Undergraduate
About Women's Studies and Gender Studies
If you want to understand what makes people tick, then Women's Studies may be just the subject for you. Surprised? Today, Women's Studies and Gender Studies looks into what it means to be a woman or a man in the contemporary world. We look at the institutions that govern our lives: family, government, the media, culture, and so on to understand the many ways that masculinity and femininity function in our different communities.
How to jump in
We provide a wide variety of entrance points into the study of women and gender in culture and society. Whether you are just starting tertiary education and putting together your first undergraduate degree, or continuing on to honours from a BA or a BSocSci, we hope to provide you with stimulating material in a challenging learning environment.
If you just want to add a unit or two to your undergrad degree to round it out, or you are returning to uni to change your focus and are interested in our Graduate Diploma, we hope you'll find what you need.
Undergraduate Programs
Our undergraduate units and programs investigate what it means to be a woman or a man in society and culture. Our units look closely at the impact of gender, sex and sexuality on our lives in a variety of arenas: at home, at work, on the streets, in the classroom. Who are we? Why are we the ways we are? What directions is society taking?
Our programs bring together units in Anthropology, English, Critical and Cultural Studies, History, Law, Media and Communications, Human Geography, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology and many others. We also offer units focused solely on Women’s Studies and Gender (WST110, WST210 and WST310). Our students are women and men, new entry and ‘mature’ age, full-time and part-time.
Can I just take a couple units for interest? Do I have to do a whole degree?
Generally there are three ways that you can undertake study. You may choose to take a one or two (or all three!) of our units as an elective. You can combine your work in another field (like Modern History, Sociology, Human Geography, or Law) with some of our units. Or, of course, you can specialise by choosing a study pattern or coherent study in Gender or Women’s Studies within a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Social Science (BSocSci) degree.