Course Coordinator:Naomi Smith (nsmith7@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
How does society's understanding and construction of sex, gender and sexuality impact how you experience yourself? In this course, you will be critically examining a sociological understanding of gender and explore the connections between gender identity/expression, personal experience and social structures, and the changing social position of cisgender and transgender women and men in contemporary Australia. You are encouraged to examine issues related to gender such as stereotypes, media images of female and male bodies, health, sport and sexual identity and sexual politics.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – 1 hour weekly online tutorial pre-preparation | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus tutorials | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – 1 hour weekly online tutorial pre-preparation | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online tutorials | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
Key terms and debates in gender/sexuality
Understanding and theorizing gender
Women’s liberation, feminisms and masculinity studies
The gender and gender identity/ expression spectrum
Gender, sexuality, culture, and intersectionality, Gender and family life
Gender and work
Gender and violence
Gender, media, and popular culture
Gender, bodies and health
Gender, science, and technology
The future of gender, sexuality, and culture
(Mature content across all topics)
300 Level (Graduate)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Identify and discuss the main elements, terms and perspectives on sociological studies of gender and sexuality. | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Employ a gendered perspective to make sense of substantive social problems and evaluate the appropriateness of particular concepts and ideas for understanding a given social issue. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
| 3 | Develop an advanced critical understanding of recent developments in gender theory (including queer theory, feminism etc) and how they can contribute to transforming society in a more just and participatory direction. | Creative and critical thinker |
| 4 | Apply scholarly writing, research and referencing practices. |
Knowledgeable Empowered Ethical |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
SCS295
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Journal | Individual | 30% | 1,500 words |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Oral and Written Piece | Group | 30% | 10-minute Presentation + 10-minute discussion in class |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Submission |
| All | 3 | Essay | Individual | 40% | 2000 words |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Reflective | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To critically reflect on weekly readings to demonstrate you understand key foundational concepts |
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| Product: | Journal | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | The journal will require you to analyse and critically reflect on the foundational themes presented in the first six weeks of the course. The Journal can be in a format of your choosing (video, poster, power point, written text etc). |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | |||||||||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Presentation analysing the impact of gender experiences in contemporary Australia and facilitated discussion | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | This exercise requires you to use a gendered perspective to develop an advanced critical understanding of how gender affects men, women or non-binary people from a list of provided topics. |
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| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | In groups of 2 or 3, you will present a contemporary gender issue in Australia and hand in the transcript for written evaluation. Presentations will run from Week 6 to Week 12. The specific details will be in your Task 2 folder in Canvas. The presentation should take 10 minutes followed by a class discussion of around 10 minutes duration conducted by the presenters. Questions to stimulate discussion should be posed to the whole class by the presenters at the end of the presentation. You are expected to consult at least six scholarly sources in researching for this presentation, which should be evident in the referencing and reference list. |
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| Criteria: |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Essay | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The demonstration of a comprehensive understanding of the role of gender and culture in the shaping of individual and collective experiences, power structures and identity. |
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| Product: | Essay | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | The essay will require you to investigate, research and analyse one question from a list of topics addressed in the course. Essay topics will be distributed via Canvas in Week 1. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Diane Richardson,Victoria Robinson | 2020 | Introducing Gender and Women's Studies | Fifth | Red Globe Press |
Not applicable
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
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