Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Gender Issues: Terms and Debates

• Unit Code

  CSV3105

• Year

  2016

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  1

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  Online

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Description

This unit approaches the study of gender both as an academic practice and as a feature of our everyday lives. The unit introduces students to many of the terms used in the analysis of gender, and to a range of understandings of how gender is produced. It introduces students to ways of reading and ways of seeing gender in visual and written texts, and provides an overview of some of the most influential recent writing on gender issues, terms and debates. It begins with an overview of the international situation and an exploration of the history of feminist activism in twentieth century Australia as background to an understanding of the analysis of gender issues in contemporary society.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

Offshore delivery.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Analyse ways of reading the action of gender in our lives.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the links between women's activism nationally and internationally, and the contemporary study of gender.
3. Describe how ways of seeing are entwined with producing gendered identities and meanings.
4. Develop an overview of contemporary writing on gender and bodies.
5. Develop an overview of the range and complexity of the different discourses which contribute to the field of contemporary gender studies.
6. Discuss how gender operates in the immediate context of our everyday lives.
7. Discuss the history and meanings of many of the terms used in the analysis of gender.

Unit Content

1. Ways of talking and ways of thinking: terms and discourses used in contemporary gender studies.
2. Ways of seeing: processes of stereotyping; the formation of identification and desire through seeing; looking at cultural texts.
3. The history of feminist activism in twentieth century Australia.
4. Ways of reading: reading gender in texts; being positioned as gendered readers; analysing gendered discourse.
5. Gender Studies: Ways of being and Ways of living.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, workshops, and discussions; print and audio visual media.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

^ Mandatory to Pass

Text References

• ^ Wharton, A.S. (2012). The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. 2^nd edition. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Brettel B.C. & Sargent, F.C. (Eds). (2013). Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. 6^th edition. NJ: Pearson.
• Kenschaft, L. Clark, R, & Ciambrone, D. (2016). Gender inequality in our changing world: a comparative approach. New York: Routledge 
• Krolokke, C. & Sorensen, A.S. (2006). Three Waves of Feminism: From Suffragettes to Grrls. In C. Krolokke & A.S. Sorensen, Gender Communication Theories and Analyses (pp. 1-23). London: Sage Publications Inc.
• Launius, C. & Hassel, H. (2015). Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies: Way of Seeing, Thinking and Knowing.  New York: Routledge.
• Lips, M.H. (2014). Gender: The Basics. New York: Routledge.
• Rahman, M. & Jackson S. (2010). Gender & Sexuality: Sociological Approaches. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Rivers, C. & Barnett, C.R. (2013). The Truth About Girls and Boys: Challenging Toxic Stereotypes About Our Children. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Robinson, V., & Richardson, D. (Eds). (2015). Introducing gender and women’s studies. 4^th edition. New York: Palgrave
• Saunders, K. & Evans, R. (Eds). (1992). Gender Relations in Australia: Domination and Negotiation. Sydney: HBJ.  Note: Seminal Reference.
• Venker, S. & Schlafly, P. (2010). The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know - and Men Can't Say. Washington DC: Worldnet Daily.
• Wolpert, L. (2015). Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?: The Evolution of Sex and Gender. London: Faber & Faber Non Fiction.

^ Mandatory reference

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