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GWS Graduate Course Descriptions

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For official UIC catalog description, please see link above. The following course descriptions offer a more in-depth view of GWS courses and their objectives.

GWS 403: Culture and Sexuality: Cultural History of Same-Sex Relations
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as HIST 403

Exciting literature that has appeared in gay and lesbian history is examined in this course. We follow the field's development from the early work published in the 1970s to books and articles that are hot off the press. Topics include the varieties of gay and lesbian identities that have appeared in different historical eras, the emergence of urban communities over the last two hundred years, the interplay between sexuality, gender, class, and culture in the construction of sexual identities, and the rise of social movements organized around sexuality. Readings cover political, social, and cultural history.
Prerequisite: Junior standing, or consent of the instructor.

GWS 406: Politics of Race, Gender, and Class
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as AAST 406

This course examines the formation of social status categories, individual and collective identity construction, the mechanisms of group-based marginalization and stigmatization; relationship between social status categories.
Prerequisites: AAST 100 or GWS 102 or GWS 101; or graduate or professional standing; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 412: Women and the Environment
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as ARCH 412

This course will interrogate the value of assuming a gendered perspective in conceptualizing and critiquing the plan and design, representation, and form of the built and natural environment, the distribution of spatial and physical resources, and environmental experience. The course will examine these perspectives through a multi-disciplinary lens. The context for this inquiry will be contemporary theoretical and empirical inquiries, and design and planning practices primarily in the United Sates. The objective is to foster the development of a critical understanding of gender and space.
Prerequisite: Advanced undergraduate or graduate standing, or consent of the instructor.

GWS 413: French Feminist and Gender Theory
3 or 4 hours, Same as FR 413

An introduction to French theories of gender, including feminisms influenced by Lacanian psychoanalysis, political philosophy, and multicultural studies. May be used for credit in the French major only with consent of the director of undergraduate studies. Taught in English. Students who intend to use French 413 toward the major in French must complete assignments in French.
Prerequisite(s) : FR 301 or FR 302; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 419: Public Health Aspects of Sexuality and Women's Health
3 credit hours, Same as CHSC 419

This class provides an overview of human sexuality from a public health view with special emphasis on family planning, sexuality, and behavior effects on women's health.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing; or junior standing or above with consent of the instructor.

GWS 424: Gender, Crime, and Justice
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as CRJ 424

This course offers an in-depth examination of the etiology of female crime and the involvement of females in the criminal justice system as offenders, victims, and workers/professionals.
Prerequisites: CRJ 101 and 220; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 425: Sociology Of Gender
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as SOC 424

Utilizing a sociological perspective, this upper-division course focuses on gender as a fundamental principle that organizes contemporary society. We begin by considering varied approaches to theorizing about gender. We then apply and continue to develop the lens of gender to consider the following areas of social life: sexuality; reproduction; education; parenting; work/family interfaces; migration, and popular culture. As we explore these areas, we will interrogate how gender shapes and is shaped by various social contexts and social institutions. A basic assumption of this course is that gender intersects with other social dimensions such as race/ethnicity, class, age, and sexuality. Throughout the course, we will investigate the complex intersections between gender and these other lines of difference and inequality.
Prerequisite: 6 Hours of upper division sociology or gender and women's studies courses or consent of the instructor.

GWS 428: Asian American Women in the Global Economy
3 or 4 Credit Hours, Same as ASAM 428 and SOC 428

 This course examines the racialization and feminization of a global division of labor and focuses primarily on Asian and Asian American women's participation and incorporation as workers and key actors in the development of the global economy.
Prerequisite(s) : ASAM 125 or ENGL 125 or SOC 125 or AAST 225 or LALS 225 or SOC 225 or ASAM 228 or ASST 228 or SOC 228 or ASAM 290 or Two 200-level courses in either SOC, GWS or ASAM, or a combination of these.

GWS 439: Gender and Cultural Production
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as GER 439

This course examines issues of gender representation and gender politics through the use of theoretical texts or through the study of women authors. This course is taught in English, but students who use the course toward a degree offered by the Department in Germanic Studies will do assignments in German.
Prerequisite: Ger 212 or consent of the instructor. May be repeated once if content varies.

GWS 441 Introduction To Maternal And Child Health
3 credit hours, Same as CHSC 441

This course concentrates on women of childbearing age, pregnant women, infants and children from one through 21 years. This course provides an introduction to the health needs of women and children and to the delivery of services designed to meet these needs. The course includes an introduction to the epidemiology of maternal and child health, data-based needs assessment, program planning and program evaluation. The course provides students with a comprehensive knowledge base with respect to Title V/MCH and other public programs addressing the health and welfare of women and children.
Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Recommended background: Some knowledge of maternal and child health issues.

443 Topics in Gender, Sexuality and Literature
3 OR 4 credit hours, Same as ENGL 443

Specific study of topics in gender and literature. Content varies. May be repeated up to 1 time(s).
Prerequiste(s): ENGL 361 or ENGL 362 or ENGL 363 or GWS 101 or GWS 102; and senior standing or above; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 444 Topics in Theories of Gender and Sexuality
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as ENGL 444

Advanced study of topics related to theories of gender and sexuality. May be repeated up to 1 time(s).
Prerequiste(s): ENGL 361 or ENGL 362 or ENGL 363 or GWS 101 or GWS 102; and senior standing or above; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 450 Women and Mental Health Nursing
3 credit hours, Same as NUSC 450, NUWH 450

This overview course will review traditional theories of women's psychology, discuss the impact of women's daily lives on their mental health, and look at how and why women become mentally ill. Developing understanding of gender differences in mental illness and new approaches to understanding women and helping them gain control over their lives will be presented.
Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Students enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences must have credit in PSCH 100 and either PSCH 270 or Psych 315 or GWS 315.

462 AIDS, Politics and Culture
3 OR 4 hours, Same as HIST 462

Introduction to the study of AIDS as a medical, social, political and cultural construction. Explores the epidemiology of AIDS, the politics of the state's response, how activists have addressed AIDS, and media representations of AIDS.
Prerequisite(s) : GWS 101 or GWS 102 or GWS 203 or GWS 214 and junior standing or above; or consent of the instructor.

GWS 469 Women's Literary Traditions
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as ENGL 469

Is there anything special or distinctive about writing by women, or bout the way women read? This course explores canonical and popular works by women writers and their literary traditions. Discussions may include rhetoric, creative writing, pedagogy, popular culture, feminist theory, factors that enable creativity, and differences of race and class.
Prerequisite(s) : ENGL 361 or ENGL 362 or ENGL 363; and senior standing or above; or consent of instructor.

GWS 472 Women and Film
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as AH 434, and ENGL 472

This course will explore the social, psychological and political issues that inform the cinematic representation of women. We will consider the production, distribution and reception of films from both mainstream and alternative sources. In an effort to investigate the gaps that exist between stereotypic images of women and the wide diversity of women's lived experiences, we will pay particular attention to the work of feminists who offer a challenge to mainstream genres.
Prerequisite(s) : ENGL 302 or ENGL 342 or ENGL 361 or ENGL 362 or ENGL 363; and senior standing or above; or consent of instructor.

GWS 478: Women in Chinese History
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as ASST 478, and HIST 478

This course focuses on scholarship on women in Chinese society throughout history, dealing with topics such as marriage and family, literacy, career options, women in revolution and the historiography of the field. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Recommended background: Previous course work in Chinese history or gender and women's studies.

GWS 484: Topics in the History of Women
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as HIST 484

This course examines different historical topics in the field of gender and women's studies.
Prerequisite: Three hours of history or gender and women's studies or consent of the instructor. Content varies. May be repeated for credit. Students may register for more than 1 section per term.

GWS 485: Gender and Politics
3 or 4 credit hours, Same as POLS 485

This course will be a seminar on the interrelation between traditional understandings of politics and gender as a social construct. By examining the exclusion of the gendered body from the realms of what we call the political, and reexamining the preconceptions by which we distinguish the public from the private and the political from the social, we may come to a better understanding of the relation between politics as it has been classically defined and women as political objects and subjects. The object of our study, then, is the impact of analyses of gendered differences on Western conceptions of the political, as much as it is the politicization of gender.
Prerequisite: POLS 190 and one 200-level course in political theory or consent of the instructor.

GWS 490: Advanced Topics in the Study of Sexuality
3 or 4 credit hours

This course examines advanced topics in the field of sexuality studies.
Prerequisite: 3 hours of GWS or consent of the instructor. Content varies. May be repeated for credit. Students may register for more than one section per term

GWS 494: Advanced Topics in Gender and Women's Studies
3 or 4 credit hours

This course examines advanced topics in the field of gender and women's studies. Previous topics include: Violence Against Women; Women in 20 th Century Britain ; Women in the Middle East ; and Sex, Disease and the City in African History.
Prerequisite: Senior or graduate standing. Content varies. May be repeated for credit. Students may register for more than one section per term

GWS 501: Feminist Theories
4 credit hours

Incorporating both historical and contemporary feminist theory, this interdisciplinary course examines significant trends in the analysis of gender and sexuality, and the intersection of those trends with analyses of power, difference, and equality. Emphasizing the interrelatedness of theory and practice, the course will include national and non-U.S. based critiques of mainstream concepts, including identity, agency, representation, etc.
This is a required course for the graduate concentration in GWS.

GWS 502: Research Approaches in Gender and Women's Studies
4 credit hours

This course will introduce graduate students to a variety of research approaches in gender and women's studies, with an emphasis on interdisciplinarity in terms of method and intersectionality in terms of identity. While interrogating the epistemological basis of feminist knowledge production, students will develop the ability to critique research through a feminist lens. Specific themes or topics will be examined from the perspectives of multiple disciplines, and students will be asked to undertake interdisciplinary approaches in their own research by moving out of their accustomed disciplines and/or combining them with others. Final research projects will involve formulating a broad research question and then designing an appropriate interdisciplinary project around it.
This is a required course for the graduate concentration in GWS.

GWS 514: Gender Issues in Cross-Cultural Perspectives
4 credit hours, Same as ANTH 514

Selected substantive and theoretical issues in the cross-cultural study of gender roles, conceptions, and relations.
Prerequisite(s) : ANTH 500 or consent of the instructor.

GWS 515: Psychology of Women and Gender
4 credit hours, Same as PSCH 515

This course contrasts a range of theories on women and gender, including biological, psychoanalytic, socialization, power and social constructionist perspectives to examine women's and men's behavior and attitudes.
Prerequisite(s) : Graduate standing in psychology; or PSCH 315 or GWS 315, and consent of the instructor.

521 Violence Against Women
4 hours, Same as PSYCH 521

This seminar examines the extent, causes, and consequences of sexual assault, intimate partner violence (e.g., domestic violence, dating violence), and sexual harassment, and considers the impact of culture and community on violence and its victims. We will focus on current controversies in research on male violence against women and we will also consider violence by women.
Prerequisite(s) : Consent of the instructor.

GWS 525 Social Work with Women
3 credit hours, Same as SOCW 525

This course is designed to expand knowledge of theory, research, policy, and practice approaches for working with women in diverse settings. Traditional and feminist practice approaches to problems that frequently confront women in an urban context will be critically examined for the extent they empower clients, taking race/ethnicity, economics, and sexual orientation into account. This course is organized around empowerment and diversity perspectives, and the classroom will provide an environment in which all participants will explore their own power to effect change in their lives, with their clients, and in society.
Prerequisite: SOCW 410 or consent of the instructor.

GWS 540 Language and Gender
3 credit hours, Same as LING 540

Being female or being male may seem as natural to us as breathing. If so, part of our identity is rooted in biology. Yet, many researchers distinguish biology from behavior or sex from gender. Identity is seen as something we do, someone we achieve, or a person we perform. A major tool of performance is language. If gender identity is something we perform, how do we perform this through language? In this class, we explore how gender is constructed through language, both as an object of research and as a category of experience, action, and opportunity. It is a class in sociolinguistics, a field of research which focuses on interactions between categories of social experience, language use, and language change..

GWS 547: Race, Class, And Gender Dimensions Of Crime and Justice
4 credit hours, Same as CRJ 547

This course is designed for graduate students in criminal justice and other social science disciplines who have a basic familiarity with the theoretical concepts and applied dimensions of criminology, and some background in research. The primary goal of the course is to develop an understanding of the definitions, patterns and responses to crime from a perspective that incorporates an analysis of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, and sexualities as central variables. Through readings, class discussions, and written assignments, students will critically examine issues and topics that are of particular concern to scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, and advocates who approach their work from this perspective.

GWS 583 Women in Education
4 credit hours, Same as PS 583

An overview of girl's and women's educational experiences and placement within the academic structure (as students, professionals and intellectuals). The impact of gender on the realization of educational, economic and social opportunities.
Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor or enrollment in the Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education Program.

GWS 594: Special Topics in Gender and Women's Studies
1 to 4 credit hours

This graduate course examines special topics in the field of gender and women's studies. Previous course topics include: Queer Theory; Sexuality, the City and Social Change, Theories and Representations of Embodiment; and Popular Culture in the Americas : Case Studies in Race, Gender and Sexuality.
Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor or one course in gender and women's studies. Content varies. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 hours of credit. Students may register for more than one section per term.

GWS 596: Independent Study
1 to 4 hours

Topics and plan of study must be approved by the instructor. May be repeated. Students may register in more than one section per term.
Prerequisite(s) : Consent of the instructor.

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