Course
Discontinued
No
Course Code
SOCI 2240
Descriptive
Women in Society
Department
Sociology
Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Credits
3.00
Start Date
End Term
201720
PLAR
No
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Contact Hours
Lecture: 4 hrs. per week / semester
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Learning Activities
The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following: lectures, seminar discussions, video presentations, guest speakers and small group discussions.
Course Description
This course is a study of women in society, with emphasis on the dynamic relationship between their roles and the social structure. The course examines women's socialization as well as their relations to social institutions such as the family and the workplace. The course emphasizes the historical and contemporary diversity in the situations of women in Canada as well as in a contemporary global setting.
Course Content
- Introduction
- Gender, feminism, and women
- Socialization
- Women and language
- Women in the family
- Socialization, the Media and Sexuality
- Women's bodies
- Sexuality
- Women in the media
- Women and violence
- Women, Households and Work
- Historical evolution of women's work
- Domestic labour
- Women and the family
- Women in the paid workforce
- Women and poverty
- Theories of Gender Inequality
- Mainstream and liberal feminisms
- Radical & socialist feminisms
- Women of colour, minority women in Canada
- Women, Culture and Development
- Ethnic and cultural difference in Canada: women's experience
- Women and the global economy
- Women and Social Institutions
- Religion; women and the church
- Education
- Women and health care
- Feminist Futures
- The future of feminism
- Women: an assessment and prognosis for social change
Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:
- Compare different approaches to feminism, and provide examples of the ways in which these are implemented in social and political practice.
- Define gender socialization and discuss the processes and impacts of women's socialization by the media, the family and other forces.
- Discuss the structural explanations for women's institutional subordination in the family and the workplace.
- Identify historical changes in the situation of women, especially within the Canadian context.
- Explain comparative perspectives of the emergence and evolution of patriarchy.
- Compare different theoretical approaches to feminist theory.
- Discuss the evolution of women's work in the home and paid workplace, and comment on the progress as well as the limitations of these changes.
- Identify the major perspectives concerning women's role in family and household units.
- Explain the limitations of mainstream feminist theory within the changing Canadian cultural mosaic, and discuss the emergence of complementary and alternative approaches.
- Discuss the situation of Canadian women within the context of the global feminist movement.
- Evaluate the success of the feminist movement(s) with regards to the status of women, and consider the directions and potential for feminism in the future.
Means of Assessment
Evaluation will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific criteria during the first week of classes.
An example of a possible evaluation scheme would be:
| Exam 1 | 25% |
| Exam 2 | 20% |
| Exam 3 | 20% |
| Term Paper | 25% |
| Quiz | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
Textbook Materials
Texts will be updated periodically. Typical examples are:
- Margaret Andersen. Thinking About Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender, 3rd edition. New York: Macmillan, 1993.