taught at the University of Toronto for over twenty-five years. In 1971-1972, Jill Ker Conway and Natalie Zemon Davis offered the first Women’s Studies’ course at the U. of T., HIS 348, “The History of Women.” A minor in Women’s Studies was first approved in 1974-1975. Eventually, the Women’s Studies Programme would offer minor, major, and specialist degrees by 1980-1981. The oldest such programme in Canada, the undergraduate Women's Studies Program at New College on the St. George Campus was later joined by Women's Studies Programs on the Erindale and Scarborough campuses. In 1994-1995, the Graduate Collaborative Program in Women’s Studies was established. Shortly after the introduction of the Graduate Collaborative Program, a provostial review of Women’s Studies at the University of Toronto was undertaken to determine what new administrative structures might be in order. The Provost’s review committee recommended that an Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Studies (IWSGS) be established to develop scholarship in the fields of women’s studies and gender studies and to promote graduate and undergraduate programs in these fields.