University of Lethbridge
Women’s Studies 2000N: Issues in Women’s Studies
Tuesday 18:00 – 20:50 AH 117
Instructor: Jane Barter Moulaison
E-mail: jane.barter@uleth.ca
Phone: 380 1897
Office: PE 211
Office Hours: T:
16:00 – 18:00
MW: 14:00 – 15:00
Introduction
Women’s Studies 2000 is an interdisciplinary course that focuses on the position of women and
the meaning of gender in culture and society. Among the questions that Women's Studies
scholars ask are the following: To what extent are gender divisions a product of nature and to
what extent are they variable social constructions? What are the historical and theoretical
contexts in which feminist discourse is situated? What are, and historically have been, the
practical and cultural consequences of gender divisions? What questions can feminism and the
study of women bring to our cultural conversations about race, class, and sexuality? What is the
significance of gender in social institutions, systems of thought and representation, and everyday
life for women and men?
As the scope of these questions implies, it is impossible to investigate such matters with
reference to one discipline alone. The most influential Women's Studies scholarship brings
together insights from such diverse disciplines as anthropology, theology, philosophy,
psychology, literary criticism and sociology. Students in this course will be invited to bring their
previous learning to bear upon issues that arise in this course. It is hoped that, in turn, learning
from this course, will also influence students’ perspectives in their various disciplines.
Required Readings
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Richardson, Taylor and Whittier (eds.) Feminist Frontiers: Fifth Edition. Toronto:
McGraw-Hill, 2001. (FF)
Barter Moulaison. CLR Coursepack: Issues in Women’s Studies. (CLR)
Course Goals
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To gain a sense of the structural dimensions of women’s circumstances, within this
community and in the world beyond.
To gain an understanding of contemporary women’s struggle for political and social freedom.
To examine theoretical approaches to interpret the origins, causes and proposed solution
to women’s oppression.
To examine other academic disciplines through the specific focus of women’s studies.
e.g. Women and education, women and psychology, women and literary criticism,
women and religion, women and political science.
To consider the way in which feminism also seeks to expose and to challenge other forms
of structural oppression such as poverty, racism, heterosexism, and discrimination against
persons with disabilities.
To consider the relationship between gender and sex, oppression and privilege, even
within the context of one’s own biography.
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Schedule of Classes
January 13: Introduction to Women’s Studies / First Wave of Feminism
Read: Barbara J. MacHaffie, “Women Organizing for Mission and Reform” (CLR)
Read: FF # 3 Boxed Insert: “Ain’t I a Woman?”
Film: “Prairie Women: The Story of Farm Women and Cooperative Action: 1913-1939”
Lecture: “The First Wave of Feminism”
January 20: The Second Wave of Feminism
Read: FF # 1: “Oppression”
FF # 54: “The Women’s Movement. Persistence Through Transformation”
Film: “Not a Love Story.” NFB, 1991
Lecture: “The Second Wave of Feminism”
January 27: Theories of Feminism
*
Read: FF # 7 “ Night to His Day : The Social Construction of Gender”
Lecture: “Theories of Feminism”
Read CLR “Feminist Theory”
Film: “Tokyo Girls” NFB, 2000
First summary of reading due today
February 3: Theories of Feminism II
Read FF # 23 “The Wage Conceived”
Read FF # 4 “The Master’s Tools”
Film: “Marilyn Waring on Women and Economics” NFB, 1994
Lecture: “Feminist Theory II”
February 10: The Third Wave of Feminism
Read TB # 53 “The Next Feminist Generation: Imagine My Surprise”
Read CLR “Lipstick”
Film: “The Righteous Babes”
Lecture: “The Third Wave of Feminism”
Mid-Term Take –Home Due Today
February 17: No classes Reading week
February 24: Gender, Culture and Representation
Read TB # 12 “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language”
# 13, “Women and the Knife”
# 14 “Selling Hot Pussy”
Lecture: “Women and the Politics of Representation”
Group Presentation # 1: Cultural Dilemma and a Plea for Justice
March 2:
Gender, Culture and Representation II/Socialization
*
Read FF # 15, “Empowering Women? The Oprah Winfrey Show”
FF # 18, “Family Structure and Feminine Personality”
FF # 20, “Girls and boys together”
Group Presentation # 2: Single Parent Women Speak Up
Film: “Some Kind of Arrangement” NFB, 1998
Second summary due today
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March 8:
Women and Mental Health/ Women and Health
Read FF # 21, “Women’s psychological development”
FF # 34, Doing Desire TB #36, “Hormonal Hurricanes”
Lecture: Women and Psychology
FF # 39, “The Politics of Breast Cancer”
Lecture: “The Medicalization of Women’s Reproductive Health”
Guest Speakers: “The Doula Sisters”
Group Presentation # 3: “Nobody There”
March 16:
Women, Work and Poverty *
Read FF # 23, “The wage conceived”
FF # 24, “Sex differences”
Lecture: “The Feminization of Poverty”
Group Presentation # 4: Women and Non-Standard Work
Guest Speaker: Dorothy McKenna
Third summary of reading due today
March 23:
Sexuality /Families
Read FF # 28, “Peer Marriage”
FF # 31, “Negotiating Lesbian Motherhood”
FF #32, “Oral History”
FF # 33 Boxed Insert : In Praise of Best Friends
Film: “When Shirley Met Florence”
Group Presentation # 5: Female Genital Mutilation
March 30:
Violence Against Women
Read TB # 40, “The Man in the Street”
TB # 41,“Fraternities and Rape on Campus”
TB # 44, “Accountability or Justice?”
Film: “A Love that Kills” NFB, 1999
Group Presentation # 6 “Stop Violence against Women with Disabilities”
Fourth summary due today
April 6:
Aboriginal Women in Canada
Read CLR, “Our Story:” A Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women
(Aboriginal Panel)
Film: “Keepers of the Fire” NFB, 1994
Lecture: “Women on the Margins: the Canadian Context”
Group Presentation # 7: Barriers to Women on SFI
April 13:
Women and Religion *
Read CLR, “Feminist Liberation Theologies”
Lecture “Women and Reforming Feminist Theologies”
Read CLR, excerpts from “The Spiral Dance”
Lecture: “Women, Revolutionary Feminist Theologies and the Goddess”
Film: “Under One Sky,” NFB 1999
Fifth Summary of reading due today
Exam Review
April 20:
FINAL EXAM:
Place TBA
18:00 – 20:00
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Evaluation:
Grading Scale
A + 90-100%
A 85-89 Excellent
A- 80-84
B+ 77-79
B 74-76 Good
B- 70-73
C+ 67-69
C 64-66 Fair
C- 60-63
D+ 56-59 Poor
D 50-55
F 0-49
1.
Attendance and Participation
(10%)
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class. Because this class is integrative and
interdisciplinary, it is strongly recommended that students participate regularly in informed class
discussion.
2.
Summaries of the Readings
(20% - 4 points each)
Students must prepare a one to two paragraph (200 - 300 words) summary for each of the
classes designated above with an asterisk (*) covering ONE of the assigned readings for that
class. These paragraphs should sum up the author’s argument and should conclude with a brief
assessment of whether you think her argument is compelling and why. Throughout the course,
students are expected to complete five assignments.
3.
Mid-term Examination (Take-Home) (20%)
The mid-term examination will be a take home examination in which students must answer the
following:
Based upon the lectures, readings, and videos, write an essay on the first OR second wave of
feminism in Canada (Choose ONE). In your response, consider the following topics:
1. What are the primary political objectives of this wave of feminism?
2. What resistance/challenges did these women face?
3. Does this group consider issues such as race, class, religion and sexuality in a
sustained manner in their analysis? If so, how?
4. How successful were (are) they in meeting their political goals?
Essays must be typewritten, double space and be between three four pages (between 600-800
words). Essays will be graded for form as well as well as content.
4.
Group Project
(20%)
The group project will be undertaken by students in groups of five or six. Students will be
assigned to groups early in the class. The project will be an opportunity for students to integrate
their learning of feminist theory with some first-hand accounts of women’s experiences.
There are seven pieces of qualitative research on reserve in the library. They are:
- “Break the Silence”” STOP Violence Against Women with Disabilities
- Single Parent Women Speak Up
- Cultural Dilemma and a Plea for Justice
- Southern Alberta Women on S.F.I.: The Barriers
- “Nobody There:” Making Peace With Motherhood
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Women and Non-Standard Work: A Grassroots Approach
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Students must prepare a class presentation of at approximately thirty minutes based upon one of
the above documents. Groups may select a research document early in class, else one will be
assigned. The presentation must cover the following issues and themes:
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Describe briefly the common experiences shared by women in their respective stories as told in
the qualitative research
Identify a theory of feminism (i.e. liberal, socialist, Marxist, radical, psychoanalytic, cultural, or
postmodern) that best addresses these experiences and explain why you have chosen this theory,
and why this theory promises to change women’s concrete experiences of oppression.
Groups must also present a one-page typewritten summary of their class presentation.
Each student must present for at least three minutes of the group presentation. Professor reserves
the right to differentiate individually the evaluation if it becomes obvious that there was an
inequitable effort or mastery of the material
Groups should introduce a leading question toward the end of the presentation and facilitate
discussion and allow time for questions.
Summaries will be evaluated for grammatical form as well for content.
5.
Final Examination
(30%)
The final examination will be two hours long and will consist of three parts:
Part One: Fill in the Blank Questions (10%)
Part Two: Short Answer Questions
(40%)
These are short answer questions and must be written in complete sentence form (four to five sentences).
There will be eight questions; you must answer five.
Part Three: Essay Questions
(50%)
Students are invited to prepare a one-page outline for each of these questions. Essays should be 400 to 500 words
(approximately three pages handwritten). Only ONE of the following questions will appear on your final exam.
A. Many feminists have argued that a unitive approach; i.e., seeing a commonality among women, is
a better way to address and to end the oppression of all women. This view was particularly prevalent
among first and second wave feminists. Contemporary (especially third-wave) feminists tend to
emphasize important differences among women. Which position do you think addresses and
responds to women’s inequality better, and why? Give concrete examples from readings, class
lectures, and films.
B. Many critics have argued that third wave feminism is not an original movement, but merely
consists of a rebellion of young feminists against the “mothers” of the second wave. Based upon the
readings, lectures and videos, assess whether this is a fair criticism of the third wave of feminism.
Late Papers, Missed Exams
All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date specified. Late assignments will be
penalized at a rate of 3% a day, including weekends. Students with extenuating medical or
domestic circumstances may arrange for an extension prior to the due date.
Students are required to write their final exams on the designated date. There will be no
exceptions, save emergencies.
Terms of this syllabus
The specifications of this syllabus are binding for students and instructor, but may be modified
by instructor due to extenuating circumstances.
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