WMST 111 Introduction to Women's Studies: Women, Gender, and Society

An interdisciplinary study of the construction of gender and its intersection with race and class in the United States and around the world to create an oppressive and unethical gender system. Based primarily in sociology and the humanities, this course also draws on ethical theories in examining the impact of gender on society and on individual women and men, as well as women’s responses to a repressive gender system.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

Eligible to enroll in ENGL 121

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

1. Identify gender socialization, organize its harmful effects cross-culturally, and recognize that to treat a person in a discriminatory manner is to behave unethically.
2. Consider the role of gender socialization in sexual assault and other forms of violence against women and recognize feminist alternatives designed to oppose this unethical treatment of women.
3. Analyze and evaluate the harmful effects of sexism, racism, and homophobia/heterosexism – separately and combined – in women’s lives, through overt and covert discrimination and continued economic inequality.
4. In the context of historical dynamics of power, analyze and evaluate the values that inspire feminism’s pursuit of ethical equality, how they shape strategies for challenging unequal and unethical structures, and how these values resonate with one’s own core beliefs and values.
5. Use critical thinking skills to evaluate opposing arguments on controversial issues in sex and gender, as the leader of a small group discussion and in a research project.

Course Objectives

1. Identify gender socialization, organize its harmful effects cross-culturally, and recognize that to treat a person in a discriminatory manner is to behave unethically.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Test One weekly writing assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT1

   Ethics Goals

   • ET1
2. Consider the role of gender socialization in sexual assault and other forms of violence against women and recognize feminist alternatives designed to oppose this unethical treatment of women.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Test One weekly writing assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT2

   Ethics Goals

   • ET1
3. Analyze and evaluate the harmful effects of sexism, racism, and homophobia/heterosexism – separately and combined – in women’s lives, through overt and covert discrimination and continued economic inequality.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Test one, weekly writing assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric
   • Ethics rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT3

   Ethics Goals

   • ET2
   • ET3
4. In the context of historical dynamics of power, analyze and evaluate the values that inspire feminism’s pursuit of ethical equality, how they shape strategies for challenging unequal and unethical structures, and how these values resonate with one’s own core beliefs and values.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Tests one and two

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT3

   Ethics Goals

   • ET2
   • ET3
5. Use critical thinking skills to evaluate opposing arguments on controversial issues in sex and gender, as the leader of a small group discussion and in a research project.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Small group leadership and research project

   Critical Thinking

   • CT4