Women Studies Introduction PDF

Level 4 Women Studies  In this course, the students will be introduced to feminist studies. They will study the different characteristics of feminism, its rise, kinds as well as development in the modern and postmodern age. Black feminism, womanism, Africana womanism are inc...

Level 4 Women Studies  In this course, the students will be introduced to feminist studies. They will study the different characteristics of feminism, its rise, kinds as well as development in the modern and postmodern age. Black feminism, womanism, Africana womanism are included as variations in the same course. The rejection of hierarchical structres and the creation of new feminist perspectives are fundamental issues in this course.  To define basic concepts  To specify basic characteristics  To differentiate between main stream feminism and Black Feminism  To trace the development of women studies  To analyze texts from a feminist perspective  To compare texts written by women from different cultural backgrounds  To determine basic characteristics of a feminist text  To criticize and evaluate texts  To apply feminist reading strategies on selected texts  Women Studies: An Overview  1.1. Ice Breaker Activity  1.2. What is women Studies?  1.3. Women Experiences Across the world: Similarities and Differences  1.4. Women’s rights Movement and early pioneers:   Give one example of a literary work/film/series/TV shows that stereotype women and another one that voice the radical model?  Give one example from real life that shows oppression or discrimination against women in our society.  Mention one similarity in women’s experience across the world regardless of location, class or race.  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) devotes goal number 5 to gender equality which fuels more and more focus on women studies aiming to promote women’s access to equal opportunities to education and work; to allow women’s voices to be heard; and to allow their participation in decision making and legal processes.  Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppression; and the relationships between power and gender as they intersect with race, socio- economic class and disability.  Women experiences across the world is the outcome of a patriarchal system that is engrained in the history of humanity.  Education: women were confined to specific disciplines because patriarchal ideology propagated the concept of women as biologically and intellectually inferior (the weaker sex).  Domesticity: Women were also confined to the domestic sphere and thought fit to perform house chores and bear children.  Marriage: Arranged and forced marriages. Marriage for financial reasons or political alliances What else can you think of?  Beauty Standards: Beauty standards that judge women’s looks are western standards reflecting gender and racial prejudices. Feminist writers have long critiqued the burden that beauty imperatives place on women. A key critique came from Naomi Wolf, who argued that after feminism’s “second wave,” the pressure placed on women to pursue beauty increased dramatically, reflecting a backlash against women’s progress and increasing power in workplaces and other domains.  The “prescriptive beauty norm” (PBN), is a term that describes this social phenomenon, where women feel social pressure to intensively pursue beauty. Social science research showed that many women believe that their value is determined by their beauty which translates into their self-objectification (viewing their bodies from an external perspective).  The basic difference between women in westernized societies and other non-western societies is related to entering the work force and having career opportunities.  In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating The International Women’s Day and the fact that the world celebrates women every year on 8th March is proof enough that women rights and welfare are on international agenda.   WRM also called Women’s Liberation Movement started in the aftermath of World War 2. Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) is the seminal work that exposed the oppressive effects of stereotypical notions of femininity as the weaker sex.  An organized women’s movement started in the 19th century, even though women activists and the struggle for equality have always been part of all human societies.  The post war movement is a continuation of the endeavors of women and men who participated in movements to claim women rights. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was a moral and political philosopher whose analysis of the condition of women in modern society retains much of its original radicalism.  To conclude, women rights movements and feminists regardless of the time or place aim to empower women to have free choice. This empowerment allows for exercise of agency. Agency refers to the capacity of women and girls to take purposeful action and pursue goals, free from the threat of violence or retribution. The three core expressions of agency are: decision-making, leadership, and collective action. Any questions