WGS.101  Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

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, 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 CI-H 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 development, and engage with contemporary debates in the field. An oral presentation assignment, as well as class discussions, enable students to connect theoretical debates to contemporary issues of gender.