Ceta Ramkhalawansingh is a diversity champion

By Sean McNeely, A&S News

Ceta Ramkhalawansingh recently created a scholarship to support students in the Women & Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) at the University of Toronto.

Ramkhalawansingh completed her bachelor of arts from New College in 1972, followed by two diplomas in child study (1974 and 1976) from the Institute of Child Study (now the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study) and a master of arts from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in 1980. After completing her residency requirements for a PhD, she accepted a position at Toronto City Hall.

“Many students need funding so they can focus on their studies,” she says. “I don’t want students to be working and studying. I’d rather they were spending time on volunteer activities, being engaged in university governance or doing something for the community.”

When Ramkhalawansingh was an undergraduate student in 1968, physical education was compulsory for women but not for men, Hart House was off-limits to women and the distribution of birth control information was illegal. That was more than enough for Ramkhalawansingh to get involved in campus activities, leading to several changes to campus policy, as well as the creation of the very first women’s studies course, with Ramkhalawansingh being one of its first lecturers.

In 1985, she helped set up the City of Toronto’s scholarships in women’s studies and she continues to be involved with reviewing applications. She sits on the Innis College Council, chairs the Harold Innis Foundation Board and before that was a New College alumni representative on the College of Electors.

For five decades, Ramkhalawansingh has been a feminist human rights advocate, city builder and community activist at the neighbourhood level in social housing, land-use planning and heritage preservation.

Until her retirement in 2010, she managed the City of Toronto’s corporate programs on equity, diversity and human rights. In 2014, she was appointed by Toronto City Council as the Councillor for Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina.

Ever the activist, she still sees plenty of opportunity for creating more positive change.

“There is a difference between the gains made by white women and women of colour, as well as women from disadvantaged backgrounds, including women from the LGBTQ communities and Indigenous women,” she says.

 What’s also needed is funding, believes Ramkhalawansingh. Interacting with large institutions, engaging in processes, pursuing ideas and tackling social issues requires financial support.

“That’s why scholarships are so important,” she says. “Students have to have money to be able to investigate those issues. Ask yourself, ‘In what way have I given privilege to others?’”

The Ceta Ramkhalawansingh Scholarship will be awarded to one upper-year undergraduate student enrolled in a major or specialist program in women and gender studies or in Caribbean studies.