Course Materials

Core Courses

  • WMGS 100:11 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
  • WMGS 100:12 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

This course will offer an overview of Women's and Gender Studies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will study the development of feminist movements and will examine how concepts of race, class, sexuality and ability intersect in shaping colonialism, sexual and reproductive health, violence, family relations, paid and unpaid labour, political systems and poverty. The course will consider the relationship between the local and the global through discussion of such topics as popular culture, consumerism and environmentalism. Credit will be granted for only one of WMGS 100 and WMGS 200. Six credits.

  • WMGS 205 - Gender, Sexuality and the Body

This course focuses on the ways that all bodies are sexualized and gendered in Western philosophical thought, biomedicine and science. Topics include Western binaries (man/woman, form/matter, mind/body), the sociocultural processes through which bodies are sexualized, the biological/medical sciences and objectivity, a critique of the dual sex model from the perspective of transfeminist theory and bodily transformations and normalizations (including cosmetic surgery, monstrosity and disability, and the feminist debate about female genital surgeries). Three credits.

  • WMGS 232 – Gender and Popular Culture

This course will introduce a ragne of topics within the broad field of gender and popular culture as well as how to study and critique genres of popular culture. Begining with questions, "What is cultural studies?" and "Why is it important to study popular culture?" we move on to study a range of pop culture media, including music, television, film, video games and graphic novels/memoirs through this methodological and theoretical lens. Three credits.

 

  • WMGS 299 – Selected Topics in Women's and Gender Studies I

Three credits.

  • WMGS 303 - Feminist Theory

This course examines various directions feminists have taken in studying women's experiences and the construction of gender. Students will learn how these theoretical approaches have influenced feminist research and critical practice. The course will include early feminist thought as well as contemporary feminist theory. Prerequisites: WMGS 100 or permission of the Instructor or Co-ordinator. Three credits.

  • WMGS 395 - Selected Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies I

Course content changes from year to year and may reflect faculty involvement in a specific area of research. Three credits.

  • WMGS 399 - Selected Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies II

Prerequisite: WMGS 100. Three credits.

  • WMGS 400 - Research Methods Seminar

This course focuses on understanding inequality from an academic perspective, and seeks to do so through understanding grassroots activism and movements for social change. This course is designed to combine feminist theories with feminist activist work, allowing students to learn from how feminism looks as gender challenges are enacted in homes, workplaces and political spaces. Students will examine research regarding social change through a feminist lens, and will gain field-based knowledge through placement with an organization, community group or service. Six credits.

Cross-listed Courses

WMGS 210/SOCI 210 - Sociology of Marriage and the Family

This course analyzes the institution of the family from a sociological perspective. Attention is given to macro and micro levels of analysis. Statistical profiles of family patterns are employed to illuminate change in family structure over the past century. Topics include marriage, fertility, parenting, family violence, divorce, and family policy. Six credits.

WMGS 215/SOCI 215 - Race, Class, Gender, and Sex

This course discusses the interconnected realities of race, class, gender, and sex from various sociological perspectives. Substantive topics will include the socially constructed nature of these concepts in places like media, and the experiences of classism, sexism and racism in the workplace, schools, and everyday life. Six credits.

WMGS 229/ENGL 229 - Women in English Literature

A survey of women writers in their historical contexts. The course will involve the study and discussion of poems, stories, novels, plays, and other literary forms by or about women. Six credits.

WMGS 317/HIST 317 - Canadian Women's and Gender History: From Colony to Nation

This course introduces students to major themes in the field of Canadian women's and gender history. Covering the period from the late 16th century to the late 19th century, the course examines the historical development of women's roles, experiences, identities and gender relations. Particular attention is given in this course to the impact of colonialism, and the intersection of gender, race, economic/class status, and Indigenous/non-Indigenous status in shaping women's work, family roles, sexuality, political engagement and activism. Credit will be granted for only one of WMGS 317 and WMGS 308. Three credits.

WMGS 318/HIST 318 - Canadian Women's and Gender History: Modernity
 
This course introduces students to major themes in the field of Canadian women's and gender history. Covering the period from the late 19th century to the late 20th century, the course examines the historical development of women's roles, experiences, identities and gender relations. Particular attention is given to theinersection of gender, race, economic/class status, and Indigenous/non-Indigenous status in shaping women's work, family roles, sexuality, political engagement and activism. Credit will be granted for only one of WMGS 318 and WMGS 308. Three credits.

 

WMGS 310/SOCI 310 - Gender

This course will examine the origin and persistence of gender-based inequalities in our society and their impact on personal lives. Biological, psychological, economic, and cultural analyses of male-female social relations will be considered. Six credits.

WMGS 311/SOCI 311 - Men and Masculinities

A critical review of the ‘science’ of masculinity and recent theoretical developments on the social construction of men’s lives and masculinities. Topics include male gender role socialization; the role social institutions play in shaping masculinities; masculinity politics, men’s movements, and social change. Three credits.

WMGS 323/RELS 323 - Mary and the Identity of Women

An examination of Mary in the New Testament and the development of ideas concerning her status as Mother of God. Students will explore depictions of Mary in art and literature, and examine the ways these images have both shaped and reflected ideas about women. The continuing devotion to Mary in the modern world, including ongoing interest in Marian shrines, apparitions, and movements will be discussed. Three credits.

WMGS 324/ANTH 324 - Anthropology of Gender

From a cross-cultural perspective and using examples from physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology and socio-cultural anthropology, students will explore various questions such as: Can the differences observed between men and women be best explained by biology or culture? What factors explain the subordination of women found in many societies around the world? How are political, economic and symbolic powers acquired and used by men and women in cultural contexts around the world? Prerequisites: ANTH 110 or ANTH 111 and 112 or WMGS 100 or 200 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

WMGS 325/RELS 325 - Early Christian Women

The course investigates women's participation in early Christian groups from the time of Jesus' ministry to the 6th century. Christian women's lives will be compared to those of women in Jewish and Greco-Roman societies. Students will analyze New Testament and other early Christian writings, read feminist scholarship, and examine such issues as women's leadership and violence against women. Three credits.

WMGS 326/ANTH 326 - Issues in the Anthropology of Kinship

This course explores current themes and debates about the constitution of families cross culturally. It will examine topics such as: cultural understandings of kinship; historical transformations of kinship systems; current reconfigurations of marriage; partnering strategies; new reproductive technologies; transnational adoption; intra-familial conflict; the role of kinship for individuals and in societies; and the influence of the state on kin patterns. Course material will include ethnographic examples from around the world. Prerequisites: ANTH 110 or ANTH 111 and 112, or WMGS 100 or 200 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

WMGS 329/ENGL 329 - Studies in Women Writers I: Feminisms and their Literatures

An introduction to feminist theories within historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts, this course explores the relationship between feminist theories and literary texts that exemplify or extend them. Prerequisite: 9 credits ENGL. Three credits.

WMGS 330/ENGL 330 - Studies in Women Writers II: Genres, Cultures, and Contexts

An exploration of women's writing in its cultural context. Prerequisite: 9 credits ENGL. Three credits.

WMGS 332/HKIN 332 - Gender in Sport and Physical Activity

Explores the role of women and men in sport/physical activity/recreation from an historical, philosophical and social perspective. This covers sexuality, homophobia, racism, politics of difference and identity predominately from a Canadian philosophical approach. Three credits.

WMGS 333/HIST 332 - The Medieval Body

This class explores late medieval conceptions of the physical body, which were always essential to identity in the Middle Ages. Medieval discussions of the practice of reading, clothing and fashion and even spiritual union with God, often involved debates and metaphors based upon the physical body. Through an exploration of primary and secondary texts along with seminar discussions, the class will explore the interconnectedness of late medieval ideas of corporeality, identity, spirituality and sexuality. Three credits.

WMGS 345/PSCI 345 - Women and Politics

An introduction to the study of women and politics, this course has three parts: feminist political thought and the Canadian women's movement; political participation and representation; and public policy. Topics include feminist political thought in the Western political tradition; the evolution and politics of the women's movement; political parties and legislatures; women and work; women and the welfare state. Three credits.

WMGS 360/PSYC 360 - Psychology of Gender

This lecture course explores the development of gender roles and gender differences in behaviours and abilities. Prerequisite: 12 credits PSYC. Six credits.

WMGS 364/NURS 364 - Social Justice and Health

Examines the relationship between injustice and health outcomes nationally and globally. Core social justice ideas are analyzed, including the cycle of oppression, distinctions between equality and equity, and achievement of human rights as an ethical imperative. Modern and historical contexts are explored in key justice related areas: corporatization of health care; policy-created poverty; worldwide water crisis; links between planetary health and human health; and global conflict as a key driver of injustice. Learning includes analysis of selected award winning films. Three credits.

WMGS 365/NURS 365 - Gender and Health

This course examines theoretical concepts relevant to gender and health. The broad determinants of health, sexuality, reproductive health and fertility, common diseases, substance abuse, violence and culture are examined from a gender perspective. Strategies for promoting holistic health and preventing disease will be examined. Three credits.

WMGS 367/BSAD 367 - Current Challenges: Women in Management

Reviews the recent growth of women managers in today's organizational world. Students examine gender roles in organizations and identify some of the barriers women experience in reaching the top. The course explores the systemic discrimination facing women, and presents potential management models for women and men. Prerequisite: BSAD 261. Three credits.

WMGS 370/HIST 360 - European Women’s History

This course examines major issues in the history of women in Europe from the pre-industrial era to the present. Themes to be covered include gender as a tool for historical analysis; the changing participation of women in the work force and in revolutionary and in reform movements; transformations in the domestic sphere; widening educational opportunities; and women in imperialism and global movements. Gender roles are dynamic and are the outcome of particular historical processes; students in the course will learn how historians untangle implications about a myriad and gendered identities based on the evidence of historical records. Three credits.

WMGS 378/PSYC 378 – Human Sexuality

This course provides a broad introduction to research and theory in human sexuality. It includes examination of fundamental topics such as the nature of human sexuality and contemporary issues. Specific topics include historical perspective, theories of sexuality, sex research, sexual anatomy, sexual variation, sexual response, gender, sexual dysfunction and sex therapy. Prerequisites: 12 credits PSYC. Three credits.

WMGS 397/RELS 315 - Women in Hinduism and Buddhism

This course examines diverse images of the feminine, both human and divine, in the philosophy, mythology and experience of women in Hinduism and the Buddhism of India and Tibet. It concentrates on the roles of Hindu and Buddhist women by means of historical and phenomenological approaches, and it promotes reflection on the interaction of gender, culture and religious identity in these societies as well as in our own. Prerequisites: RELS 110 or 100 or WMGS 100. Three credits.

WMGS 398/HIST 398 - Themes in the History of Sexuality

A comparative study of the history of sexuality during the modern period from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Following a broadly chronological and thematic approach to a diverse history of sexualities, the course will explore in particular the changing meanings of and interconnections between sexuality, race, class and gender. Topics will include: indigenous sexual cultures; sexuality and colonialism; inter-racial sexual relationships; the ‘invention of heterosexuality’; moral panics, prostitution, the regulation of sexual desire; and sexual subcultures. Three credits.

WMGS 411/RELS 401 - Religious Approaches to Sexuality

Human sexuality is explored from two main perspectives: first, the teachings and practices of various religious traditions; and second, contemporary developments in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Among the issues to be considered are sexuality and gender roles, contraception and abortion, marriage and family. Prerequisites: RELS 110 or WMGS 100 or 200. Three credits.

WMGS 412/RELS 402 - Religious Approaches to Sexual Diversity

This course will focus on religious teachings and traditions on sexual diversity within the broader context of human rights associated with sexual orientation and sexual differences. In particular, we will look at the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersexual and transgendered persons within religious communities. Prerequisites: RELS 110 or WMGS 100. Three credits.

WMGS 417/SOCI 417 - Social Difference: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sex and Ability

Explores current theories of social difference and the personal, social, economic, and political effects of these differences in Canadian, western and international contexts. Topics include oppression, resistance, identity politics and discourse theory. Starting with the question "What differences do some differences make?" The class will examine how issues of difference become relations of dominance. Prerequisite: SOCI 215. Three credits.

WMGS 424/SOCI 424 - Women and Work

The course will focus on feminist analyses of women's paid and unpaid work in 20th-century Canada, though historical and cross-cultural perspectives will be addressed. Topics include race, class, and ability; pay equity, affirmative action, sexual harassment; women in family enterprises; domestic labour, the division of labour in the home, and mother work. Prerequisite: SOCI 310 recommended. Three credits.