WOMENS STUDIES | 2003 Undergraduate Catalogue of Courses

WOMENS STUDIES

Level 1

WS 1005 - WOMEN, POWER AND SOCIETY, 1800 - 1918
WS 1504 - THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER: FEMININITY AND FAMILY

WS 1005 - WOMEN, POWER AND SOCIETY, 1800 - 1918

Credit Points: 20
Course Coordinator: Dr O Walsh

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

Why did women have to wait till 1928 to get the vote on the same terms as men? Where does the ‘double standard’ come from? Why were women – and their children – seen as the property of men for so long? And who said ‘a women’s place is in the home’? This course attempts to answer such questions by looking at women’s lives in and around the nineteenth century, when institutions like the church, education, law and parliament established controls which not only shaped women’s lives, their education and their work, but the very meaning of the word ‘woman’. The course therefore provides a historical context for the study of women’s position in society today. The course encourages independent and flexible learning through the use of Information Technology.
2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial and 1 hour of directed resource-based study.
1 two-hour written examination (50%) and continuous assessment: Essay (30%); Tutorial Assessment Mark (10%); Group Project (10%).

WS 1504 - THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER: FEMININITY AND FAMILY

Credit Points: 20
Course Coordinator: Ms L Watson

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

This course involves study of how ideas about the feminine and the masculine are evolved and communicated in our society, and of key aspects of the roles which women adopt in their domestic lives, and the implications of these roles for other aspects of women’s experience.
3 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.
1 two-hour written examination (50%) and continuous assessment: 2 essays (50%).

Level 2

WS 2001 - GENDERING VIOLENCE
WS 2503 - REVOLTING WOMEN: GENDER, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE 20TH CENTURY

WS 2001 - GENDERING VIOLENCE

Credit Points: 30
Course Coordinator: Dr J King

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

This inter-disciplinary course will challenge assumptions and myths surrounding men’s and women’s reaction to violence as spectacle, the reporting of sexual violence and women’s participation in violence. The course will begin with a cross-cultural overview, followed by an introduction to the range of methodologies that will be used to approach the course material. The course will also discuss the experience of researching and studying violence.
2 one-hour lectures and one-hour of resource-based study and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour written examination (50%), 1 essay (30%), group presentation (10%), tutorial assessment (10%).

WS 2503 - REVOLTING WOMEN: GENDER, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Credit Points: 30
Course Coordinator: Dr O Walsh

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

Revolting Women: Gender, Culture and Politics in the Twentieth Century traces the history of the women’s movement in the last century, ending with recent debates about post-feminism. It studies some of the most important figures in the movement within their social context, the discusses their influences at the broader cultural level.
2 one-hour lectures and one-hour of directed research and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour written examination (50%) and continuous assessment: essay (30%); tutorial assessment mark (10%); group project (10%).

Level 3

WS 3003 - THE FEMALE ICON

WS 3003 - THE FEMALE ICON

Credit Points: 30
Course Coordinator: Dr J King

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Overview

This course examines the role female icons have played in imposing images of femininity on women and/or offering empowering images of women. These icons will include historical figures such as Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I, and twentieth-century figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. They will be studied in their historical and cultural contexts, and analysed from a number of perspectives, including those of art history, history, religious studies, sociology and film studies. The course will, therefore, introduce students to key feminist theories, as well as giving them the opportunity to study a range of important female images. As part of the course, students will be taught how to access information from the World Wide Web, and how to present it on their own Website.
1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar.
1 two-hour written examination (40%), continuous assessment: essay (40%), project (20%).

Level 4

WS 4502 - DISSERTATION IN WOMEN’S STUDIES

WS 4502 - DISSERTATION IN WOMEN’S STUDIES

Credit Points: 30
Course Coordinator: Dr O Walsh

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours taking a Combined Honours programme in Women’s studies students.

Overview

A dissertation of 10,000 words on a subject to be decided in consultation with the course co-ordinator, to be researched and written (under supervision by a member of the Women’s Studies Group) during Senior Honours.
Individual supervision over 12 weeks.
Dissertation (100%).