While courses in women's studies were first offered at the university in 1971, the degree-granting Women's Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts began offering an undergraduate major in 1991. The program was an interdisciplinary field of study that drew upon the social sciences, humanities, research methods, theory, literature, and gender relations. Tannis MacBeth Williams was the program's first chair.

Early faculty involved in the Women's Studies Program were Dr. Dawn Currie, Dr. Valerie Raoul, Dr. Veronica Strong-Boag, Prof. Sneja Gunew, Dr. Sharalyn Orbaugh, Dr. Becki Ross, and Dr. Lenora Angeles. In addition, the Women's Studies Program worked closely with the Centre for Research in Women's Studies and Gender Relations (created in 1991 with a mandate to support research and develop links between local and international scholars, policymakers and activists). The Founding Director of CRWSGR was Veronica Strong-Boag. Graduate-level courses were first offered in the 1998-99 academic year, initially from within the Interdisciplinary Studies Programme in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The CRWSGR began administering M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Women's Studies and Gender Relations in 2000-2001. It changed its name to the Centre for Women's and Gender Studies (CWAGS) in 2006. In 2012, CWAGS and the Women's and Gender Studies graduate and undergraduate programs merged to form the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, directed by Dr. Mary K. Bryson.