Course Meeting Times
Lecture/Discussion: 2 sessions/week; 1.5 hours/session
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Course Description
This course offers an introduction to women’s and gender studies, an interdisciplinary academic field that explores critical questions about the meaning of gender in society. The primary goal of this course is to familiarize students with key issues, questions, and debates in women’s and gender studies scholarship, both historical and contemporary. Gender scholarship critically analyzes themes of gendered performance and power in a range of social spheres, such as law, culture, work, education, medicine, social policy, and the family, and explores the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexuality in individual lives and social institutions.
Throughout the semester, we will “question gender” in multiple ways: Why has gender been an organizing principle of society? How do “gendered scripts” for dress and behavior emerge in different societies and historical periods? How do we explain the sexual division of labor and the unequal status of women and those activities and roles deemed “feminine” in society? How does gender intersect with power and authority? What factors contribute to the formation and success of movements for and against gender equality and fluidity? Can we imagine a future in which we largely ignore gender or envision gender and sexuality in more expansive, fluid, or egalitarian ways?
This semester you will become acquainted with many of the critical questions and concepts feminist scholars have developed as tools for thinking about gendered experience. In addition, we will explore the complex ways in which gender interacts with class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and age within various spheres and institutions of society. Reading materials include classic and contemporary women’s and gender studies texts, as well as political documents and personal narratives of gendered lives. WGS. 101 readings include scholarship from a variety of disciplines, including history, African-American studies, queer studies, literature, sociology, and psychology. Course topics include: the first and second waves of American women’s/gender rights activism, and gender issues in relation to the law, socialization, education, work, health and reproduction, sexuality, families, and globalization. Through successfully completing this course, students will be better prepared to participate in and contribute effectively to the larger public conversation about the role of gender in society, to apply the critical tools of women’s and gender studies in their academic, personal and occupational lives, and to take more advanced classes in this field. As a Communication-Intensive course, Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies provides a supportive context for students to improve their oral and written communication skills. Major written assignments in the course ask students to analyze closely the rhetoric of political and literary texts within their historical contexts, apply theories of gendered psychological development, and engage with contemporary debates in the field. An oral presentation assignment, together with class discussions, enables students to connect theoretical debates and historical themes to contemporary gender issues.
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to do the following:
- Understand and engage with central debates in the field of women’s and gender studies
- Engage with basic terms and concepts central to this field
- Employ a variety of methods of analyzing gender in society, drawing upon both primary and secondary sources
- Apply concepts and theories of women’s and gender studies to life experiences and historical events and processes
- Communicate effectively about gender issues in both writing and speech, drawing upon women’s and gender studies scholarship and addressing a public audience
Required Readings
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper (PDF). 1892. [Read for free at Project Gutenberg.]
Schneir, Miriam. Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. Vintage, 1994. ISBN: 9780679745082.
Evaluation/Grading
Student performance in the class is evaluated as follows:
- Attendance and participation, and short homework and in-class writing exercises (15%)
- Current event analysis oral presentation and write-up (2–3 pages) (10%)
- Short reflection on a Women and Gender Studies’ event/program (film, lecture, reading) (5%)
- Three major writing assignments (70%)
The first version of Essay #1 is commented on and letter-graded. The revision of Essay #1 will also be letter-graded; the revision letter grade will count twice that of the first version. The second and third essays (which do not entail revision) are also letter-graded. There is no final exam in the course; the third and final major assignment is due by the end of the last day of the semester.
Attendance / Participation / Homework Assignments / Classroom Community
To foster a sense of intellectual community, this course is structured in a format that blends lecture and discussion. It is crucial that students come to class on time, with required texts, well prepared to offer thoughtful responses to the assigned readings. To be effective as class participants, students need to complete reading and writing tasks by the assigned dates.
A vital, ongoing intellectual conversation—which actively questions the meaning of gender in society—is at the heart of the course. Many issues that we address in the course are controversial, and students may have or voice very different viewpoints. It is critical that we acknowledge and respect one another’s experiences and perspectives so that our classroom is a safe and supportive space to converse productively across our differences.
Since our class functions as an intellectual community, it is essential that students attend class faithfully. More than two unexcused absences may affect the final grade; a student cannot pass the course with over five unexcused absences. Three latenesses—or early departures —count as an absence. If a student must miss class or cannot submit an assignment on time due to a personal problem or illness, such as COVID, that student should email or phone me (or have a dean contact me) as soon as possible. In the case of absence, it is the student’s responsibility to contact a classmate about class material and obtain any handouts or assignments that were distributed.
Active participation in both large and small group discussion is necessary to receive full credit for the attendance and participation component of the final grade (15%). Homework assignments, together with in-class writing exercises, also count for part of this grade.
Policy on Electronic Devices in Classroom
Everyone in our classroom community has an equal right to a distraction-free educational environment, which is most conducive to teaching and learning. The unnecessary use of electronic devices in the classroom (“multitasking”) is distracting and unfair to other students and the instructors. Therefore, please only use laptops when we are engaged in common work in the classroom; silence and store cellphones out of sight during class.
