Female empowerment sliding as universities cancel/change women's studies

Woman's Studies is on the decline at Canadian universities. That's the consensus after several schools have dropped or re-named the program in hopes of creating new interest. The most recent, being Queen's University who no longer has a Woman's Studies program, but allows students to take courses in"Gender Studies."

"This is the way the world is moving," says Bev Baines, the program's chairwoman. "If we want to bring the younger generation into study, we have to move."

Nippissing has also gone into re-marketing the program, now offering "Gender Studies & Social Justice." The University of Guelph has taken it one step further, canceling the program all together. The rationale behind it stems from both a lack of funding and the program's popularity. The program cost the university $73,000, according to the former coordinator.

In addition, on a National level the federal government has declared the fight for equality is over. It has recently shut down three-quarters of its Status of Women offices and cut off any group advocating for equality.

With this in mind, women are still under represented on all major fronts. Roughly 6 per cent of Bay Street, 13 per cent of universities and 22 per cent of parliament is made up of women.

With cuts to Woman's studies programs and a lack of funding put forth by the Canadian government, this grass roots movement may start to fade. That being said, I'd like to think that gender equality is fluent throughout all programs (excluding engineering!) The education surrounding these issues and the integration of this thinking into 21st century programs may be the route to take. That being said, the fight for equality continues as women strive to be viewed on the same playing field as men.