Margaret Hobbs

Professor Emeritus

B.A. (Trent), M.A., Ph.D., (Toronto)

Faculty Profile

Marg Hobbs has been a faculty member in Gender & Women’s Studies at Trent since 1990, and is currently the Chair of the department. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto (OISE), specializing in Canadian women’s history. Much of her research examines the history of women in relation to feminism, work, poverty, social policy, and welfare state development in Canada. Marg recently collaborated with her friend and former Trent WMST colleague, Carla Rice, to produce an introductory course text called Gender and Women's Studies in Canada: Critical Terrain (Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2013). The collaboration continues as Marg and Carla work on a collection of essays on gender and health. Marg is also researching feminist and agrarian activism in the prairies in the post-WW1 decades. Over the past twenty five years, Marg has taught a range of courses in Gender and Women's Studies, including the introductory course, Feminist Critical Thought, Women, Health and Environments, Women, the Welfare State and Globalization, Acting Up! Feminism and History in Canada. She also works with Master's and PhD students in the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies. Marg has been recognized for her teaching through Trent University's Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching and the award for Educational Leadership and Innovation, as well as the provincial Leadership in Faculty Teaching award (LIFT).

Marg is an advocate of feminist community-based research and education and was part of the founding management committee for the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education. She has worked in multiple capacities with women’s and anti-poverty organizations in Peterborough. She is past executive member of the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario (ACLCO) and she is currently Vice President of the Peterborough Community Legal Centre.

Recent Publications:

"Reflections on the Intro Course: A Pedagogical Toolkit." Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender and Social Justice (forthcoming). (Co-authored with Jocelyn Thorpe, Sonja Boon, Carla Rice et al.)

Gender and Women’s Studies in Canada: Critical Terrain. Toronto: Women’s Press/Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2013 (co-edited with Carla Rice)

The Woman Worker, 1926-1929. St. John's: Canadian Committee on Labour History/Ontario Workers' Arts and Heritage Council, 1999 (co-edited with Joan Sangster)

“Reading Women’s and Gender Studies in Canada.” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme: 29, 2-2 (2011). Co-authored with Carla Rice.

“Rethinking Women’s Studies: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the Introductory Course.” Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal. Special Issue on Women’s Studies Pedagogy. 35, 2 (2012). Co-authored with Carla Rice.

The “Mainly for Women” Pages of The Western Producer, 1925-1939. Historical Primary Document Project for Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, Special Canadian Issue edited by Lara Campbell, Tamara Myers, and Joan Sangster, 13, 2 (October 2009). (Introduction by Margaret Hobbs; Document project co-edited with Susan Wurtele)