Screening of The Dark Matter Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story by Donna Szőke (17 min) and Elsewhere: A Trilogy by Lynda Hall (23 min, with English & French closed captions). 

Q & A with Dr. Valerie Andrews, critical adoption scholar and adoption reform activist, facilitated by Dr. Lori Chambers, professor and Undergraduate Chair in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at Lakehead University.

*Register by 7pm EST, October 14th, 2025 for in-person or virtual attendance. To register for the in-person attendance, please email Elaine at WomensStudies@lakeheadu.ca. To register for the virtual attendance, please scan the QR code on the poster.

Link to the Pdf poster.

WOME 3132 WA (Foundations of Feminist Research)

• An introduction to feminist research methodology, and the methods employed by feminist researchers. What distinguishes feminist research from other methodologies is its attention to gender as a focus for analysis. Students will learn the basic steps of the research process, how to conceptualize a research project and what considerations need to be made to ensure research is feminist, ethical and responsive to gendered social problems. Students will learn to identify the markers of feminist research and a feminist framework with which to evaluate secondary sources. Provides students with research skills and equip them for engaging in research as part of an honours or graduate degree or when working with governments and non-governmental organizations.
• Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am-11:30am (in-person)
• Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Chisholm

 WOME 3215 FA (Gender, Bodies, and Technology)

• An intersectional examination of the technological production of gendered bodies in contexts such as classrooms, workplaces, and the internet. We will explore feminist understandings of technology, embodiment, and representation. Topics may include production and control of bodies based on sex, gender, race, class, and ability; embodiment, ability and the built environment; medicalization, bio-politics, and reproductive justice; surveillance, containment, and militarization.
• Tuesdays, 7pm-10pm (in-person)
• Instructor: Mohit Dudeja

WOME 3030 FDE*
(Housewives, Radicals and Gender-Blenders: Theorizing Equality)

• An introductory examination of the questions, tensions and debates within contemporary feminist theory from the late 20th Century to the present. This course considers multiple feminisms' arguments, strategies and politics to understand how contemporary theoretical positions account for material inequalities and lived experiences of marginalization, and how they work towards social justice in gender.
• Mondays, 7pm-10pm (online on Zoom)
• Instructor: Dr. Lori Chambers
  *Please note that this is a required core course

WOME-4012 FA/FAO** (Gender, Human Rights & Social Justice)

• The objective of this course is for students to develop a critical analysis of human rights law and Charter litigation. To what degree, and for whom, have these legal tools been successful in creating equity. Using a wide variety of sources, including legislation and legislative debates, case law, jurisprudence, and secondary literature, this course will explore the multiplicity of issues considered/protected under Human Rights Codes and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Particular attention will be paid to the western, individualist origins of human rights regimes and the problems this presents for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Please note that most subjects are not only or directly about gender. It is expected that we consider gender through an intersectional lens. You are not required to have previous knowledge of the law.
• Mondays, 2:30pm-5:30pm (in-person)
• Instructor: Dr. Lori Chambers
  **If you have not completed the required WOME-4010 yet please take the course substitution, WOME-4012 FA.

For the Pdf poster, please click here.

Please note: For the 2025/2026 academic year, WOME 4012 (Special Topics in Gender and Social Justice) will replace WOME 4010 (Women, Gender, and Social Justice) as the required core fourth year course. This applies to students who have not yet taken WOME-4010.

If you are a student who has previously taken WOME-4010 prior to fall 2025, this notice does not apply to you (you will not have to take WOME-4012 since you already took WOME-4010).  Thank you.

(Content in bold was added July 2nd, 2025 for further clarification.)

-Department of Gender & Women's Studies

Click here to view the 2025 spring newsletter.

The Department of Gender and Women's Studies in collaboration with Lakehead University's Gender Equity Centre presents the annual Feminisms at the Lakehead!

Keynote Speakers

Visiting Speaker: Suman Mondal
Queer activist at McMaster University whose work revolves around the social, political, and legal implications of LGBTQIA+ Indians in progressive regions of India. Recipient of the Lambda Scholarship Foundation Award & the prestigious Hooker Fellowship.

Regional/Local Speaker: Dr. Eleanor Gittens
Professor, human rights activist, & Co-editor of the Canadian Framework for Collaborative Police Response on Sexual Violence

National Speaker: Dr. El Jones
Poet, journalist, author, and abolitionist activist; Author of Live from the Afrikan Resistance!, and Abolitionist Intimacies; Co-host of the radio show Black Power Hour.

• Drumming, Dance & Craftivisms
• Doors open at 8:30 a.m. for Coffee, Tea and Muffins
• Presentations from 9 a.m. — 4:15 p.m.
• Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian food options will be available
• All are welcome! We’ll send you a Zoom link upon registration

Registration Required

To register or if you have questions
Email: rkimani@lakeheadu.ca

Event Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 - 8:30am to 4:15pm EDT
Event Location: Faculty Lounge Lakehead University (Thunder Bay campus) / UC 1029G / directly under the Residence Cafeteria
Event Contact Name: Rosemary Kimani-Dupuis
Event Contact E-mail: rkimani@lakeheadu.ca

For the Pdf poster, please click here.

The Department of Gender and Women's Studies released their 2025 winter newsletter today! To access the Pdf newsletter, please click this link.

The Department of Gender and Women's Studies released their 2024 fall newsletter today! To access the Pdf newsletter, please click this link.

Please note that WOME 2111 FA (Diversity & Inclusion) being offered in the fall of 2024 is for pre-approved students only: These students participated in an overseas trip in Australia and this course is following up on this trip. If you have not participated in the Australia trip with Dr. Kimani-Dupuis in the summer of 2024, please do not submit a Special Request. (Pdf Poster)

Friendly reminder to register for your fall and winter classes for the upcoming academic year. Below is the list of courses offered by the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies:

• WOME 1100 YA, Madonna to Madonna (in-person) (R. Kimani): An interdisciplinary introduction, the course explores intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, age and other socially/historically shaped dimensions of identity. Discussions will include such topics as media, health, work, poverty, body and sexuality, violence, law and creativity, in local and global contexts.
• WOME 1100 YDE, Madonna to Madonna (Web) (Dr. J. Chisholm): An interdisciplinary introduction, the course explores intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, age and other socially/historically shaped dimensions of identity. Discussions will include such topics as media, health, work, poverty, body and sexuality, violence, law and creativity, in local and global contexts.
• WOME 2113 (fall 2024) Women, Popular Culture, and Counter Culture, (VID) (Dr. J. Roth): An interdisciplinary exploration of women, popular culture and resistance, this course examines the relationship between feminism, femininity and historical and contemporary cultural texts such as films, television, pulp fiction, magazines, advertising, music, blogs and zines. Group work and on-line assignments are integral to the course.
• WOME 2114 WDE, WDF, Ecofeminism, (Zoom) (C. Hughes): Using an interdisciplinary approach and a foundation in feminist theory, students will explore the connections between women and "nature" in North America and transnationally. Opportunities are presented for pursuing more specialized and/or applied topics of interest. Format includes critical analysis of the scholarly literature, class discussion, presentation, and writing assignments, including reflexive work.
• WOME 3030 FDE, FDF, Housewives, Radicals and Gender-Blenders: Theorizing Equality, (Web) (Dr. J.Roth): An introductory examination of the questions, tensions and debates within contemporary feminist theory from the late 20th Century to the present. This course considers multiple feminisms' arguments, strategies and politics to understand how contemporary theoretical positions account for material inequalities and lived experiences of marginalization, and how they work towards social justice in gender.
• WOME 3133 (winter 2025) Women, Technology and Cyberculture, (VID)  (A. Gollat): An interdisciplinary examination of gender and technology, past and present, this course considers cyborgs, posthumanism, cyber-performance, avatars, and the gendering and gendered effects of technology in a gendered world.
• WOME 3214 (winter 2025), Queer Studies, (Zoom) (M.Dudeja): An overview of queer challenges to binary definitions of gender and sexuality. Queer theory will be explored and applied to popular culture.
• WOME 3357 (fall 2024)  Law & Women's Lives, (Zoom)  (Dr. K. Younes): Provides an historical and sociological overview of the development of the law with regard to issues of particular relevance to women and explores the extent to which law has limited women's lives. Course reading include case law, statutes and jurisprudence. Students are not expected to have knowledge of these issues prior to taking this course.
• WOME 4010 (winter 2025), Women, Gender, and Social Justice, (VID) (Dr. J. Chisholm): Advanced colloquium for fourth-year Gender and Women's Studies students. Contemporary issues in the field of gender and women's studies will be explored. The specific thematic focus of the course will be negotiated annually in relation to student interests.
• WOME 4214 (fall 2024) Regulating Reproduction & Families, (VID) (Dr. L. Chambers): Students are provided with an overview of the regulation of reproduction and family formation and dissolution, and of law and public policy impacting women's autonomy in these domains. Resistances will also be discussed. Students are not expected to have a developed knowledge of law prior to taking this course.

   For more information such as delivery times, please consult the Academic Timetable:

•  Lakehead Thunder Bay
• Lakehead Orillia
• Online Delivery