About Women’s and Gender Studies
Applying Your WGST Education
Women’s and Gender Studies graduates are sought-after members of social justice and community-based organizations. Some go into business with others or for themselves; others pursue creative and critical work in the arts, becoming writers, artists, musicians, playwrights; still others go on to specialized work in the professions, such as Law, Journalism, Medicine, International Relations, Social Work, Academia or Education. As well, a four-year B.A. or an Honours degree in Women’s and Gender Studies provide students with the critical writing and thinking skills needed for graduate education.
In 2005, the University of Toronto Women's Studies department produced a very informative document called Career Paths for Women's Studies Students
Michigan State University also did a thorough survey a few years ago, responding to questions regarding career options for Women’s and Gender Studies Graduates: visit the website.
A 2007 article in Ms. Magazine offered an inspirational account of the values of a Women’s and Gender Studies Degree: view the article.
Words from WGST Students
While attaining my Women’s & Gender Studies degree, I learned to apply a gendered lens to a range of ideas, historical interpretations and perspectives on society from biology through to science fiction, media and film. My degree provided me with the writing, research and discussion skills to undertake an M.A. in Philosophy, and to continue to hold ideas to a critical standard. I appreciate the mentorship and guidance I received from the department and highly recommend Women's & Gender Studies classes to other students looking for a dynamic and challenging learning experience.
- Rachel Loewen Walker, WGST High Honours, M.A. in Philosophy, SSHRC Grant recipient
History
The development of Women’s and Gender Studies began in the fall of 1985, when the Committee on Academic Affairs established a Subcommittee to review the need for the more formal delivery of women’s studies programming at the University of Saskatchewan. Six years later, in the fall of 1991, Professors Susan Gingell and Lesley Biggs taught WGST 200.6: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (now WGST 112.3) and in May 1992, Professor Diana Relke was appointed Coordinator of the program. Simultaneous with Dr. Relke’s appointment, the University Senate approved a proposal for a Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.
Over the next two years, thanks to Associate Members and Sessional Instructors, course offerings leapt to five, and then to nine, and in 1994, Women’s and Gender Studies appointed Professor Pamela Downe as its second full-time faculty member. With a growing faculty, and increased course offerings, a Minor degree program was approved in 1995, and a Major approved the following year. In 1997, Professor Louise Forsyth was appointed to the department, and Professor Lesley Biggs was elected to the Headship. Degree options continued to expand as the Department added a B.A. Honours Degree and a B.A. Four-Year Program with options for a stand-alone WGSt major, or specializations in the areas of Art & Art History, Economics, English, History, Native Studies, Philosophy, or Sociology.
The department gained faculty, resources, and strength over the next ten years, and although Professor Louise Forsyth retired in July 2002, she became the department’s first Professor Emerita in Women’s and Gender Studies. Professor Joan Borsa was hired in December 2003 and became the new Department Head in the summer of 2004, and that same year, Professor Caroline Tait joined the Department, with a cross-appointment at the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre. In 2005, Professor Marie Lovrod was hired for a one-year term position that was extended each year following, until she officially joined the department as a member of faculty in 2009. Women’s and Gender Studies’ newest faculty member, Theresa Cowan, was also hired in the summer of 2009, with her appointment to begin in July, 2010.
In 2006, the division of Humanities and Fine Arts (HUMFA) began discussions about how to expand the range of programs and course offerings at the University of Saskatchewan, and how to strengthen interdisciplinary programming. These discussions resulted in the formation of an Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity (ICCC) which aims to bring together various artistic and academic initiatives and programs dedicated to creative, cross-disciplinary programming and collaboration.
As of July 1, 2010, Women’s and Gender Studies became the first official program to offer undergraduate programming in the Interdisciplinary Centre, with a view of developing an Interdisciplinary M.A. in the near future. In joining the ICCC, Women’s and Gender Studies has undergone a revision of its current curriculum in order to strengthen and update course offerings and to reflect emergent shifts in the fields of gender and feminist studies, critical race theory, cultural studies, and transnational politics. The largest transformations have taken place in terms of course offerings, with the addition of eight new classes, revisions of five existing courses, and the deletion of eight previously offered courses, now addressed by other courses and programs throughout the University.
Women’s and Gender Studies joins the ICCC with core faculty members, Dr. Lesley Biggs, Dr. Joan Borsa, Dr. Theresa Cowan, and Dr. Marie Lovrod, as Program Coordinator. In addition, the program enters this new phase of development with the invaluable support of many sessional instructors, some of whom have been loyal contributors to the Department and its students for more than fifteen years. After eighteen years with the department, Dr. Diana Relke retired in the spring of 2010, but she remains an honoured contributor to the program as Professor Emeritus in Women’s and Gender Studies. With the move to the ICCC, Women’s and Gender Studies also says farewell to Tonya Kaye as she moves on to the next chapter of her life in October 2010. Tonya Kaye has been with the Department since its inception in 1992 and has been an integral part of Women’s and Gender Studies’ growth and successes over the years. To all those who have helped in large and small ways along the road, Women’s and Gender Studies is ever grateful, and now, as we enter the Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity, we look forward to deepening our existing relationships, building new connections with programs and faculty throughout the University, and maintaining our commitment to teaching and research excellence.
About the Logo
The WGSt logo combines the symbol for woman with the sun-moon symbol for male-female to mirror the balance we are seeking between women's and gender studies. In its integration of cosmological/planetary and plant imagery, the design also suggests the seamlessness, rather than the constructed opposition of transcendence and immanence, heaven and earth, spiritual and material. These allusions are especially appropriate for an academic program whose interdisciplinary philosophy values the integration of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries.
The logo has been designed and generously donated to the University of Saskatchewan by sculptor Joan Relke. Relke was raised in Moose Jaw and received her education at the University of Regina. She currently lives and works in Australia, with her partner and collaborator, Carl Merten.
To visit the Joan Relke and Carl Merten Sculpture Studio, Click Here
