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Women's Studies - Liberal Arts and Professional Studies


School of Women’s Studies
Coordinator: J. Kainer

For purposes of meeting program requirements, all nine-credit general education (foundation) courses will count as six credits towards the major.

Women's studies is both a complement and a corrective to established fields at York and a new academic discipline of its own. Until recently, both the humanities and the social sciences reflected predominantly male perspectives. Women have been largely invisible in literature, art, history, philosophy, politics, social sciences and law. Through cross-cultural and disciplinary assessment, women's studies exposes misconceptions about women expressed through myth, ideologies, teachings and writings. It replaces negative cultural images of women with visions that reaffirm women's strength, capability and intelligence.

The School of Women’s Studies unites academic resources at York University in Women’s Studies, bringing together the undergraduate and graduate programs, the non-credit Bridging Program and the Centre for Feminist Research.

A feature which distinguishes the Women’s Studies program offered at Glendon College from the programs offered in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies is its bilingual focus. Non-parallel courses are offered in both English and French. As a result, a genuine dialogue develops between the approaches of anglophones and francophones to theory, philosophy, literature, legal structures and language.

Please consult the School of Women’s Studies supplemental calendar for further information, available at the School’s main office, 206 Founders College, 416-650-8144 (press 1).

The undergraduate women's studies curriculum is built around four different kinds of courses.

Required Courses

Core Courses

The core courses are offered by the School of Women’s Studies and, like the required courses, have the second digit five (5) in the course number, e.g. WMST 2500 6.00. Students are required to select between 12 and 24 credits of core courses depending on their degree program. Core courses cover themes deemed essential to women's studies and will explicitly aim to develop critical reading, writing and oral presentation skills, research skills and more advanced research and theoretical skills as appropriate to the course and year level. The required and core courses will:

  • focus primarily on women;
  • be taught from feminist perspectives;
  • be interdisciplinary;
  • address the intersections of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual identity and gender;
  • acknowledge the different perspectives on women in a global context;
  • explicitly identify the critical skills to be developed in the course.

Courses Offered by Other Units

Courses offered by other teaching units may be accepted for program credit or cross-listed with the School of Women’s Studies. These courses will count towards the major requirements in women’s studies. Please consult the School of Women’s Studies supplemental calendar, available in the School’s main office, 206 Founders College, 416-650-8144 (press 1).

All courses mounted by the School of Women’s Studies with a five (5) as the second digit (e.g. AP/GL/WMST 2500 6.00) are considered core courses.

Specialized Honours BA: 120 Credits

Residency requirement: a minimum of 30 course credits and at least half (50 per cent) of the course credits required in each undergraduate degree program major/minor must be taken at York University.

Graduation requirement: students must successfully complete (pass) at least 120 credits which meet the Faculty's degree and program requirements with a cumulative grade point average of at least 5.00.

General education: 24 credits of general education chosen from humanities, modes of reasoning, natural science and social science, including a minimum of six credits in each of humanities, natural science and social science.

Major credits: 54 credits including:

Upper-level credits: at least 36 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level, including at least 18 credits at the 4000 level.

Credits outside the major: at least 18 credits.

Honours BA: 120 Credits

Residency requirement: a minimum of 30 course credits and at least half (50 per cent) of the course credits required in each undergraduate degree program major/minor must be taken at York University.

Graduation requirement: students must successfully complete (pass) at least 120 credits which meet the Faculty's degree and program requirements with a cumulative grade point average of at least 5.00.

General education: 24 credits of general education chosen from humanities, modes of reasoning, natural science and social science, including a minimum of six credits in each of humanities, natural science and social science.

Major credits: 42 credits including:

Upper-level credits: at least 36 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level, including at least 18 credits at the 4000 level.

Credits outside the major: at least 18 credits. (Note: students who are completing a double major or major/minor are deemed to have fulfilled this requirement.)

Honours Double Major BA

The Honours BA program described above may be pursued jointly with approved Honours Double Major degree programs in the Faculties of Environmental Studies, Fine Arts, Health, Liberal Arts and Professional Studies or Science and Engineering. For further details on requirements, refer to the listings for specific Honours programs that may be pursued jointly with other Faculties.

Note: in a double major program, a course may count only once toward major credit.

Honours Double Major Interdisciplinary (Linked) BA

Women's studies may be linked with any Honours Double Major Interdisciplinary BA program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. Students must take at least 36 credits in women's studies and at least 36 credits in the interdisciplinary program. Courses taken to meet women's studies requirements cannot also be used to meet the requirements of the interdisciplinary program. Students in these interdisciplinary programs must take a total of at least 18 credits at the 4000 level, including at least 12 credits in women's studies and six credits in the interdisciplinary program. For further details of requirements, refer to the listings for specific Honours Double Major Interdisciplinary BA programs.

Note: in a double major program, a course may count only once toward major credit.

Major credits: 36 credits in women's studies including:

Honours Major/Minor BA

The Honours BA program described above may be pursued jointly with approved Honours Minor degree programs in the Faculties of Environmental Studies, Fine Arts, Health, Liberal Arts and Professional Studies or Science and Engineering. For further details on requirements, refer to the listings for specific Honours programs that may be pursued jointly with other Faculties.

Note: in a major/minor program, a course may count only once toward major credit or minor credit.

Honours Minor BA

The Honours Minor BA program described may be combined with any approved Honours BA program that offers a major/minor option in the Faculties of Environmental Studies, Fine Arts, Health, Liberal Arts and Professional Studies or Science and Engineering. For further details on requirements, refer to the listings for specific Honours programs that may be pursued jointly with other Faculties.

Note: in a major/minor program, a course may count only once toward major credit or minor credit.

Minor credits: 30 credits including:

  • AP/GL/WMST 2500 6.00 or AP/GL/WMST 2510 9.00 and at least 12 additional credits from the core course offerings;
  • at least 12 credits in the minor must be at the 3000 level or above including at least six credits at the 4000 level.

Please refer to the Certificate Requirements section for information concerning the Certificate in Sexuality Studies, Certificate in Women's Studies and Certificate in Women’s Studies: Theory and Practice.

BA: 90 Credits

Residency requirement: a minimum of 30 course credits and at least half (50 per cent) of the course credits required in each undergraduate degree program major/minor must be taken at York University.

Graduation requirement: students must successfully complete (pass) at least 90 credits that meet the Faculty's degree and program requirements with a cumulative grade point average of at least 4.00.

General education: 24 credits of general education chosen from humanities, modes of reasoning, natural science and social science, including a minimum of six credits in each of humanities, natural science and social science.

Major credits: 30 credits including:

Upper-level credits: at least 18 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level.

Credits outside the major: at least 18 credits.


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