GWST Courses

AP/SOSC 1185 9.00
Women and Society

Examines images of women and explores women’s experiences in the family, at school and at work. It considers issues of violence and sexuality, and theories which explain discrimination. Women organizing for social justice is a …

AP/SOSC 1350 9.00
Gender and the Law

Explores the role of gender within the context of the legal system. Current issues that highlight the relationship between gender and law are examined by analyzing both legislation and case law. Topics include: divorce, rape …

AP/GWST 1501 9.00
Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores how many aspects of our lives are gendered, racialized, embodied, sexualized, and classed, and the consequences of these intersecting practices for social inequalities. Key debates within feminist scholarship …

AP/GWST 1501 9.00
Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores how many aspects of our lives are gendered, racialized, embodied, sexualized, and classed, and the consequences of these intersecting practices for social inequalities. Key debates within feminist scholarship …

AP/GWST 1502 6.00
Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

Crosslisted: GL/SOSC 1502 Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores how many aspects of our lives are gendered, racialized, embodied, sexualized, and classed, and the consequences of these intersecting practices for social inequalities. Key debates …

GL/GWST 1502 6.00
Introduction aux etudes des femmes et de genre / Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

Crosslisted: GL/SOSC 1502 Ce cours explore comment l’expérience des individus est marquée par le genre, la race, la sexualité et la classe en référence notamment au vécu des femmes. Dans une démarche multidisciplinaire, les concepts …

AP/SXST 1600 9.00
Introduction to Sexuality Studies

Uses interdisciplinary, transnational and intersectional perspectives to introduce the field of sexuality studies in contemporary culture. Analyses and theoretical frameworks explore various axes of power, identity and difference including class, race, ability/disability, age, sexuality, nationalism …

GL/SXST 1601 6.00
Introduction to Sexuality Studies / Introduction à l`étude de la sexualité

Crosslisted: GL/HUMA 1601 Uses interdisciplinary, transnational and intersectional perspectives to introduce the field of sexuality studies in contemporary culture. Analyses and theoretical frameworks explore various axes of power, identity and difference including class, race, ability/disability, …

AP/SXST 1601 6.00
Introduction to Sexuality Studies

Crosslisted: GL/HUMA 1601 Uses interdisciplinary, transnational and intersectional perspectives to introduce the field of sexuality studies in contemporary culture. Analyses and theoretical frameworks explore various axes of power, identity and difference including class, race, ability/disability, …

AP/HREQ 1900 6.00
Sexuality, Gender and Society

Crosslisted: AP/SOSC 1900 Examines how the meaning and significance of sexuality, family, work and public life have varied historically for men and women. It is particularly concerned with analyzing the social definition and control of …

AP/HREQ 1920 6.00
Male-Female Relationships

Crosslisted: AP/SOSC 1920 Explores some of the basic issues which influence male-female relationships and experience in Western society. Property, sexuality, socialization and culture are considered with attention to the social science literature in these areas …

AP/HUMA 1950 6.00
Concepts of Male and Female in the West

An examination of the origins of, and the interrelationships among, gender, male and female concepts and roles through myth, literature, art and artifacts from various Western cultures, past and present. Course credit exclusions: AP/HUMA 1951 …

AP/HUMA 1951 9.00
Concepts of Male and Female in the West

An examination of the origins of, and the interrelationships among, gender, male and female concepts and roles through myth, literature, art and artifacts from various Western cultures, past and present. Course credit exclusions: AP/HUMA 1951 …

AP/EN 2010 6.00
Gender Studies

An examination of how gender mediates the creation, reception and interpretation of literary/cultural texts. It provides students with critical tools for understanding gender in contemporary theory, and reading and writing about gender in literary texts.

AP/EN 2011 3.00
Gender Studies I

Critically examines popular explanations of what is considered natural (and what is not) about sex, gender, emotions and the family. Through a cross-cultural approach, biological models of natural gender roles, as well as sexual and …

AP/ANTH 2170 6.00
Sex, Gender and the Body

Critically examines popular explanations of what is considered natural (and what is not) about sex, gender, emotions and the family. Through a cross-cultural approach, biological models of natural gender roles, as well as sexual and …

AP/SOSC 2351 6.00
Human Rights in a Social-Legal Context

This course analyses issues and policies associated with minority status in Canada from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using International Human Rights principles as a framework, the course examines both inferiorized and stigmatized minorities, the forms of …

AP/GWST 2511 6.00
Sex, Gender and Popular and Culture

Examines the construction of gender – both femininity and masculinity – and sexuality in popular culture with a consideration of how social, political and historical forces influence media practices as well as audience consumption preferences. …

AP/GWST 2512 6.00
Race, Gender & Sexuality

Explores the social and historical construction of race, gender and sexuality through a critical and intersectional approach. It draws on a range of theoretical perspectives from anti-racist feminist, critical race, (post)colonial and transnational studies, among …

AP/GWST 2513 6.00
Mothering and Motherhood

CROSSLISTED COURSE: GL SOSC 2513 Examines motherhood as it is theorized and analyzed in interdisciplinary feminist scholarship and as it is portrayed in women’s fictional and autobiographical writings. The history, sociology, psychology and politics of …

AP/GWST 2515 6.00
Thinking Whiteness

This course surveys key texts and concepts in the field of critical, anti-racist North American whiteness studies. Approaches are intersectional and read for historical and contemporary constructions of whiteness as personhood intersecting with settler colonialism, …

GL/SXST 2600 6.00
Fondements critiques aux études sur la sexualité

Ce cours propose aux étudiant.e.s une approche interdisciplinaire introduisant les théories, les méthodologies et enjeux et problématiques dans le champ des Études sur la sexualité. Language of Instruction: French

AP/SXST 2600 6.00
Critical Foundations in Sexuality Studies Critiques a foundation à l’étude de la sexualité

This course is an interdisciplinary and transnational introduction to theories, methods, themes, debates and issues that constitute the field of critical sexuality studies. The course will examine how sexuality intersects with other lines and relations …

GL/SOCI 2680 3.00
Relations sexe/genre

Crosslisted: GL/SOSC 2680 Analyse de la signification des distinctions de genre dans la structure sociale. En particulier étude de la socialisation et de la stratification des rôles de chaque sexe, des relations entre les genres …

GL/SOCI 2685 3.00
La Famille

Crosslisted: GL/GWST 2685 and GL/SOSC 2680 Étude de la famille en tant qu’unité du système social et domaine d’interaction sociale. Étude, en particulier, des variations de formes familiales et de leurs relations avec les différents …

AP/POLS 3011 3.00
Politics of Sexuality/Sexual Politics

Since the 1980s research has challenged popular conceptions of sex as a natural and biological force. This course explores the socio-political construction of sexualities through the fields of psychoanalysis, law, education, sexology and popular culture.

AP/ADMS 3120 3.00
Gender Issues in Management

Uses feminist principles and pedagogy to examine gender issues relevant to managing career and life, including for example pay equity, harassment, stereotyping, power and assertiveness, diversity, mentoring, self-care and balance, with the goal of understanding …

EU/ENVS 3160 3.00
Race/Racism and Environmental Justice

Examines the intersection of “race”/racism and environmentalism. It begins from the premise that environmental issues are always already racialized. Issues as diverse as toxic facility siting, environmental assessment practices, ecological philosophies, and popular nature representations …

AP/ANTH 3230 6.00
Women, Culture and Society

Examines the contribution of anthropology to women’s studies, including the relationship between biology and culture, the evolution and learning of sex roles, and the roles and status of women in comparative perspective.

FA/THEA 3235 3.00
The Body in Performance

Crosslisted: FA/FASC 3500 Focuses on ideas and issues surrounding embodiment and the body in performance. Through critical inquiry, it will explore various theoretical perspectives on the performing body and some of the traditions from which …

AP/ANTH 3330 6.00
Health & Illness

This course explores health, illness and medical systems from the viewpoint of social anthropology. It emphasizes medicine and health as culturally significant systems of knowledge and practice. The ways that medical anthropologists apply their knowledge …

HH/KINE 3360 3.00
Gender and Sexuality in Sport and Health

Introduces students to the social production of gender (including femininity and masculinity) and sexuality and how it impacts the worlds of sport and health. The course introduces students to feminist and queer theory approaches within …

EU/GEOG 3400 3.00
Geographies of Genders and Sexualities

This course considers the construction, reproduction, and representation of gender and sexual identities as they intersect with other social differences in space. It introduces students to feminist and queer theorists and geographical scholarship on cis-gender, …

AP/SOCI 3450 6.00
The Sociology of Race and Racism

Offers a sociological critique of race and racism by examining both the concept and practices in terms of social organization, discourse and history. Biogenetic and cultural racism are investigated in terms of knowledge frameworks involving …

HH/PSYC 3480 3.00
Psychology of Women

Explores factors associated with the psychology of women, including gender-role stereotypes, socialization practices, male-female differences and the family. At all times, the interpretation offered is made with reference to the broader social context. Prerequisite: HH/PSYC …

GL/GWST 3503 6.00
Femmes et mondialisation

CROSSLISTED COURSE: GL ILST/SOCI/SOSC 3665 Ce cours porte sur la situation des femmes dans un contexte de mondialisation. Il traite de l’impact de la mondialisation sur les conditions de vie des femmes aux niveaux local …

AP/GWST 3504 6.00
Women and Aging

Crosslisted: GL/HUMA 3604 This course analyzes the experience of women as they move into old age. We analyze myths that surround the concept of old woman using story, biography, poetry and film. Topics include: sexuality …

AP/GWST 3509 6.00
Women Organizing

Crosslisted: AP/SOSC 3125 Women have a long tradition of organizing to expand their rights, resist oppression, challenge and defend traditional values and to change their societies. This course documents and analyzes the patterns of women’s …

AP/GWST 3510 6.00
Women and Work: Production and Reproduction

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP SOSC 3130 & GL WKST 3610 Explores the conditions of women’s work, paid and unpaid. The historical development of a sexual division of labour and the roles played by the family, employers, …

AP/HUMA 3518 6.00
Feminist Approaches to Religion

This course foregrounds women’s voices/stories and examines a wide range of feminist approaches to religion, including feminists who identify as practitioners of a tradition as well as those who do not. The main thread spinning …

GL/GWST 3524 3.00
Colonialisme, genre sociétés en Afrique noire

Crosslisted: GL/HIST/ILST/SOCI 3658 La colonisation par sa mission civilisatrice a contribué entre autres à forger des rapports de genre dans les sociétés africaines. Dans ce sens, ce cours traite de son impact sur les rapports …

AP/GWST 3540 6.00
Across Borders: Globalization and Women's Health

Across Borders: Globalization and Women’s Globalization and the spread of Western free market economies have significantly impacted women’s health around the world. This course examines within a comparative, international framework the impact of globalization on …

AP/SOSC 3543 6.00
Introduction to Gender and Development

Introduces students to the history, theory and practice of gender and development as an aspect both of the enterprise of Third World development, and of the conceptual and applied fields of feminist studies.

AP/GWST 3547 3.00
Reframing Fat

Students will become familiar with feminist and post-colonialist theories of embodiment, and use them to explore how the fat body and fat phobia have been and are produced through history, through policy, and through popular …

AP/GWST 3555 6.00
Genealogies of Feminist Theorizing

Examines major feminist theoretical approaches, both historical and contemporary, in women’s and gender studies. Students will develop their analytic skills by engaging in rigorous critique and debate of feminist theorizing. Students will write detailed assessments …

AP/GWST 3557 3.00
Superstition, Religion and Sexuality

Explores the intersection of religion and superstition from ancient times to the present. Analyzes issues of gender, power and sexuality through the study of goddesses, witches and the current fascination with vampires in popular culture. …

AP/GWST 3560 3.00
Bad Girls in the Bible Part 1: Hebrew

The Bible offers archetypal figures for Western art, music and film as well as literature. This course will analyze women in the Hebrew Bible in English (Old Testament) with a focus on sexuality, seduction, murder …

GL/GWST 3565 3.00
Sociétés contemporaines: femmes, genre, violence et les conflits armés

Ce cours présente une analyse féministe des violences contre les femmes en temps de guerre dans les sociétés contemporaines en considérant le genre, la race, l’ethnicité, la classe.

AP/GWST 3567 6.00
Feminist Life Writing

Introduces students to theoretical and practical aspects of life writing in multiple genres and media. Itforegrounds the important role of autobiographical and biographical representations, both textual and visual, in promoting the development of feminist, anti-racist, …

AP/GWST 3568 6.00
Indigenous Feminisms: Connections and Contradictions

This course introduces students to the study of Indigenous feminisms. It provides a critique of the colonial construction of exclusionary categories, including gender and sexuality, which have shaped many mainstream, non-Indigenous feminisms. Utilizing a wide …

AP/GWST 3569 3.00
Colonialism, Gender, and Sexuality

This course provides a thematic overview of colonialism, specifically through the categories of sexuality and gender. It emphasizes a critical, historical, interdisciplinary and intersectional mode of analysis that draws on scholarship in postcolonial, anti-colonial, indigenous, …

AP/GWST 3570 3.00
Gender and Islamophobia

This course investigates current debates and issues related to gender and Islamophobia in Canadian and international contexts. The course takes an intersectional analytic approach that brings together seminal and emerging scholarship on the topic in …

AP/COMN 3590 3.00
Feminist Perspectives on Media

Examines gender in relation to various media. Diverse media including film, television, magazines, and romantic fiction are analyzed through a feminist perspective and held within historical relationships of gender. Course credit exclusion: AP/COMN 3393 6.00 …

AP/COMN 3591 3.00
Feminist Perspectives on Technology

Examines communication technologies from a feminist perspective. Various technologies from the telephone, television, cinema, computers, and the Internet are analyzed within historical relationships of gender. Course credit exclusion: AP/COMN 3393 6.00 (prior to Fall 2012).

GL/SXST 3602 3.00
Transnational Sexualities

This interdisciplinary course examines transnational and diasporic sexualities, with special emphasis on African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and indigenous contexts. Prerequisite: six credits in AP/SXST core or primary courses.

AP/SXST 3603 3.00
Sexual Activism, Movements and Politics

Examines 20th and 21st century sexual activism, movements, and politics, focusing on everyday resistance, organized protest, and mobilizations for reform and revolution. Prerequisite: six credits in AP/SXST core or primary courses.

GL/FRAN 3608 3.00
Roman fém des XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe s

CROSSLISTED COURSE: GL HUMA 3608 & GL GWST 3608 Analyse de 4 ou 5 romans féminins des XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles choisis pour la contribution de leurs auteures à l’évolution du genre romanesque et …

GL/SOCI 3609 3.00
Women and Religion

Crosslisted: Gl/GWST 3609 and GL/HUMA 3609 This course uses sociological theories on religion to study the main issues, gains and struggles faced by women in religious traditions around the world. Students study women in religion …

AP/SOCI 3660 6.00
Families and Social Change

The course provides a wide-ranging and provocative analysis of the social forces and individual responses contributing to diversity in family life, emphasizing how social, economic and political changes in Canadian society have reshaped family forms …

AP/ECON 3709 3.00
Economics of Gender (Writing)

Introduces students to gender gaps and discrimination, especially in connection with labour markets, policy towards gender equality, and features of family economics such as issues of power within the family. Examines some empirical evidence, but …

AP/CH 3711 3.00
Women Writers in Contemporary China

This course studies fiction by major women writers from the literary revolution of the 1920s to the present; themes, forms and styles are explored in the context of modern China. Discussions are guided by feminist …

FA/FILM 3810 3.00
Women and Film I

Examines the feminist perspective of the ways in which women have been represented in mainstream Hollywood and classical film traditions. Discussion of formative texts of feminist film theory on issues of body representation, the look, …

AP/SOCI 3820 6.00
Sociology of Health and Health Care

Social factors related to health and physical and mental illness will be discussed, including comparative examinations of the healing process. The social organization of systems of health care will be explored, including recruitment and socialization …

AP/HREQ 3830 6.00
Women's Health & Equity

Using women’s health research, this course will use a Critical Multicultural and Anti Racist Feminist approach to examine women health and the social determinants that shape their lives. Health and illness as it relates to …

AP/HUMA 3856 3.00
Women and the Holocaust

Although the Nazi genocide targeted both men and women, writing by victims and survivors along with contemporary depictions of the Holocaust, indicates significant gender-specific differences in experience and ways of coping and remembering. Close readings …

AP/SOCI 3860 6.00
Women, Work and Family

Women’s challenges in the home and in waged work, including historical and cross-cultural analyses. Areas of discussion may include: household, the labour market, racism and the state; barriers to women’s career success; single-parent families and …

AP/HREQ 3890 6.00
Social Justice: Theory & Practice

This course addresses inequality and domination, resistance and collective empowerment, in Canada and beyond, and examines the historical importance and the contemporary relevance of struggles to overcome inequality and injustice.

AP/SOCI 4060 3.00
Sociology of Parent/Child Relationships

Examines the parent-child relationship as interactive process within social structure. This relationship is explored in terms of reciprocity, multiple levels, the dynamic lifespan model, and the mediation role of social and cultural factors such as …

AP/SOCI 4070 6.00
Sociology of the Body

Examines a variety of sign systems which code the body’s behaviour (e.g. dressing, eating, dieting, fitness) as the vehicle for larger institutions (political, economic, religious) which require the body’s inscription and conscription. Prerequisite: Students must …

AP/POLS 4125 3.00
Gender and Current Policy Issues

This course begins by evaluating selected feminist theories in the light of their ability to explain policy developments. The course examines the implications of public policies implemented in the context of the economic, social and …

AP/SOSC 4140 6.00
Health and Society Seminar

This research seminar examines theoretical and applied problems in health and society. It introduces students to a variety of research methods and evaluative skills, which they apply in their own analysis of a particular problem. …

AP/SOSC 4141 3.00
Women and Health

The goal of this course is to research the area of women and health with a particular emphasis on the relationship between biological and socio-cultural conceptions of women’s health with an emphasis on the varying …

AP/POLS 4296 3.00
Gender and Participatory Budgeting

This course examines the theory and practice of government budgets from the perspective of social justice, focusing on gender-responsive and participatory budgeting.

AP/SOCI 4345 3.00
Family and Intimate Relations

Discussion of major issues in family composition, functioning and relationships such as: authority and decision making; migration and kin support; alternatives to contemporary marriage; separation and divorce; family life education. Prerequisite: Students must have successfully …

AP/SOSC 4355 6.00
Gender, Sex and the Supreme Court

Prerequisites: the completion of at least 84 credits, including AP/SOSC 2110 6.00 or AP/SOSC 2150 9.00, or written permission of the instructor.

AP/GWST 4502 6.00
Violence Against Women

Crosslisted: GL/SOSC 4602 Examines gender-based violence in its many forms, such as domestic violence, state violence, legal violence (punishment) and cultural violence (rituals) and analyzes the global context in which gender and power are constructed …

AP/GWST 4503 3.00
Politics of Canadian Women's Movement

Crosslisted: AP POLS 4155 & GL POLS 4603 Examines the politics of the Canadian women’s movement, emphasizing its historical and contemporary development. We examine the suffrage movement, the inter-war years and the development of second …

AP/GWST 4507 3.00
Writing Women's History

Crosslisted: GL HIST/SOSC 4670 Examines how feminist issues and theories have influenced the ways women’s history has been written, the questions asked and the themes studied. Students are encouraged to develop the conceptual and methodological …

AP/GWST 4516 6.00
Gender, Globalization and Militarization

This course uses a feminist anti-racist lens to explore the increasing intersection of processes of globalization and militarization in what many refer to as ‘the new age of Empire,’ examining in particular the emergence of …

AP/GWST 4518 6.00
Women, Ethnicity, Race and Migration

Examines migration from a global, feminist perspective. It pays particular attention to government policies and to the ways women in immigrant and racialized communities shape their own lives and those of their communities

AP/GWST 4522 3.00
Cancer Biopower: Bodies, Environments, and Creativity

This course exposes students to a wide range of theoretical, creative, and activist responses to encounters with cancer. Foucault’s concept of biopower is applied to examine how individual bodies and entire populations are targeted by …

GL/GWST 4523 3.00
Femmes, genre, migration internationale et mondialisation

Crosslisted: GL/ILST/SOCI 4523 Dans une perspective féministe intersectionnelle, ce séminaire s’articule autour des débats sur la division internationale du travail selon le genre. Une réflexion critique est développée sur ses implications pour la situation des …

AP/GWST 4524 6.00
Feminist Graphic Narratives

This course introduces students to the genre of graphic narratives that tell stories about a diverse range of bodies and histories. It explores the conventions and possibilities of the visual-verbal comic medium from an intersectional …

AP/GWST 4555 6.00
Feminist Methodologies and Methods

Investigates a range of methodologies and methods in feminist research. Students will engage in a research project that requires the application of research methods and strategies of inquiry relevant to feminist scholarship. The course will …

AP/SXST 4600 6.00
Advanced Seminar in Sexuality Studies

This seminar reviews and synthesizes theories, methods and practices in sexuality studies. Students explore the intersections and tensions within and between disciplines involved in sexuality research to develop and improve skills for designing, implementing and …

HH/NURS 4620 3.00
Women's Health & Women's Health Movement

Through a collaborative learning environment, students will critically analyze issues affecting women’s health/health care including pathologization, medicalization, women healers, women’s mental health, body image, environmental and occupational health, sexuality, violence, diversity and societal marginalization, gender …

AP/SOCI 4685 6.00
Feminist Perspectives on Families

This course focuses on four major theoretical feminist perspectives on families, gender and the state. Exploring issues such as regulation of sexuality, division of labour and income, violence, childcare, and reproduction of race and class. …

AP/HIST 4765 6.00
Gender in East Asian History

Examines gender roles in pre-modern and modern China, Korea and Japan. It focuses on women: their places in the family and society, their relationships with one another and men, and the evolution of ideas about …

AP/GWST 4801 6.00
Directed Reading

This course is designed to enable Honours students to undertake a detailed independent study of their own choosing. The student will undertake intensive reading and writing in one or two selected areas. Previously offered as: …

AP/GWST 4801 3.00
Directed Reading

This course is designed to enable Honours students to undertake a detailed independent study of their own choosing. The student will undertake intensive reading and writing in one or two selected areas. Previously offered as: …

AP/SOCI 4810 6.00
Women and the Criminal Justice System

This course analyzes theory and research on the incidence and treatment of child, adolescent and adult women who are offenders (e.g. theft, homicide), victims (e.g. sexual and physical assault), and professionals (e.g. police, judges) in …

AP/HUMA 4816 6.00
Women in Islamic Literatures

The course focuses on the representation of Muslim women in modern Islamic literatures (novel and short stories) and other forms of Islamic cultural production, such as photography and film.