Sex, Gender and Power

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject introduces students to contemporary analyses of gender, exploring the recent histories of feminisms and feminist thinking about gender, difference and the origins of sexual inequality. Key themes include: feminist theorising about the structures and institutions of sexual inequality including the family, marriage, mothering, sexual divisions of labour, masculinities and femininities, bodies and sexualities; and their relationships to the workings of power, especially the intersections of gender relations with 'race', ethnicity, class and nation. The final section of the course looks at arguments about 'third world' feminisms, and postfeminism in a transnational and global context.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• show critical thinking and analysis and ability to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• demonstrate understanding of social, ethical and cultural context through the contextualisation of judgements, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument.

This is a core subject for the minor in the interdisciplinary program in gender studies. This subject may also be completed as part of the interdisciplinary program in Asian studies, and as part of the social theory minor and sequence. Students who have completed 131-116 prior to 2008 may not enrol in this subject.