Undergraduate Courses
The Department of Women & Gender Studies offers a wide range of courses. Some courses are offered every semester, while others rotate on a yearly or every other year rotation.
Please always refer to the current year's academic calendar for the most accurate list of courses offered. The comprehensive list of courses below are not offered every semester. Please refer to the Bridge for current semester offerings and to register for courses.
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
An introduction to the intersectional analysis of women and gender in differing social locations from the historical to the contemporary period using critical feminist perspectives.
Lib Ed Req: Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Concerns of women in health and illness are explored in relation to current formal and informal health care practices.
Prerequisite(s): Second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Lib Ed Req: Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of histories and contemporary applications of feminist theories, including the politics of knowledge production and the contributions to social change.
Recommended Background: Women and Gender Studies 1000
Lib Ed Req: Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of the link between feminist theoretical perspectives and practice across historical periods and settings. Evaluation of the ways in which feminist consciousness shapes and transforms local, national, and transnational activism. Utilizing experiential learning, students gain first-hand knowledge of viable forms of advocacy for social justice and equity.
Recommended Background: Women and Gender Studies 1000
Lib Ed Req: Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to feminist epistemologies and approaches to research. Experiential knowledge about key issues in feminist research including methodologies, ethics, and reflexivity.
Prerequisite(s): One of Women and Gender Studies 1000 or Second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Lib Ed Req: Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
The lives and diversity of women across North America or Europe from the 15th Century to contemporary times. Organized around major themes rather than a chronology of events, topics may include the impact of industrialization and urbanization on women and families; women’s reproductive behaviour and labour; suffrage, citizenship and the nation; women’s access to education; and community and social activism.
Prerequisite(s): One course (3.0 credit hours) in History at the 1000 level or Women and Gender Studies 1000
Recommended Background: History 2222
Lib Ed Req: Fine Arts and Humanities
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
This series examines how women's lives and local environments are impacted by globalization. Individual offerings will focus on or include areas such as global and grassroots feminist alliances; human rights; feminist political economy; indigeneity; ecofeminism; technology transfer; sex trade and tourism; feminization of labour and free trade zones; and population, integration, and immigration policies.
Prerequisite(s): Women and Gender Studies 1000 or a previous course in Women and Gender Studies AND second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Note: Gender-based courses in other disciplines may be appropriate background preparation for this course. Please contact the Department of Women & Gender Studies for more information.
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
This series examines myriad ways women have been represented and how they have resisted or challenged those representations in various cultural forms and practices. Individual offerings will focus on or include areas such as popular culture, media, sexualities, literature, visual arts, performing arts, law, internet, fashion, cosmetic industries, and the impact of advertising and marketing on young girls.
Prerequisite(s): Women and Gender Studies 1000 or a previous course in Women and Gender Studies AND second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Note: Gender-based courses in other disciplines may be appropriate background preparation for this course. Please contact the Department of Women & Gender Studies for more information.
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Offerings address the role of the state in organizing gender, racial, sexual, and national relations of power. Areas include reproductive justice, labour, sovereignties, sexual rights, marriage, and militarism.
Prerequisite(s):Second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Lib Ed Req:Social Science
Note: Gender-based courses in other disciplines may be appropriate background preparation for this course. Please contact the Department of Women & Gender Studies for more information.
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Topical themes around reproductive justice, health, and histories. Evolving global, social, political, and policy context employed to define or control reproductive bodies. Issues addressed include eugenics and racialized bodies, sterilization, surrogacy, adoption, midwifery, reproductive technologies, anti-abortion activism, access and barriers to reproductive health care, and sex education in public school curriculum or in the digital sphere.
Prerequisite(s):Women and Gender Studies 1000 or a previous course in Women and Gender Studies AND
second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Equivalent:Women and Gender Studies 3010 (Reproductive Rights, Behaviours and History) (prior to 2021/2022);
Women and Gender Studies 3010 (History of Reproductive Rights and Behaviours) (prior to 2021/2022)
Lib Ed Req:Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
This series examines the complex intersections of gender in the Asian context. Individual course offerings will focus on, but not be limited to, the following: development and economy, cross-border migration, militarization and regional conflicts, impact of globalization, culture and politics, youth and democratization, environment and sustainability, tradition and sexualities, science and modernization, and social justice movements.
Prerequisite(s): One of Women and Gender Studies 1000 or Asian Studies 1000
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
An interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, gender, and social change that includes: theories of the legitimacy of judicial review; analyses of selected sections of the Constitution Act through Supreme Court and appellate court decisions; contemporary critical race, postcolonial, gender, sexualities, Indigenous and legal literatures that address intersecting forms of discrimination; current issues that highlight the role of law as a means of social control and political contestation; analyses of selected statutes, regulations and the facta presented to courts.
Prerequisite(s):One of Political Science 1000, Political Science 2210, or Women and Gender Studies 1000
Lib Ed Req:Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Overview of critical theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding borders, displacements, and nation-states in historical and contemporary contexts. Key concepts from the field of political geography including sovereignty, territoriality, settler colonialism, nationalism, governance, migration, transnationalism, citizenship, and security. While focused on the Canadian context, the course addresses global examples as relevant and brings Indigenous, settler colonial, and migration histories and geographies into conversation.
Prerequisite(s):One of Geography 1200, Women and Gender Studies 1000, Anthropology 1000, Sociology 1000, or Political Science 1000 AND
Second-year standing (a minimum of 30.0 credit hours)
Equivalent:Geography 3850 (Political Geography: Borders and Displacement) (prior to 2021/2022);
Geography 3850 (Geography of Borders) (prior to 2021/2022)
Lib Ed Req:Social Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Seminar for advanced investigation of specific topics or current issues in Women and Gender Studies.
Prerequisite(s): One of Women and Gender Studies 2300 or Women and Gender Studies 2700 AND third-year standing (a minimum of 60.0 credit hours)
Note: Gender-based courses at the 2000 level or higher in other disciplines may be appropriate background preparation for this course. Please contact the Department of Women & Gender Studies for more information.
Credit hours: 6.00
Contact hours per week: Variable
This is a research-oriented course in which students will conduct empirical research, submit a report in the form of an Undergraduate Thesis which will be made publicly available, and report orally on the work. In consultation with their Thesis Supervisor, students will define a research problem and formulate a research plan.
Prerequisite(s): Fourth-year standing (a minimum of 90.0 credit hours) AND a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher AND one of Women and Gender Studies 3700 or [Women and Gender Studies 2700 and one Independent Study (3.0 credit hours) in Women and Gender Studies at the 3000 or 4000 level]
Note: Contact hours will vary. Students should be aware that this course involves regular contact with the Thesis Supervisor as well as considerable independent work.