Women Studies
Course information
The Women’s Studies course will begin with a brief recap of the historical background of the fight for Women’s rights. “This course will thematically look at the experiences, roles, concerns, leadership, and power of women throughout the United States culture over time. We will begin by analyzing the concept of “woman” and strengthening our understanding of gender & sex as constructs. Then we will look at how women are not a monolith- various other aspects of identity shape the understanding of the “woman experience” and how intersectionality in present-day discusses this issue. We will then look at the concept of feminism through various waves, critiques, support, in comparison to ideas of masculinity and how feminism has impacted society as a whole, not just women. We will then move into a salient issue for many women, gender-based violence, and discuss how activism has played a major role in addressing this issue and what work still needs to be done. We will end with a unit on families and reproduction, discussing historic and modern understandings of these concepts as well as looking at legal policies connected to these issues. The standards of this course are conceptual in nature and have been organized around five disciplinary strands and a skill strand designed to promote inquiry. Every student in this course will engage in rigorous academic courses inclusive of multiple ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives that prepare them with the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to productively live and engage in a multicultural society that understands the historical experiences of women, implications of gender and intersectionality as concepts, and impacts of social movements advocating for a society allowing women to access the experience of full citizenship. " (quoted from Durham Public Schools Course Elective Curriculum Overview, 2020) The six units we will study are the following:
- Unit 1- The Historical Background
- Unit 2- What does it mean to be a Woman?
- Unit 3- Intersectionality: the range of experiences
- Unit 4- Feminism is for Everyone
- Unit 5- Gender-Based Violence and Concepts of Safety
- Unit 6- Families, Childbirth and Reproduction