Women’s studies programs need protection, space to combat eroding gender equality: Opinion

In the face of eroding gender equality and concerns about reversal of women’s rights victories, women’s studies programs are more important than ever, write Jacquie Gahagan, Adwoa Onuora, and Tegan Zimmerman of Mount Saint Vincent University. Gahagan, Onuora, and Zimmerman write that though women have fought for human rights victories in Canada, issues such as barriers to education, gender-based and sexual violence, systemic racism, and discrimination continue to affect women. The authors argue that protecting Canada’s women’s studies programs anchors, protects, and ensures that women’s rights victories continue to be key considerations in the future. “Women’s studies programs must be given space to intensify the work of preparing learners to take action in communities and embolden leaders to reject the violent erasures created by the growing wave of misogyny,” write the authors. The Conversation Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.