Introduction to Women's Studies
Overview of sociocultural, political, institutional and theoretical approaches to, and historical, philosophical and literary foundations of the study of women's lives.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Classic and Contemporary Discourses in Women's Studies
Issues-based approach to the gender-intersected character of society and culture from women's perspectives within a variety of feminist theoretical frameworks.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Women Thinkers in Western History
(also offered as HIST 2P05)
Key women thinkers, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beavoir, examined in historical context emphasizing European and British intellectuals; nature and special problems associated with studying "women's history."
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Sexualities and Society
(also offered as SOCI 2P20)
Topics may include the structuring of sexual identities, sexuality and inequality, legal and social regulation of sexuality, social justice issues.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in BIRT guide.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 1F90, 2P00, SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies or Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Sociology of Families
(also offered as SOCI 2P21)
Family patterns including gender roles and the dynamics of family change and development. Topics include marriage and family issues, gender role socialization and change, dual careers, alternative lifestyles, gender roles in cross-cultural perspective, and marital and family relationships past, present and future.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90, SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies or Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in CHYS 3P38.
Women in the Ancient World
(also offered as CLAS 2P61)
Women's social roles, environment and legal rights including conceptions o f the female and ideals of women. Consideration given to women from other parts of the Mediterranean such as Etruria, Egypt and the Near East, with the main focus on women in Greek and Roman society. Special emphasis on the nature and limitations of the various types of evidence available.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Women in the Economy
(also offered as CANA 2P86, ECON 2P86, LABR 2P86 and SOCI 2P86)
Women in the Canadian labour market. Topics include allocation of time between the household and labour market, gender segregation in the work place, how earnings are determined, causes of occupational and earning difference by gender, role of investment in education and discrimination, recent developments in the labour market and their impact on women and men, and selected policy issues.
Lectures, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: students must have a minimum of 4.0 overall credits.
Women's Issues: Sexuality, Class, Ethnicity
(also offered as SOCI 2P90)
Diverse theoretical perspectives on the intersecting locations of women in terms of sexuality, class, ethnicity and other expressions of social inequality. Classic feminist perspectives as applied to these issues and related social policies.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in WISE 2F90.
The Status of Women: Historical Perspectives
Status of women within Western societies from Neolithic times to 20th-century traditional histories. Feminist and postcolonial perspectives on the development of feminist consciousness through analysis of lives and literary remains.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Women in World Literature
Feminist perspectives on representations of women throughout Western literature by men and women. Barriers to women's writings and analyses of current writings in English by women from diverse, often marginalized backgrounds.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Women Writers to 1830
(also offered as ENGL 2P94)
Prose, poetry and drama by women from the 14th to the early 19th century including such writers as Margery Kempe, Katherine Philips, Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Jane Austen.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: one ENGL credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.
Women Writers
(also offered as ENGL 2P95)
Prose, poetry, drama and novels by women from the Victorian period to the present.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: one ENGL credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.
Women and Development
(also offered as INTL 2P96 and SOCI 2P96)
Examination of the major social consequences of the theoretical paradigms of development (economic development, sustainable development and women/gender in development), theoretical material, practical knowledge and debates on diverse experiences of women living in the non-industrial world using femininist perspectives.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90 or permission of the instructor.
The Mythical Woman in Legend and Religion
Status of women and representations of females within Western myth and mainstream religion from Neolithic to contemporary times using feminist frameworks and methodologies. Links between culture, law, education and tradition. Feminist critiques of religious symbolism.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Canadian Women in a Global Context
(also offered as INTL 2P99 and SOCI 2P99)
Social, political, economic and cultural issues. Topics may include rights of Aboriginal women, reproductive rights and ethics, marginalization of immigrant women, activist movements, and the impact and inadequacy of government policy.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90 or permission of the instructor.
Mothering and Motherhood: Images, Issues and Patterns
(also offered as SOCI 2Q90)
Motherhood as it is theorized/analyzed in interdisciplinary feminist scholarship and portrayed in women's fictional or autobiographical writings and art forms. The historical, socio-cultural, psychological, political and racial differences of mothering and motherhood roles, class, cultural, and racial differences in mothering and motherhood.
Lectures, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or SOCI 1F90.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in WISE (SOCI) 2V99.
Women in North America
(also offered as HIST 2Q95)
Major themes in the history of women in Canada and the United States: native and European women in New France and British North America; women in the American Revolution; the lives of enslaved women; women and industrialization; women in the west; suffrage and social reform; women and the two World Wars; feminism in the 1960s and 1970s.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Women in the Pre-Modern World
(also offered as HIST 2Q96)
Women's lives before 1800; how women's experience of historical phenomena differed from that of men; special problems in studying "women's history."
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Selected Topics in Women's Studies
Topics selected on the basis of faculty expertise.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or 2P00.
Special Topics in Women's Studies
Topics selected on the basis of faculty expertise.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90 or permission of the instructor.
Sociology of Women, Work and Family
(also offered as LABR 3P30 and SOCI 3P30)
Examination of the transformation of women's paid labour force involvement, and evaluation of personal and public strategies to address the paid labour force work/family conflict.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE, LABR and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 1F90, 2P00, LABR 1F90 (1P91 and 1P92), SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies and Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Directed Studies I
Guided readings on a topic that is not covered in the program's regular course offerings.
Restriction: consult the Director regarding permission to register. Students must have a minimum of 8.0 overall credits.
Note: topics must be chosen in consultation with a faculty member willing to supervise the tutorial. A faculty supervisor must be confirmed prior to registration.
Directed Studies II
Guided readings on a topic that is not covered in the program's regular course offerings.
Restriction: consult the Director regarding permission to register. Students must have a minimum of 8.0 overall credits.
Note: topics must be chosen in consultation with a faculty member willing to supervise the tutorial. A faculty supervisor must be confirmed prior to registration.
Women and Leisure
(also offered as RECL 3P43)
Feminist critique of leisure theory. Women's leisure explored from an ecological perspective. The ways that women's leisure influences and is influenced by the various domains of their environments (social, political, cultural, physical, historical, psychological and biological).
Lectures, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: RECL 2P11, WISE 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Gender and Sexuality in Childhood and Youth
(also offered as CHYS 3P44 and SOCI 3P44)
Historical, cross-cultural, and sociological approaches to the development of gender identities and sexuality amongst children and adolescents. Topics include the role of families, schools, peers and state policies.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE, CHYS BA/BEd, CHYS (single or combined) and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. Students must have a minimum of 8.0 overall credits.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 2P90, 2P91, CHYS 2P38, SOCI 2P11 and 2P13 (2F10).
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies and Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned credit in WISE (CHYS/SOCI) 3P92.
Gender and Environment
(also offered as ENVI 3P49 and TOUR 3P49)
Theoretical perspectives on feminism and ecophilosophies such as ecofeminism, deep ecology and social ecology. Implications for local, national and global policy.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE, ENVI and TOUR majors and ENVI certificate students.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 2P90, 2P91, ENVI 1P90 and 1P91 or permission of the instructor.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Centre for the Environment.
Gender and Society
(also offered as SOCI 3P51)
Gender as an organizing principle in society. The social construction of masculinity and femininity will be addressed from historical and cross-cultural perspectives. Focus on gender in principal institutions of Canadian society: economy, state, family, education and military. Issues include men and women in non-traditional occupations, women in the military, gender and power.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90, SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies and Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Women and Aging
(also offered as SOCI 3P58)
Examination of women's socially constructed experience of aging. Topics may include older women and poverty, aging women and the labour market, ageism and women, violence against older women, older women and disability.
Lectures, seminars 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and SOCI (single or combined) majors or minors until date specified in the BIRT guide.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90, SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Note: SOCI 2P57 is recommended. Students minoring in Women's Studies and Sociology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Gender Issues in Teaching and Learning
(also offered as EDUC 3P60)
Theoretical and practical aspects of feminist engagement with pedagogic processes within/against both traditional and alternative educational contexts; examination of levels and components of education from a variety of feminist theoretical perspectives; pedagogic and political consequences of ideology critique and alternative practices.
Lectures, seminar 3 hours per week.
Gender and Society in Ancient Greece
(also offered as CLAS 3P61)
Gender as an organizing principle in Archaic and Classical Greece. Emphasis on ancient constructions of femininity and masculinity and their relationships to the social, political and legal systems of Greece. Special topics include the body, sexuality, male and female identities.
Lectures, seminars, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 1F90, WISE 2P61, CLAS 1P91 or permission of the instructor.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in WISE (CLAS) 2P61.
Health Issues for Women and Girls
Feminist analysis of definitions and dimensions of "health", socio-cultural influences on perceptions of health, and sites of cognitive and social control regarding health.
Lectures, seminar 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. Students must have a minimum of 6.0 overall credits.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Centre for Women's Studies.
Gender and Politics
(also offered as POLI 3P71)
Theoretical and practical issues in the relationships among gender, sex and politics, such as sexual equality, and its nature and implications for public and private life.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or one POLI credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.
Women in Politics
(also offered as POLI 3P72)
Women's participation and influence in the political institutions, processes and policies of modern states emphasizing contemporary Canada.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or one POLI credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.
Geography and Gender
(also offered as COMM 3P74 and GEOG 3P74)
Work of feminist geographers. Relationships between gender and space with respect to the organization of the city, architecture of the home, design of the shopping mall, the media, fear, homelessness, gentrification and employment.
Lectures, seminar, 4 hours per week.
Prerequisites: one of WISE 2P90, 2P91, COMM 2P20 and 2P21, GEOG 2P02, 2P03, 2P06 or permission of the instructor.
Women Writers of France
(also offered as FREN 3P86)
Texts chosen from various genres. Authors may include M. de France, M. de Navarre, Sévigné, Sand, Colette, de Beauvoir, Duras, Yourcenar.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisites: FREN 2F00 and 2F03.
Contemporary Feminist Thought
Intersections of contemporary and feminist theories as applied to the critical analysis of such issues as pornography, sexuality, humour, work, social inequities, intimacy and identity politics. Controversies and debates among feminists around the world.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90 or permission of the instructor.
Contemporary Feminist Research Methods
Influence of various feminist and contemporary theoretical orientations on methodologies of cultural, political and rhetorical analysis, and critique. Relationships between theory and research methods, and intersections of feminist theories with traditional practices in the process of developing potential research projects.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 3P90 or permission of the instructor.
Gender and Language
(also offered as LING 3P93)
Survey of major debates concerning language, gender and power in the 20th century.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Experiential Learning in Women's Studies
Critically and creatively linking, and articulating academic and practical learning experiences in the context of theoretically grounded analysis of volunteer work through participatory pedagogy.
Seminar, 3 hours alternating weeks; community placements.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90 (2F90) or permission of the instructor.
Women, Men and the Body
(also offered as PEKN 3P96)
Critical and reflective examination of historical, philosophical, socio-cultural and religious influences on the body from a variety of feminist perspectives.
Lectures, tutorial, lab, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: WISE 1F90 or PEKN (PHED) 1P93 or permission of the instructor.
Note: experiential work (somatic, movement, expressive) is part of the course experience.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in PHED 3P96.
Gender and Film
(also offered as COMM 3P97 and FILM 3P97)
Gendered narratives in classical Hollywood cinema to the late 1950's emphasizing on film constructions of femininity and masculinity, and the implications of spectatorship and ideology within classical film.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week, plus weekly film lab.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 2P91, FILM 2F90, 2P20 and 2P21, or permission of the instructor.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in FILM 3F97.
Screened Women
(also offered as COMM 3P98 and FILM 3P98)
Woman-centred films from early to contemporary cinema by women directors from different countries, contextualized in issues of feminist film theory and paradigm shifts in female representations, ideology and spectatorship.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week, plus weekly film lab.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 2P91, FILM 2F90, FILM 2P20 and 2P21, or permission of the instructor.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in FILM 3F97.
Psychology of Women
(also offered as PSYC 3R90)
Social, personal and political implications of gender. Topics include theoretical perspectives on the study of gender differences, stereotypes, sexuality, biological influences, as well as issues related to achievement, intimacy, mental and physical health, power and justice.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and PSYC (single or combined) majors until date specified in BIRT guide. Students must have a minimum of 8.0 overall credits or 3.0 PSYC credits above PSYC 1F90.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1F90.
Note: students minoring in Women's Studies and Psychology may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Psychology Department.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned credit in WISE (PSYC) 2P93.
Special Topics in Women's Studies
Topics selected on the basis of faculty expertise.
Prerequisite: WISE 2P90.
Honours Thesis
Independent research project under the supervision of a faculty adviser. Directed studies tutorial.
Restriction: open to WISE majors with approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisites: WISE 3P90 and 3P91.
Co-requisite: WISE 4P91.
Note: provisional registration only. Students contemplating a thesis should consult with the Director at the end of year 3 and must submit a detailed proposal in writing before May 15, prior to entering year 4.
Honours Seminar
Facilitation of individual thesis proposals including the development of a research question, review of relevant literature and integration of theoretical orientations with methodological applications.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: consult the Director regarding permission to register.
Prerequisites: WISE 3P90 and 3P91.
Co-requisite: WISE 4F90.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in WISE 4P91.
Latin American Women's Perspectives
(also offered as SPAN 4P01)
Cultural production of Latin American women and their impact on society; wide selection of media including testimonial writing, oral history, narrative, drama, poetry, visual arts, music. Innovations in popular and literary culture allowing women to rearticulate relationships of power. Authors may include, Boullosa, Kahlo, Navarro,Parra and Piñón.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: one of WISE 1F90, SPAN 2P20 and 2P21 (2F00 or 2F10) or permission of the instructor.
Note: given in English. Spanish majors complete written assignments and exams in Spanish.
Advanced Seminar in the Sociology of Work
(also offered as LABR 4P32 and SOCI 4P32)
Theoretical and research developments in the sociology of work. Topics may include the impact of technological innovation on the labour process, reconceptualizations of work and leisure, changes in the gendered nature of work, role of the contemporary labour movement, and international perspectives on labour and the labour force.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE, LABR and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. Students must have approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisites: two LABR or SOCI credits or permission of the instructor.
Note: SOCI 2P32 recommended. Students minoring in Women's Studies may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Directed Studies III
Guided readings on a topic that is not covered in the program's regular course offerings.
Restriction: consult the Director regarding permission to register. Students must have a minimum of 12.0 overall credits.
Note: topics must be chosen in consultation with a faculty member willing to supervise the tutorial. A faculty supervisor must be confirmed prior to registration.
Directed Studies IV
Guided readings on a topic that is not covered in the program's regular course offerings.
Restriction: consult the Director regarding permission to register. Students must have a minimum of 12.0 overall credits.
Note: topics must be chosen in consultation with a faculty member willing to supervise the tutorial. A faculty supervisor must be confirmed prior to registration.
Advanced Seminar in Gender and Society
(also offered as SOCI 4P51)
Selected issues in gender and society. Topics may include feminist theories, work, family, state, popular culture, race, militarism and violence.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE and SOCI (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. Students must have approval to year 4 (honours).
Prerequisites: two WISE or SOCI credits or permission of the instructor.
Note: SOCI 2P32 recommended. Students minoring in Women's Studies may register prior to date specified in BIRT guide. Contact the Sociology Department.
Women and Sport
(also offered as PEKN 4P95)
Historical and current issues relating to women's participation in sport. Influence of physiological, psychological and sociological factors on performance.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to WISE, BPhEd/BEd, BPhEd, BKin and BSc (Kin) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. Students must have a minimum of 13.0 overall credits.
Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade in PHED 4P95 and SPMA 4P95.