Michelle Stinson, a graduate of the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) and Sociology programs at UTSC, explains her view of the treatment of the WGS program within the larger academic structure of the university, including the prioritization of the hard sciences over other fields of study.
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0:03
[Michelle:] I know this is silly, and I might just be overlooking it, or over analysing this, but even the fact that Women’s and Gender Studies, because I guess it starts with a W is the last on the list, so something as simple as being in the very back of the book.
0:19
mean, looking at where something’s positioned, it almost reflects how people feel about it. It’s at the back of the book, when you go online on the site,
0:31
when I’m looking where my exams, when my exams are taking place, it’s at the bottom of the list. Oftentimes I find it doesn’t have the exam times aren’t the most desirable exam times.
0:40
[Asha:] Or in the worst rooms. [Michelle:] Or in the worst rooms. Even one time we were placed in the most, least conducive learning space, in like, the basement. And I could be definitely over analysing it and maybe other disciplines find that too.
0:55
But even the way it’s positioned, like where the title is positioned online, where the classrooms take place.
1:05
It may not be the most conducive, and I think it reflects how people kinda feel about it. I think, in general, people think that the hard sciences
1:14
are the only legitimate disciplines at university. So I think even sociology for instance is looked at as something unnecessary. But I think specifically Women’s and Gender Studies,
1:27
even outside the classroom oftentimes I’ll tell people what I majored in, and they kinda give you a look,
1:35
or they kinda ask you, “well, what is that anyways?” So dismissing the importance of it.
1:41
And I still think unfortunately, that people within the institutions still don’t think that it’s a legitimate discipline unfortunately, or don’t give it the respect that it deserves.
