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3. WGST 401: Contemporary Feminist Theory (Rev. C4)

WGST 401: Contemporary Feminist Theory (Rev. C4) Report a Broken Link

This course offers an overview of feminist theories and women’s movements in Canada and elsewhere in the world, and a critical discussion of varieties of feminism as they certain to issues of gender violence, reproduction, work, families and sexuality.

All of your required readings are available electronically.

If you come across a broken link, please contact your tutor.

We strongly recommend that you become familiar with the databases available through the Athabasca University Library. The Library offers an excellent tutorial to help you use the databases effectively.

Required Readings

Unit 1

Smith, Bonnie G. “Introduction.” In Global Feminisms Since 1945, edited by Bonnie G. Smith, pp. 1-10. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. (This article is downloadable only.)

Gotell, Lise, and Barbara Crow. “Introduction: What Is Women’s Studies?” In Open Boundaries: A Canadian Women's Studies Reader, 3rd ed., edited by Barbara Crow and Lise Gotelle, pp. 1-9. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. (This article is downloadable only.)

Gotell, Lise, and Barbara Crow. “Who Is the Woman of Canadian Women’s Studies? Theoretical Interventions.” In Open Boundaries: A Canadian Women's Studies Reader, 3rd ed., edited by Barbara Crow and Lise Gotelle, pp. 11-17. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. (This article is downloadable only.)

Bannerji, Himani. “Introducing Racism: Notes Towards an Anti-Racist Feminism.” Resources for Feminist Research, vol. 16, no. 1 (March 1987): 10-12. (This article is downloadable only.)

Dua, Enakshi. “Introduction: Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought: Scratching the Surface.” In Scratching the Surface: Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought, edited by Enakshi Dua and Angela Robertson, pp. 7-32. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1999.

Armstrong, Jeannette. “Invocation: The Real Power of Aboriginal Women.” In Women of the First Nations: Power, Wisdom, and Strength, edited by Christine Miller and Patricia Chuchryk, pp. ix-xii. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1996.

Pinterics, Natasha. “Riding the Feminist Waves: In with the Third?” Canadian Woman Studies/ les cahiers de la femme, vol. 20/21, no. 4/1 (Winter/Spring 2001): 15-21.

Snyder, Claire R. “What Is Third-wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 34, no. 1 (Autumn 2008): 175-97.

Unit 2

Corcoran-Nantes, Yvonne. “Female Consciousness or Feminist Consciousness? Women’s Consciousness Raising in Community-based Struggles in Brazil.” In Viva: Women and Popular Protest in Latin America, edited by Sarah A. Radcliffe and Sallie Westwood, pp. 136-155, 227-228, 250-251. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.

Oduol, Wilhelmina, and Wanjika Mukabi Kabira. “The Mother of Warriors and Her Daughters: The Women’s Movement in Kenya.” In The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective, edited by Amrita Basu, pp. 187-208. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995.

Louie, Miriam Ching Yoon. “Minjung Feminism: Korean Women’s Movement for Gender and Class Liberation.” Women’s Studies International Forum, vol. 18, no. 4 (July-August 1995): 417-30.

Evans, Sara. “Decade of Discovery: The Personal Is Political.” In Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America, pp. 263-286. New York: Free Press, 1997.

Mackie, Vera. “Feminist Critiques of Modern Japanese Politics.” New Left Review I, issue 167: (1988): 53-76.

Brodie, Janine. “The Great Undoing: State Formation, Gender Politics, and Social Policy in Canada.” In Western Welfare in Decline: Globalization and Women’s Poverty, edited by C. Kingfisher, pp. 90-110. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.

Trimble, Linda, and Jane Arscott. “Halfway to Equal?” In Still Counting: Women in Politics across Canada, pp. 157-166. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2003.

Majury, Diana. “Women’s (In)Equality before and after the Charter.” In Women’s Legal Strategies in Canada, edited by Radha Jhappan, pp. 101-138. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Ouellete, Grace. “The Aboriginal Women’s Movement.” In The Fourth World: An Indigenous Perspective on Feminism and Women’s Activism, pp. 29-52. Halifax: Fernwood Press, 2002.

Thobani, Sunera. “War Frenzy and Women’s Rights.” Retrieved October 26, 2011, from the website of GlobalResearch.ca, Centre for Research on Globalization.

Unit 3

Tétreault, Mary Ann. “Women and Revolution in Viet Nam.” Women and International Development Working Papers, no. 223 (1991).

Armstrong Pat, and Hugh Armstrong. “Thinking It Through: Women, Work and Caring in the New Millennium.” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme, vol. 21/22, no. 4/1 (Spring/Summer, 2002): 44-50.

Armstrong, Pat. “Restructuring Public and Private: Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work.” In Challenging the Public/Private Divide: Feminism, Law, and Public Policy, edited by Susan Boyd, pp. 37-61. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Hadley, Karen. (2003). " And We Still Ain't Satisfied": A Report on Gender and Income Inequality in Canada. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, 28(1), 3-18.

Fudge, Judy, and Leah F. Vosko. “Gender Paradoxes and the Rise of Contingent Work: Towards a Transformative Political Economy of the Labour Market.” In Changing Canada: Political Economy as Transformation, edited by Wallace Clement and Leah F. Vosko, pp. 183-209. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003.

Badran, Margot. “Claiming Public Space.” In Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt, pp. 47-60. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Kline, Marlee. “Complicating the Ideology of Motherhood: Child Welfare Law and First Nation Women.” Queen’s Law Journal, vol. 18, no. 2 (1993): 306-342.

Teghtsoonian, Katherine. “Who Pays for Caring for Children? Public Policy and the Devaluation of Women’s Work.” In Challenging the Public/Private Divide: Feminism, Law, and Public Policy, edited by Susan Boyd, pp. 113-143. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Racioppi, Linda, and Katherine O’Sullivan See. “Organizing Women before and after the Fall: Women’s Politics in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture in Society, vol. 20, no. 4 (Summer, 1995): 818-850.

Boyd, Susan B., and Claire F. L. Young. “‘From Same-Sex to No Sex?’: Trends Towards the Recognition of (Same-Sex) Relationships in Canada.” Seattle Journal for Social Justice, vol.1, no. 3 (Spring/Summer, 2003): 757-793.

Unit 4

Darling-Wolf, Fabienne. “From Airbrushing to Liposuction: The Technological Reconstruction of the Female Body.” In Women’s Bodies, Women’s Lives: Health, Well-being, and Body Image, edited by B. Miedema, J. M. Stoppard, and V. Anderson, pp. 277-293. Toronto: Harcourt Brace.

Lord, Cassandra. “The Silencing of Sexuality.” In Turbo Chicks: Talking Young Feminisms, edited by A. Mitchel, B. Rundle and L. Karaian, pp. 207-212. Toronto: Sumach Press, 2001.

Overall, Christine. “Heterosexuality and Feminist Theory.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 20, no. 1 (March, 1990): 1-17.

Rice, Carla. “Between Body and Culture: Beauty, Ability, and Growing Up Female.” In Gender, Race, and Nation: A Global Perspective, edited by V. Dhruvarajan and J. Vickers, pp. 147-183. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 5, no. 4 (Summer, 1980): 631-660. Note: You may need to use the Periodicals Archive Online search engine to find the article. We recommend that you use the article title as your search term.

Valverde, Mariana. “Lesbianism: A Country That Has No Language.” In Sex, Power, and Pleasure, pp. 75-108. Toronto: The Women’s Press, 1985.

Young, Claire, and Susan Boyd. “Losing the Feminist Voice? Debates on the Legal Recognition of Same Sex Partnerships in Canada.” Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 14, no. 2 (August, 2006): 213-240.

Unit 5

Martin, Sheilah L. “Morgentaler v. The Queen in the Supreme Court of Canada.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 2, no. 2 (1986-88): 422-431.

Canadian Abortion Rights Action League. A Special Report to Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Decriminalization of Abortion: Protecting Abortion Rights in Canada. Ottawa: CARAL, 2003.

Wendell, Susan. “Abortion.” In The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability, pp. 151-156, 193. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.

Dhruvarajan, Vanaja. “Feminism, Reproduction, and Reproductive Technologies.” In Gender, Race, and Nation: A Global Perspective, edited by V. Dhruvarajan and J. Vickers, pp. 205-221. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Dawson, T. Brettel. “First Person Familiar: Judicial Intervention in Pregnancy, Again: G. (D. F.). Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 10, no. 1 (1998): 213-228.

Unnithan-Kumar, Maya. “Female Selective Abortion—Beyond Culture: Family Making and Gender Inequality in a Globalising India.” Culture, Health & Sexuality, vol. 12, no. 2 (February, 2010): 153-166. Access article on left side of page where written "PDF Full Text"

Annas, George, J., Lori B. Andrews, and Rosario M. Isasi. “Protecting the Endangered Human: Toward an International Treaty Prohibiting Cloning and Inheritable Alterations.” American Journal of Law & Medicine, vol. 28, no. 2-3 (2002): 151-178.

Shermer Michael. “I, Clone: The Three Laws of Cloning Will Protect Clones and Advance Science.” Scientific American, vol. 288, no. 4 (April, 2003): 38.

Unit 6

Hof, Caroline, and Annemiek, Richters. “Exploring Intersections between Teenage Pregnancy and Gender Violence: Lessons from Zimbabwe.” African Journal of Reproductive Health, vol. 3, no. 1 (May, 1999): 51-65.

Bahar, Saba. “Human Rights Are Women’s Rights; Amnesty International and the Family.” Hypatia, vol. 11, no.1 (Winter, 1996): 105-134.

McNeill, Laurie. “Death and the Maidens: Vancouver’s Missing Women, the Montreal Massacre, and Commemoration’s Blind Spots.” Canadian Review of American Studies, vol. 38, no. 3 (October, 2008): 375-398.

Jiwani, Yasmin. “The 1999 General Social Survey on Spousal Violence: An Analysis.” Canadian Woman Studies/ les cahiers de la femme, vol. 20, no. 3 (2000): 34-40.

Jiwani, Yasmin. “Erasing Race: The Story of Reena Virk.” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme, vol.19, no. 3 (1999): 178-184.

Randall, Melanie. “Sexual Assault Law, Credibility, and ‘Ideal Victims’: Consent, Resistance, and Victim Blaming.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 22, no. 2 (2010): 397-433.

Sheehy, Elizabeth. “Evidence Law and ‘Credibility Testing’ of Women: A Comment on the E Case.” Queensland University of Technology Law and Justice Journal, vol. 2, no. 2 (2002): 157-174.

Razack, Sherene. “Gendered Racial Violence and Spatialized Justice: The Murder of Pamela George.” Canadian Journal of Law and Society, vol. 15, no. 2 (2000): 91-130.