Sylvia Bashevkin served in 2005-2011 as Principal of University College in the University of Toronto. She is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Best known for her research contributions in the field of women and politics, Bashevkin served in 1993-4 as President of the Canadian Political Science Association and in 2003-4 as President of the Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association. She is a senior fellow of Massey College in the University of Toronto, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Bashevkin has twice held Connaught Research Fellowships in the Social Sciences at the University of Toronto, in 1996 to write Women on the Defensive and in 2004 to prepare Tales of Two Cities.

Sylvia Bashevkin is the author of Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada’s Unfinished Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), Tales of Two Cities: Women and Municipal Restructuring in London and Toronto (UBC Press, 2006); Welfare Hot Buttons: Women, Work and Social Policy Reform (University of Toronto Press and University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002); Women on the Defensive: Living Through Conservative Times (University of Chicago Press and University of Toronto Press, 1998); Toeing the Lines: Women and Party Politics in English Canada (2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1993); True Patriot Love: The Politics of Canadian Nationalism (Oxford University Press, 1991); and Toeing the Lines: Women and Party Politics in English Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1985), as well as numerous journal articles and chapters in books.

She is the editor of Opening Doors Wider: Women’s Political Engagement in Canada (UBC Press, 2009); Women’s Work is Never Done: Comparative Studies in Caregiving, Employment and Social Policy Reform (Routledge, 2002); Women and Politics in Western Europe (Frank Cass, 1985); and Canadian Political Behaviour: Introductory Readings (Nelson, 1985).