Hunter College Women’s Studies Collective (2005). Women’s realities, women’s choices ( 3rd ed.). Oxford U. Press. 

Burn, S. M. (2004). Women across cultures: A global perspective( 2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. 

WMST 200 Introduction to Women's Studies: Women and Society (3) (Fulfills the general education requirement in behavioral and social sciences.) An interdisciplinary study of the status, roles, and experiences of women in contemporary society.  Sources from a variety of fields (such as literature, psychology, history, and anthropology) focus on the writings of women themselves.

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 
 
· Analyze gender, as a social, historical, and cultural construction rather than a "natural," biological fact.
· Demonstrate how gender intersects with other social constructions and variables (race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, abled-bodiness/disabilities, etc.)
· Compare and contrast women’s political activities in relationship to other historical or contemporary movements for political, social and economic equality.
· Describe historical and contemporary contributions by women
· Analyze existing data about women in the global context
· Employ some of the critical methodologies relevant to the study of women, gender, and human societies in class discussion and written assignments

What it means to be a woman or a man, female or male in society involves a complex set of questions that have been developed and approached in a variety of ways by writers and researchers in many different disciplines.  WMST 200 takes an interdisciplinary approach to consider some of the themes, questions, methodological approaches and findings of women's studies scholarship. Through course readings, class discussions and a variety of activities, we will critically examine theories about gender and their social implications. We will also consider various aspects of women's experiences in public and private spheres.  Cultural representations of women and structures of gender inequality will be critically examined throughout this course, which will also focus on women as activists for social change. Although this course focuses on contemporary American society we will engage discussion about women in the global economy. 

This course consists of the following graded items:

First Web Review 15%
Second Web Review 15%
First Synthetic Essay 20%
Second Synthetic Essay 20%
Class participation 10%
Final examination 20%
Total 100%

One Point will be added to your final grade for successful completion of the required Plagiarism Prevention Exercise.  Directions for this assignment are found in the Other Information Section below.

The grading scale, based on 100 points, is as follows:

A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 0-59

Web Review Assignments: Exhibiting Women on the Web – In today’s technological world there are numerous online exhibitions about women in U.S. society and the globalized world.  Choose two online exhibitions—one U.S. and one pertaining to the global women—to research and write about.

Discuss the scope, purpose and “message” of the exhibit. Analyze how the messages about women are organized and communicated; how well did the curators use photographs, labels and other artifacts to articulate the roles of women to you. What were you able to infer about feminism from viewing the site? Evaluate what you see as the exhibit’s strengths and weaknesses. What parts were most meaningful to you? What does this exhibit and its messages reveal about the some of the ways in which American society views women? Can you discern from the exhibit how other societies view women? Explain how issues of race, class, ethnicity, ability, sexuality, (and any other variables you choose) were communicated by this display? Were there evident biases? Also explain how historical information was used to convey and communicate these variables. (All requirements should be supported by specific examples).  Each review should be approximately 1000 words (3-4 pages) in length. 
A very useful guide to use in preparing your review is the “Evaluate Internet Resources” webpage created by the UMUC Information and Library

Services, located at http://www.umuc.edu/library/guides/evaluate.html. 
Synthetic Essays:  --As an interdisciplinary and introductory course, WMST 200 presents students with a variety of readings and methodologies exploring the complexities of gender and of women’s roles historically and in contemporary societies.  In the two synthetic essays, you will be asked to grapple with these materials and approaches in order to critically appreciate the strengths and weakness of these different efforts to comprehend the issues we are studying.  Your instructor will provide you with a list of topics to select from, along with more detailed instructions for the preparation of the essays.  Essay length should be approximately 1500 words (5 pages) in length.
NOTE:  do we want to specify which citation method will be required???????

Final Examination:  The final examination will be cumulative.  Two weeks prior to the start of the examination period you will be provided a study guide to assist you in your preparation for the final.  Remember to sign up early for your required proctored examination by following the “Register for Examinations” instructions in the Course Content area.

Session Dates--Units--Assignments--Due Date
1  UNIT 1 – What is Women’s Studies? Read: Module #1(Hunter College)Do:Introductions and other conferences .
2  UNIT 1 – Ideas and Theories About Women.  Read: Module 1· Chapter 2 – Ideas and Theories About Women, Chapter 5 – Diversity Among Women (Hunter College)                                       Chapter 1 – Intro to Cross-Cultural Study of Women’s Issues (Burn). Do: · Chapter 2, Exercises 3 and 4. Chapter 1, Study Questions 1-3, Discussion Question 2 (Burns)Certificates for Plagiarism Prevention Exercise Due:
3  UNIT 1 – Gender Socialization/Equality  Read: Module 1· Chapter 4 – Women’s Personalities (Hunter)                                        Chapter 10 – Gender Equality Movements (Burns)     Do: Web Review 1 Due:                         4  UNIT 2 – Imagery & Symbolism. Read:  Module 2,  Chapter 1 – Imagery & Symbolism (Hunter); Chapter 4 – Lesbians in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Burns)Do: Chapter 1, Exercises 1 – 4.  Chapter 4, Study Question 1 and 10, Discussion Questions 1- 2 (Burns) 
5 UNIT 2 – Women’s Bodies. Read: Module 2,Chapter 3 – Women’s Bodies, Chapter 11 – Women’s Health (Hunter); Chapter 3 – Reproductive Rights (Burns)Do:Chapter 3, Exercises 1 and 2, Chapter 11, Exercises 2 and 4 (Hunter). Chapter 3, Study Question 11 (Burns) 
6  UNIT 2 – Family Configurations. Read: Module 2,Chapter 6 – Daughters and Sisters (Hunter); Chapter 7 – Wives, Partners, Alternatives (Hunter) Do: Chapter 7, Exercises 2 and 4.      7   In class projectsSynthetic Essay 1 due 
8   Chapter 7, Exercises, discussion MIDTERM EXAM 
9   UNIT 3 - Family Configurations. Read: Module 3,Chapter 8- Motherhood (Hunter); Chapter 2 – Women’s Low Status and Power (Burns)Do:· Chapter 8, Exercises 2 and 4. Chapter 2, Study Question 3 & 11 
10 UNIT 3 – Women in Society: Religion. Read:  Module 3, Chapter 9 - Religion (Hunter); Chapter 8 – Religion (Burns)Do: Chapter 9, Exercises 2 and 4. Chapter 8, Study Questions 1 & 8 
11  UNIT 4 - Women in Society: Education. Read:  Module 4, Chapter 10 – Women & Education (Hunter); Chapter 7 – Women & Globalization (Burns)Do: Chapter 10, Exercises 2 and 4. Web Review 2 Due 
12  UNIT 4 - Women in Society: Work.  Read: Module 4,Chapter 12 – Women and Work (Hunter); Chapter 5 – Women’s Work (Burns) Do: Chapter 12 - Exercises 2 and 4. Chapter 5 – Study Question 2 & 6 
13  UNIT 4 - Women in Society: Development. Read: Module 4· Chapter 6 – Women & Development (Burns)Do:· Chapter 6 – Study Questions 2, 6, and 8 
14 UNIT 5 - Women in Society: Politics. Read:  Module 5· Chapter 13 - Women & Political Behavior (Hunter)· Chapter 9 – Women in Politics (Burns)Do: Chapter 13, Exercises 2 and 4. 
15   UNIT 5 – Women’s Rights as Human Rights. Read: · Module 5· Chapter 11 – Women’s Rights as Human Rights (Burns)Do:· Chapter 11, Study Questions 1, 4, 10Synthetic Essay 2 Due: 
16   FINAL EXAMINATION Concluding Conferences