Course Description:

This course is about being female in our culture. It addresses the biological, psychological, and social factors influencing women’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. This is not a course about "male-bashing" but rather about examining and understanding women’s lives and experiences from a feminist psychological perspective. The course will also address how race, class, and sexual orientation interact with gender to affect women’s lives. Topics include: gender differences, concepts of masculinity and femininity, female sexuality, marriage, motherhood, career development, middle age and aging, the experiences of minority women, and women’s health issues.

Course Objectives:

After completing this course you should be able to

• understand what feminist psychology is and how feminist research is conducted.
• explain gender-role development from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
• explain how being gendered affects our lives.
• critically examine research on sex similarities and differences.
• describe the female life cycle and the various roles assumed by women and different stages of their lives.
• understand key issues affecting women’s physical and mental health.

Course Materials:

Yoder, Janice D. (1999). Women and gender: Transforming psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Course Pack available from the CNR bookstore.

Course Requirements:

• Attend and participate in class discussions and activities.
• Read all assigned material prior to the lecture on that topic; class time will be used to answer questions you have about the material and to discuss selected concepts in more detail. This will only be useful if you have read the material ahead of time.
• Hand in all assignments on time.
• Complete 3 in-class, non-cumulative exams on 10/3, 11/7, and during the final exam period. The exams will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions based on the readings, class lectures, discussions, assignments, and demonstrations.
• Complete autobiographical/reflective homework assignments to serve as the basis of our class discussions and to connect the text material to your own life. Information on each assignment will be provided in class. Completion of these activities will be reflected in the attendance/participation portion of your grade.
• Complete a final project on a topic of your choosing. Information on this assignment will be provided in class.

Grading:

Grading is based on a "points earned" system. Throughout the semester, you will have the opportunity to earn up to 450 points. Your final grade will be based on the percentage of points you earned out of the total possible points (i.e., the number of points you earned divided by 450), using the academic index described in the SAS catalog. For example, if you earned 400 points, your grade would be 400/450= 89% = B+. The 450 points are distributed in the following way.

Course policies:

• Attendance is crucial for understanding material on the psychology of women. Because unforeseen circumstances may arise which prevent you from attending class, you are permitted one undocumented absence. More than one undocumented absence will negatively affect your final grade. Attendance is defined as being on time and remaining in class the entire period. You will be marked late if you arrive after the starting time. Three late arrivals or early departures will count as one undocumented absence.
• If you are forced to miss more than one class due to illness or other extreme circumstances, please notify the dean’s office and me in order to document your absences.
• If you are late handing in an assignment, your grade will be marked down one point for each day (counting weekends!) it is late (i.e., if you are three days late submitting a paper which would have received a 5, you will receive a 2). The final project is due on 12/10 and will be marked down 5 points for each day it is late.
• Extensions, incompletes, and makeup exams will only be given in the case of documented personal catastrophes and must be arranged in advance of the due date.
• At the beginning of the course, students with documented special needs are expected to inform me of accommodations or services needed for successful academic participation.
• In accordance with the School of Arts and Sciences’ Academic Code of Conduct (p. 40 of SAS Catalog), it is a "violation of the requirements of intellectual responsibility to submit work that is not one’s own or otherwise to subvert the conditions under which academic work is performed by oneself or others." Penalties for cheating and plagiarism include failure on a given assignment or failure in the course.

Schedule of Classes