Gender roles

Introduction to Women and Gender Studies 100 E
Wilfrid Laurier University
Instructor: Dr. Helen Ramirez
Email: [e-mail]
Supplemental Instructor: Sarah Clarke
Women and Gender Studies Librarian: Joanne Oud [e-mail]
Lecture: Mondays and Wednesdays 1- 2:20
In SBE 1220
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30 to 4pm
Office: R106V

Course Description:

WS 100 is a multidisciplinary course that examines issues around gender with a particular emphasis on how women’s lives have been shaped by the definitions of femininity and masculinity as well as race, class and sexual identity. We begin and end this course by looking at the conditions and actions of women at pivotal moments in history. While our primary focus is on women and understanding why it is they experience for example violence, poverty and employment inequity, we only have a small portion of the picture unless we also seek to understand masculinity and how it functions within our culture. Throughout this course, we pay considerable attention to the complexity of oppression by drawing on race, class and sexual identity to see how women and men inhabit varying positions of power and subordination. We draw on the work of feminists and feminisms that span a wide range of key theoretical and practice that is fundamental to the understanding of oppression. Of course our thinking would be incomplete if we failed to consider and honour what people have done to combat injustice.

Required Reading:

Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center
Bromley, Victoria L. Feminisms Matter: Debates, Theories, Activism

Recommended Reading:

Faigley, Lester et al. The Brief Penguin Handbook.

Assignments and Evaluations:
1. Attendance/Participation 5%
2. Supplemental Instruction 5%
4. The Missing Pieces 20% Due February 5
5. Teaching Others/Fighting for Justice Due March 5
6. Oppression and the Loss of Choice/Final Paper 25% Due March 31
7. Exam 30%

**** Please note: Papers will lose one grade mark for each week late unless prior permission has been granted by the instructor. Do not assume if you have requested an extension for an earlier assignment a subsequent one will be given without pressing justification.

****Do not use exclusive language in your papers i.e. “mankind” when you are also referring to women.

****Papers based principally on Internet articles are not permissible. Using scholarly articles and books from the library are critical. For a major research paper you should have a minimum of five cited sources.

****Talking in Class – surfing the Internet. We discuss profoundly important topics in this class that reflect the very difficult lives of many people living in our communities today. I would hope that you would respect the nature of the material and refrain from chatting, internet surfing, texting or passing notes during lectures. There is ample time accorded for conversations before and after class or during group work. Should I need to speak to you more than once, your participation mark will be affected.

****Keep a personal/hard copy of all your submissions in case of loss. It is your responsibility to ensure that papers have been received and returned to you.

***** Email correspondence must be written as though you were writing a formal letter. You must identify the course and your full name. You must include a greeting i.e. Hello Dr. Ramirez or Dear Dr. Ramirez. Remember that email creates a tone and you will want to make sure your tone is friendly and respectful.

Learning Outcomes:

1. A broad knowledge of the historical conditions of women’s lives in Canada and what shapes oppression takes.
2. An understanding of how systems and institutions function to collude in oppression.
3. The skills to locate how oppression is experienced in multilayered ways when race, class, sexual orientation, ability are introduced.
4. The knowledge of the functions of power at an individual and collective level.
5. Knowledge of how theories disclose the ways in which destructive power systems function to maintain a matrix of domination.
6. A clear sense of our own responsibility in altering the conditions of injustice.

To Enchance your Learning Experience: This term you have access to a number of opportunities designed to assist you with many of the questions, concerns or just ideas generated through taking this course. Please take advantage of them. These programs are in place entirely to enhance your learning regardless of your grades. Your supplemental instructor is available to assist you in building your knowledge and skills. You have access to working with a senior level Women’s Studies student (instruction mentor) from the Learning Services SI Centre who will assist you with research, writing and preparing for exams in a collaborative setting. Her support is for this class only. You will be required to go to five of the sessions in each of the categories to attain full marks but you are encouraged to attend more.

Assignment Descriptions

1. Attendance and class participation: Having opportunities to work through ideas is important for developing our thinking. Therefore, the structure of this course is heavily based on working in groups to further our examination of issues rising from current events, readings and lectures. For a class of this nature to work well, it is vital that you attend classes regularly and contribute. Your participation mark can alter your overall average dramatically. Class participation is worth 5%.

2. Supplemental Instruction: Here is your opportunity to work on your writing and research skills. Every week your SI will guide you through new strategies to increase your success here at Laurier. For full marks you must attend five of the twelve sessions but it is recommended to attend all twelve. These sessions take place out of class time so if you have any problems with your schedule you must contact the supplemental instructor directly (this individual will be attending all of our classes) before the start of or at the end of lectures (you will not have access to your Supplemental Instructor’s email). 5%

3. The Missing Pieces. Our texts for this term guide us in learning how to identify injustice in our own midst and how to develop a critical analysis of its history. The texts show us where are own gaps have been and how to identify larger macro incidences where those gaps continue to exist but which we have not been able to identify as discriminatory previously. Both course texts demonstrate the importance of theory in this process of identifying our own participation in discriminatory or exploitative practices. Choose an issue from the texts and demonstrate how the author illustrates the gap. Then build on this issue and demonstrate how we in our everyday practices continue to ignore the damage we do to others. This paper should be three double spaced paged in length and must include references to the text and other research. Please speak to me about your topic during office hours in order to develop a better understanding of where to take your ideas. 20%

4. Teaching others. Fighting for Justice. If you were leading a group what change would you fight for? How would you practice your principles of justice with the group itself? This project means working with a group of people from this class. It builds on what you have learned about creating change but is a design project in that you can use technology, art, filming of dance or theatre but all accompanied by a written piece that details how the fight for justice must be delivered without doing harm to others. The written portion you and your group members (no more than three people) will be pulling together can not be more than four pages although any technology used or art will logically take it beyond this length. It is not a typical essay format in that creative writing can be used although it must demonstrate that research has been done. Key in the success of this project is deciding what you as a group would be willing to fight for and why and how it needs to be done. Your are looking at activism here which means questions of power and inclusion must be included. Again as a group please seek advice from me. 15%

5. Oppression and the Loss of Choice/ Final Paper. This paper is to reflect the work of bell hooks and her definition of oppression. Consider an issue and look at how it has impacted the span of choices people have available to them. This paper cannot resemble any previous writing you have done. Contrast it with the groups who profit from the oppression of others without perhaps them even knowing. The topic should be discussed with me in advance of submission. It must again be able to pivot from the ideas discussed in your texts and in class but demonstrate that you have done extensive scholarly work beyond them. Five double spaced pages. 25%

6. Final exam: The exam will be based on lectures and your readings from the entire term. It will be online as well. It will be essay format and you will have to demonstrate that you can draw on lectures and readings. 30%

Basic Format for Evaluation:
A range: Excellent. Work has exceeded all requirements in research, conceptualization and articulation.

B range: Very good to good. The student has gone beyond minimal requirements but whose work still contains some errors in format and content.

C range: Acceptable. The student has met the basic requirements for the assignment but whose work holds substantial problems of both a syntactical and conceptual nature.

D range: Poor. The work fails to meet even the minimal standards. The student is urged to meet with the instructor for advice.

F range: Failure. The student should meet with the instructor to discuss future assignments and problems with the material.

Learning Accessibility Office:
Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier’s Learning Accessibility Office for information regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus.

Plagiarism:
Wilfrid Laurier University uses software that can check for plagiarism. Students may be required to submit their written work in electronic form and have it checked for plagiarism.

All ideas must be cited. You may choose the citation form you are most comfortable with but you must use it properly. If you are unfamiliar with citing quotes, ideas and paraphrases please seek help from the library as well as the Writing Centre.

Remember it is not sufficient simply to alter a few words in a sentence to avoid citing your source.

Foot Patrol:
Please stay safe. Don’t take any chances call the Foot Patrol to escort you home. Call 866-FOOT. Remember no walk is too short or too long.

Counselling Services:
If you find yourself becoming stressed by school or issues of a more personal nature, please take advantage of Counselling Services. They offer a broad range of services that may in fact be useful to you.

Further Regulations:
The University has an established policy with respect to cheating on assignments and examinations, which the student is required to know. Students are cautioned that in addition to a failure in the course, a student may be suspended or expelled from the University for cheating and the offence may appear on one’s transcript, in which event the offence can have serious consequences for one’s business or professional career. For more information refer to the current Undergraduate calendar (University Undergraduate Regulations).

Students are to adhere to the Principles in the Use of Information Technology. These Principles and resulting actions for breaches are stated in the current Undergraduate Calendar.

Students’ names may be divulged in the classroom, both orally and in written form, to other members of the class. Students who are concerned about such disclosures should contact the course instructor to identify whether there are any possible alternatives to such disclosure.

Topics and Readings:

(Please note readings are critical for your understanding in this course, however do not expect weekly readings to correspond to the heading of each lecture. No lectures will be posted on My Learning Space.)

January 6
Intro to Women and Gender Studies
Hooks: Prefaces and Chapter 8

January 8
Early 19th and 20th Century Suffragist Movement
The end of First Wave Feminism
Bromley: Introduction

January 13
And the beginning of Second Wave Feminism what role does feminism play?
Bromley: Chapter 1
Hooks: Chapter 2

January 15
Body Image – how bodies are represented (i.e. in sports and the media as a whole)
Bromley: Chapter 3 – understanding what we see

January 20
Sex and Gender, Binaries and Feminisms
Bromley: Chapter 4
Hooks: Chapter 3

January 22
Feminism and Race
Bromley: Chapter 5
Hooks: Chapter 1 and 4

January 27
Violence
Hooks: Chapter 9

January 29
Masculinity
Bromley: Chapter 9
Hooks: Chapter 5

February 3
Changing Binaries

February 5
Manufacturing Heterosexism: Sexuality and Sexual Orientation
Bromley: Chapter 6

February 10
Who has power and what kind of power? How does the intersection of race, sex and class enter the paradigm of oppression?
Hooks: Chapter 6

February 12
The Family and Poverty – the construction of dependence
Hooks: Chapter 10

February 24
Gendering Work
Hooks: Chapter 7

February 26
When Medicine directs

March 3
Medicalization and Reproductive Technologies – who can reproduce?

March 5
The Denial of Women’s Voices.
Bromley: Chapter 7
Hooks: Chapter 11

March 10
Embodied Power And Popular Culture/How women are represented and the power of socialization
Bromley: Chapter 8

March 12
Backlash against Feminism/Why is Feminism a threat and to what?
Bromley: Chapter 10

March 17
The Gendered and raced symbols of Nationalism/Religion/War

March 19
Women and Globalization

March 24
The Waves of Feminism – Where we are at now?
Bromley: Chapter 11

March 26
How Gender is constructed and made to stand as truth. How capitalism benefits.
Hooks: Chapter 11

March 31
Activisms
Hooks: Chapter 12

April 2
What can we do? What does the future hold?