Course Code: DWS

Course Title: Women's Studies

College: Adult Continuing Education, Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences

Duration: 2 years

Teaching Mode: Part-Time

Lectures and workshops.  The programme will be run one night per week [Wednesday 7.00pm - 10.00pm] over a two-year period with some sessions on Saturday.

Venue: UCC

Qualifications: Cert / Dip

NFQ Level: Level 6/7

NFQ Award Type: Minor

Costs: €990 per academic year

Entry Requirements: Normally, applicants will be at least 21 years of age by 1 January of the year of application. However, applicants who have appropriate training and experience, but who are not yet 21 years, may be deemed suitable by the selection committee. English Language Requirement: All applicants whose first language is not English must have attained IELTS Level 6 or the equivalent TOEFL score. Candidates who successfully complete First Year may opt not to proceed to Second Year and may exit the programme with a Certificate in Women’s Studies. Diploma programmes are offered subject to a minimum number of eligible applicants registering for the programme. Following completion of year 1 of this programme, should a sufficient number of eligible students not wish to progress form year 1 to year 2 of this programme as to make the year 2 viable, students will graduate with a certificate at that point. Programme viability is determined by reference to fee income and applicable costs in running the programme.

Closing Date: TBC

Next Intake: September 2018 (TBC)

The Diploma in Women's Studies focuses on the changed and changing roles of women, delving into areas of knowledge relevant to women's lives today. This course challenges negative stereotypes of women, treats women’s experiences as equal in importance to those of men and identifies values, traditions, practices, and perspectives that can be considered distinctively female.

You become aware of gender constructions found in all areas of your own lives, allowing you to better prepare for our contemporary world where family and work are rapidly changing around gendered issues, including care for children, sexuality, and new definitions of family life and roles. Whatever your ideals and beliefs, you will be better able to make informed decisions about the debates and concerns underlying changing policies and legislative issues after completing this course.

Click on any module code for a detailed module description.

DWS includes 12 modules that cover a wide range of topics, and introduce students to analyses of the structural and cultural underpinnings of sexism and women's inequality. 

The modules for year one and year two of the course are as follows: 

Year 1 Modules:

• AD1013: An Introduction to Women's Studies (5 credits)
  Students will study extracts, historical and contemporary, from a range of relevant international and Irish theorists.
• AD1014: Women and History (5 credits)
  The module focuses on issues such as women and family, ideas on female sexuality and fertility control, nineteenth and early twentieth century campaigns on sexual crime and against the Contagious Diseases Acts, and women's campaigns for the vote.
• AD1016: Women's Movement (5 credits)
  A range of historical and contemporary issues will be covered which may include the vote, women's right to work, social welfare, and reproductive rights.
• AD1017: Women, Gender and Conflict (5 credits)
  The experience of war has had major implications for our understandings of both masculinity and femininity. This module examines the gendered dimensions of war, by taking into account how wars have been experienced and remembered. It will discuss the impact of war and conflict on women by examining torture, genocide, and experiences of refugees.
• AD1018: Women and Sexuality (5 credits)
  Examines the concepts of sex and gender as they are defined in sociological literature, focusing on how social contexts (i.e., education, employment, family, sexuality and reproduction, etc.) construct gender which, in turn, shapes future opportunities for individuals in society.
• AD1033: Women in Ireland (5 credits)
  It may include discussion of all or some of the following topics; women and social policy, and women and politics. An important aspect of the module is that it will focus on issues current in the media in the year of delivery.

Year 2 Modules:

• AD2003: Women and Development (5 credits)
  This module will examine the longstanding tensions and emerging areas of overlap between traditionally separate domains of development and women from feminist perspectives.
  
  This module will be an introduction to gender concepts and relations of gender and development policy and development process. It will discuss the issue of development in practice and women's lives and livelihoods in different contexts, such as rural areas, dry-lands areas, etc.
• AD2004: Women and Philosophy (5 credits)
  To examine the ways in which philosophy, as a reflective and critical activity, can assist women in attaining better understandings of themselves, others and their environment. And the extent to which the women's movement has contributed to making families more egalitarian.
• AD2005: Women, Work and Family (5 credits)
  The module focuses on such issues as: dual-career and dual-work families, effects of maternal employment on children, impact of child care and elder care on the workplace, and parental leave and other workplace supports for families. Looking at both the past and the present, students will examine the changing nature and patterns of women's work, the meaning work has for women, and the value of women's work to our society.
• AD2006: Women, Art and Culture (5 credits)
  Though specific content may vary from year to year, it will involve issues such as the presentation of women in art, women as artists, and women as audience. Key issues include the relevance of women's position in society to contemporary evaluations of women's art and cultural products and to supporting and challenging gendered assumptions about them.
• AD2007: Women, Memory and Identity (5 credits)
  This module offers a multifaceted and interdisciplinary look at the relationship between women, memory and identity, focusing on the interaction between collective memory and forms of political identity such as nationality, citizenship, and ethnicity.
  
  In this module students will draw on feminist literature to explore issues such as the impact of gender, ethnicity, race, and cultural heritage on individual and collective memory and identity formation.
• AD2015: Women and Literature (5 credits)
  The course may include all or some of the following literatures: English, Irish, Italian, Canadian, Arabic and Hebrew ones.

Rola (Hamed) Abu Zeid – O'Neill
Programme Co-ordinator
E-mail: r.azoneill@ucc.ie