Gender and Health: Critical Perspectives

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

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 examines the way Gender and Health, and particularly Women's Health have been examined within and across the disciplinary fields of Public Health, Biomedicine, Epidemiology, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. We will examine the key feminist, socio-cultural, psychological and psychoanalytic discourses and ideas that have informed our understanding of gender and health, focusing on the on sex/gender, human rights and power. The course will also examine the critical contribution of first, second and third wave feminism to the fields of Women's Health, Men's Health and Gender and Health.

By the end of the semester students will be expected to:

• Describe the meaning and use of key terms- sex, gender, gender relations, diversity, health, illness, and disease, gender mainstreaming - that underpin the fields of Gender and Health and Women's/ Men's Health;
• Describe and critically reflect on the ways in which gender and health have been examined within the disciplinary fields of Public Health, Biomedicine, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology;
• Understand the historical and core ideas that underpin and frame research on gender and health, particularly women's health;
• Demonstrate in both written and oral form your capacity for critical thought and self-directed learning.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• critical appraisal of evidence
• advanced skills in developing, interpreting and sustaining an argument
• well developed oral and written communication skills
• advanced skills in searching bibliographic data bases and synthesising evidence