Women’s & gender studies

ASSIGNMENT CRITERIA

Directions: This is one assignment consisting of responses to three short essays of 500 words each as directed below. The responses must include and analytically integrate information and theories presented in textbooks Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality 5^th edition Edited by Nancy Mandell, 2010 and Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader 2^nd Edition by Andrea Medovarski and Brenda Cranney, 2006. You must draw on content from two sections (see below) in each essay response in providing concrete examples. If you cannot find something topic relative only in Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader based on the topic choices no worries just use another source maybe from the website options I provided that should suffice.

The three topic choices are:

1. What is the biggest challenge to women’s rights, empowerment, and well-being today? What are some of the strategies of resistance and/or solutions to this challenge? What contributions have feminists made to address this challenge and how successful have their efforts been?
2. How are women affected by gender and race? What are some of the barriers that women of colour face? What unearned benefits do white women gain from white privilege?
3. What are some of the differences in the power and privilege between women of different classes? In what ways does a woman’s class status affect her social status and shape her experiences?

Below I itemized the topic sections that were covered in preparation for this assignment. I have included what were mandatory readings and some web resources that have been recommended in the course as additional sources. Again each of the three short essay MUST have citing from Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality as a absolute and something from Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader that is topic relevant if at all possible.

SECTION TOPIC – DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENCE

Required Readings were

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, read:

• “Biting the Hand that Feeds Me: Notes on Privilege from a White Anti-Racist Feminist” by Nancy Chater

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, of course only something that is relevant to topics being written on;

• “The Boundaries of Identity at the Intersection of Race, Class and Gender” by Didi Khayatt

• “‘The Queen and I’: Discrimination Against Women in the Indian Act Continues” by Lynn Ghel
• “Regulated Narratives in Anti-Homophobia Education: Complications in Coming Out Stories” by Gulzar Raisa Charania

Websites that were recommended that you could use relevant to what you choose to write on if applicable.

Muslimah Media Watch http://muslimahmediawatch.org/ and http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2009/07/on-muslim-women-feminism-and-diversity-of-experiences/

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SECTION TOPIC – WOMEN, WORK, AND CARE GIVING

Required Readings were

From Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, read:

• Chapter 9, “Mothers’ Maintenance of Families through Market and Family Care Relations” by Amber Gazso

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, of course only something that is relevant to topics being written on;

• “Sewing Solidarity: The Eaton’s Strike of 1912” by Ruth A. Frager
• “Freedom for Whom? Globalization and Trade from the Standpoint of Garment Workers” by Roxana Ng
• “Mothering Mythology in the Late 20th Century: Science, Gender Lore and Celebratory Narrative” by Pamela Courtenay Hall
• “The Social Policy Snare: Keeping Women Out of University” by Jennifer Nicole Hines
• “Same-Sex Rights for Lesbian Mothers: Child Custody and Adoption” by Jennifer L. Schulenberg

Website recommendations dependent of your topic choice

Media for social change @ http://citizenshift.org/categories/gender

The Feminist eZine @ http://www.lilithgallery.com/feminist/

Media Awareness Network @ http://www.lilithgallery.com/feminist/

Independent Lens @ http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/jeans.html

Women’s News Network @ http://womennewsnetwork.net/

Citizenship Media for social change @ http://citizenshift.org/my-cultural-divide-clip-1

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SECTION TOPIC – BODIES AND REPRESENTATIONS

Required Readings were

From Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, read:

• Chapter 6, “Exacting Beauty: Exploring Women’s Body Projects and Problems in the 21st Century” by Carla Rice

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, of course only something that is relevant to topics being written on;

•  “Model Athletes: Advertising Images of Women in Sport in Canada , 1950-2006” by Jennifer Ellison
• “Erasing Race: The Story of Reena Virk” by Yasmin Jiwani

Website recommendations dependent of your topic choice

About-Face @ http://www.about-face.org/

Adios Barbie @ http://www.adiosbarbie.com/

Body Positive @ http://www.bodypositive.com/

Fat!So? @ http://fatso.com/

Fat and Feminist Large Women’s Health Experiences @ http://www.fwhc.org/health/fatfem.htm

New Socialist @ http://newsocialist.org/

The Old Women’s Project @ http://www.oldwomensproject.org/

Real Women Project @ http://www.realwomenproject.org/

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SWCTION TOPIC   – VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Required Reading were

From Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, read:

• Chapter 7, “Violence against Women” by Lisa Rosenberg and Ann Duffy

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, of course only something that is relevant to topics being written on;

•  “Some Reflections on Violence Against Women” by Radhika Coomaraswamy
• “Judging Women: The Pernicious Effects of Rape Mythology” by Janice Du Mont and Deborah Parnis
• “Commemoration for the Montreal Massacre Victims” by Ursula Franklin
• “Taking Off the Gender Lens in Women’s Studies: Queering Violence Against Women” by Janice Ristock

Website recommendations dependent of your topic choice

Communities against Violence Network @ http://www.cavnet2.org/

Ibiblio,org @ http://www.cavnet2.org/

Anti-violence Project @ http://www.avp.org/publications.htm

Ontario Women’s Justice Network @ http://www.owjn.org/

SECTION TOPIC  – WOMEN AND HEALTH

Required Readings were

From Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, read:

• Chapter 11, “Underpinnings and Understandings of Girls’ and Women’s Health” by Diana L. Gustafson

From Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, of course only something that is relevant to topics being written on;

•  “The Women’s Health Movement: Looking Back and Moving Forward” by Madeline Boscoe, Gwynne Basen, Ghislaine Alleyne, Barbara Bourrier-LaCroix, & Susan White
• “Rural Women’s Health Issues in Canada : An Overview and Implications for Policy and Research” by Beverly D. Leipert
• “The Shattered Dreams of African-Canadian Nurses” by Najja Nwofia Modibo

Website recommendations dependent of your topic choice

Canadian Women’s Health Network @ http://www.cwhn.ca/en

Our Bodies Ourselves @ http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/

Prairie Women’s Health @ http://www.pwhce.ca/