Course credit
3 credit hours
Course description
Examination of key issues of gender. Attention to variety of topics including ethical issues and gender roles, gender-role stereotyping, male and female roles, sexuality, gender roles in non-western and minority cultures, and gender roles in United States institutions (e.g., in the nuclear family, religion and the work place).
Delivery
This course is available in a web-based format, utilizing web pages and WebCT, a computer conferencing program. WebCT requires Internet access and a web browser — no additional software is required. Students may need access to someone who can assist with computer set-up.
This course is available in a print-based format. Mail completed assignments to the GIS Office. We will forward them to the instructor for grading.
Prerequisites
none
Instructor
Karen Cunningham, M.A.
Karen Cunningham was born in Hartford, Connecticut and moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa, with her family, in 1981. She received her B.A. in Individual Studies in 1994 and an M.A. in Women’s Studies in 1998 from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Ms. Cunningham is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from UNI.
Karen is the Individual Studies (I.S.) Program Coordinator at UNI and has served in this capacity since 2003. Prior to this position, Karen worked as the Individual Studies Program Advisor at UNI. She began her career as an academic advisor in October 1999. One of Karen’s responsibilities as the I.S. Coordinator, is to advise and provide academic support and guidance to General Studies majors concerning UNI’s institutional policies, procedures, resources, and programs. Additionally, she assists students in developing realistic and meaningful educational goals. Karen also advises for the Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree and is the National Student Exchange Coordinator.
As a Women’s Studies graduate, Karen has a wide range of research interests that include intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality; cross-cultural perspectives; violence against women; feminist perspectives; antiracism; gender and education; and feminist theories and politics among others.
The Cunningham family consists of Karen, her husband Chad, and son Alex.
Evaluation
11 assignments, 2 exams
Overview
This is an introductory course in the sociology of gender. In this course, you will critically explore the social construction of gender in a patriarchal society and examine the key issues of gender. This course examines the lives of men and women in contemporary America, with particular emphasis on theories relating to gender inequality and the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, social class and sexual identity. The primary goal of this course is to provide you sociological ways of thinking about gender. We will move beyond antiquated notions of “sex roles” or “gender roles” and focus instead on the patterned social arrangements and structured systems of inequality that has been pervasive in Western society, as well as across cultures and throughout history. We will examine gender from a historical, social and cultural perspective.
Women, Men and Society is a course that examines gender through a critical lens. This course is structured from a feminist perspective. A feminist perspective begins with the assumption that women and men are not equal in our society. We will explore how sexism is structured into our society, and how other systems of oppression, such as racism and classism, complicate our understanding of sexism. Simply being male or female does not make someone oppressive. Rather, you will explore your particular relationship to the social forces and institutions that shape our lives.
Today, many courses focusing on gender now include attention to the ways in which men’s identities and practices are gendered, and on men’s experience; therefore, this course will examine how the social construction of gender impacts men’s lives. To do the work of feminism, then, is to focus on gender in the lives of men as well as women. Given that men as well as women will take part in the study of gendered experience and social structures, it is worthwhile to give attention to both understanding and serving the needs of males studying masculinities in the classroom.
I encourage you to use your personal experience to illuminate your understanding of the readings and assignments, whenever possible. Gender studies is an area of academic study that covers a wide range of perspectives and materials. Since this course cannot possible cover all areas of gender studies, my goal is to introduce you to the basics of gender and issues of how gender is produced, sustained and experienced in several arenas of social life.
Course Organization
Learning Outcomes
To understand and apply the major theoretical understandings of the gendered division of society.
To examine and comprehend the mechanisms of gender construction – how gender is created, represented and maintained by various institutions such as the family, law, the educational system, the occupational structure, language, mass media and science.
To examine the consequences of gender for women and men – how women and men experience gender in their everyday lives in the home, workplace or in the community and how these experiences differ by race, ethnicity, class, age and sexual identity.
Assignments
Each Assignment consists of your thoughts and reflections on gender related issues covered in the readings, the reading assignments and short-answer essay questions. After reading each assignment, you will write a one-page reflective summary (approximately 250 words). The summary should include the authors’ main points and your thoughts, reflections and reactions to the reading. Whenever possible, try to connect the readings to real-life examples. In other words, make a connection to the outside world by including your own experiences or situations/events you have observed. For example, if there are 7 reading assignments per Assignment, then you will write a one-page reflective summary for each. The number of reading assignments for each Assignment varies.
As part of your Assignment, you will also be asked to answer a series of short-answer essay questions that related to the readings. Your answer may vary from one paragraph to several paragraphs.
Note: You will NOT have to respond to every question, rather you will be asked to select 4 questions of your choosing to reply to. For example, if there are 7 questions, you will select 4 to answer and reflect on.
Your assignment for each Assignment, therefore, is to do the readings and to write a summary (1/2 synopsis and 1/2 thoughts, reflections, and reactions) and to answer a series of short-answer essay questions. Your responses should be typed, double-spaced with at least one-inch margins on each side. Each Assignment should included well developed paragraphs that support the paper’s central, controlling idea. Every paragraph in a paper should be:
Unified - the sentences should all refer to the main idea, or thesis, of the paper.
Coherent - the sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development.
Well-developed - every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paper's controlling idea.
Note: Mistakes in grammar hinder communication; therefore, I expect that Assignments be proofed for accuracy before being submitted.
Each Assignment is worth 25 points. The number of short-answer questions for each Assignment varies. Some questions are broad and require you to draw information from all the reading assignments for that Assignment. These questions are often written with the intention for you to go beyond memory to a more insightful assessment of an issue.
Exams
There are two exams in this course (a midterm and a final). An exam follows each set of assignments. Neither of the exams is comprehensive, but instead tests the student on material included in the Assignments prior to each exam. Each exam is worth 75 points and consists of three parts: (1) the first part is multiple choice and true/false questions, and is worth 50 points; (2) the second part is short-answer essay. I will select 4 questions from your written assignments, and you are required to answer 3 of them. Each essay is worth 5 points, for a total of 15 points; (3) the third part of the exam will be one essay question that relates to one of the four central themes of the course. For example, the first essay question will cover the social organization of gender. The essay question is worth 10 points.
Grading
Point System
Your final grade will be based on the written assignments for each of the 11 Assignments and the 2 examinations. You must turn in all 11 assignments and take both exams in order to pass this course. You grade will be based upon a standard scale. The total number of course points is 425 (exams = 150; assignments = 275 points) and grades will be assigned according to the grading scale.
Grading Scale
A = 100-90%
B= 89-80%
C = 79-70%
D = 69-60%
F = Below 60%
Textbook(s)
Richardson, L., Taylor, V., & Whittier, N. (2003/2004). Feminist Frontiers, 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill Publishers. (ISBN #0072824239)
Kimmel, M. & Messner, A. (2003/2004). Men’s Lives, 6th Edition. Allyn and Bacon Publishing Company. (ISBN #0205379028)
Texts are available from the vendor of your choice or
University Book and Supply
1009 West 23rd Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Phone: 319-266-7581 or 800-728-7581
Fax: 319-277-1266
E-mail: bookstore@panthersupply.com
To enroll
ONLINE
GIS enrollment information
IN PERSON
UNI Continuing Education
2637 Hudson Road (corner of 27th St. and Hudson Rd.)
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0223
Campus map (Look for Building 31)
For more information
Cindy Klodt, Guided Independent Study
UNI Continuing Education
319-273-2123 or 800-772-1746
ContinuingEd@uni.edu