Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

This course provides an introduction to women’s and gender studies through the disciplines of social sciences, offering an understanding of gender in psychological, sociological, historical, anthropological, economic, and political contexts. 

Feminism and gender studies will provide the fundamental framework for understanding personal and social values, ethical decision-making, and social responsibility. The course will be grounded in feminist analysis as both a conceptual framework and as an interdisciplinary methodology.

The course will question individual and societal values and concepts of social responsibility by examining the changing roles, images, and institutions that define and reinforce our understandings of gender both nationally and globally. It will also examine the intersection of gender with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other markers of social identity and difference. The course will ask you to analyze how an interdisciplinary feminist approach conceptualizes the roles of women and men in society, as those roles manifest in communities and individual lives. 

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1.  Describe key events in the history of the feminist movement in the United States; 
2. Describe feminist methodology as a social science and social justice methodology; 
3. Identify ways in which diversity (the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality and other markers of social identity) function in societies, particularly in relation to systems of oppression and privilege; 
4. Recognize and apply the values, norms, and ideals that guide feminist interpretations of social, ethical, and moral issues (such as work, body image, or sexuality);
5. Demonstrate critical thinking skills applied to global and local issues such as universal suffrage, gender equity and racial equality, and reproductive rights;
6. Demonstrate how feminist social practices related to responsibility, accountability, and justice are oriented toward the development of ethical decision making and practice in their lives and the lives of others;
7. Develop feminist strategies for creating a more just and equitable society on both a national and global level.

Required Text

Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies, 1st Edition. 2021. Dawn M. Campbell, ed. Macmillan. (ISBN: 978-1-5339-4112-1); Other selected readings will be made available on Blackboard as needed.