Gender and Women's Studies
The following modules are available to incoming Study Abroad
students interested in Gender and Women's Studies.
Alternatively you may return to the complete list of Study Abroad
Subject Areas.
GEN.101: Gender Studies: Identities, Inequalities and Politics
- Terms Taught:
- Full Year only
- Michaelmas Term only
- Lent / Summer Terms only
NOTE: If you are studying with us for a Full Academic Year and you select a course that has full year and part year variants, you will not be allowed to take only part of the course. - US Credits:
- Full Year course - 10 Semester Credits
- Michaelmas Term only - 4 Semester Credits
- Lent / Summer Terms only - 6 Semester Credits
- ECTS Credits:
- Full Year course - 20 ECTS Credits.
- Michaelmas Term only - 8 ECTS Credits
- Lent / Summer Terms only - 12 ECTS Credits
- Pre-requisites: None
Course Description
Have you ever wondered why women in Britain are paid, on average, 13% less than men? Why women's bodies are used in advertising? Do you think that class is a women's issue? Is being white simply about skin colour? Does the Law treat men and women in the same way? Are these questions relevant to the world we inhabit? This course explores such questions.
Educational Aims
This course aims to develop an understanding of a range of perspectives central to Gender Women's Studies, introducing students to some of the disciplines, main theoretical concepts, and most recent research involved in the field.
The course is divided into five main sections:
- Gender and social institutions;
- Women's movements;
- Cultural representations of gender;
- Identity and difference;
- Making bodies.
Students are encouraged to discuss these themes, drawing on their own experiences, as well as on reading.
Outline Syllabus
This course introduces some of the central concepts and issues in Women's Studies. We examine the history of Women's Studies as a discipline, and its relation to different kinds of feminist theories, focusing on the two themes of 'women, power and resistance', and 'women and difference'.
Particular areas covered include:
- The social organisation of gender relations
- The cultural representation of gender
- Constructions of gender identities
- Women and political organisations
Assessment Proportions
- Coursework: 60%
- Exam: 40%
SOCL314: Feminism and Social Change
- Terms Taught:
- Full Year only
- Michaelmas Term only
- Lent / Summer Terms only
NOTE: If you are studying with us for a Full Academic Year and you select a course that has full year and part year variants, you will not be allowed to take only part of the course. - US Credits:
- Full Year course - 8 Semester Credits
- Michaelmas Term only - 4 Semester Credits
- Lent / Summer Terms only - 4 Semester Credits
- ECTS Credits:
- Full Year course - 15 ECTS Credits
- Michaelmas Term only - 7.5 ECTS Credits
- Lent / Summer Terms only - 7.5 ECTS Credits
- Pre-requisites: Five semesters of sociology; two may be from cognate disciplines such as anthropology or social psychology.
Course Description
This challenging course investigates gender inequalities within society through a focus on historical and contemporary debates in feminist theory and activism. The course has an 'intersectional' focus that means we will consider gender inequalities as bound up with other forms of discrimination and marginalisation, particularly racial and ethnic inequalities, disability and social class.
The first term will challenge you to think about 'what feminism means today' through a consideration of key aspects of feminist thought and activism from the late 1960s onwards. We will consider ideas such as ‘the personal is political’, consciousness raising and the contemporary relevance of sexism. We will also consider feminist research practices and methods and the idea of work as liberation to prepare you to carry out an intergenerational interview on the theme of gender, work and social change. In the latter part of term 1 we will explore the Women’s Health Movement and explore contemporary feminist activism through current examples of everyday activism. In the second term we take the feminist manifesto as a central document which expresses lived experiences of gender inequalities and collective desire for social change and explore the contemporary resonance of ideas introduced in the first term through engaging with topics such as breast cancer activism, anti-feminist backlash, and black and cyborg feminisms.
Throughout the course we will interrogate social constructions of sex differences and consider how lived experiences of inequality are perpetuated. By the end of the course you will be familiar with some of the key debates within feminism today and be able to make connections between feminist theory and forms of feminist practice. This course will challenge you to interrogate your own assumptions about sexual difference and inequality and we expect you to take a full part in lively class discussion and debate. The course involves analysis of varied media including academic texts, advertising, art, film and news media.
Educational Aims
- To examine key concepts and theoretical approaches in contemporary feminist theory
- To develop core skills of critical scholarly analysis, evaluation, and interpretation
- To improve written and spoken expression, argumentation, criticism, and use of evidence
- To introduce and develop methodologies for interpreting visual and textual sources
- To develop confidence in scholarly reading and writing
Outline Syllabus
- Introduction: The Nature-Culture debate
- Gender
- What is Sex and Gender?
- Performativity
- Transgender
- Sustaining Feminisms - Women, Work and Class
- Essay Writing/Reading Week
- Sex Work/Prostitution, Migration and Trafficking
- Media and Body Image: Workshop
- Overview of the First Term
Assessment Proportions
