Gender Studies

Gender Studies at the University of Melbourne is an inspiring transdisciplinary program that offers students the potential to learn about key issues such as sexual difference, gender equity, queer politics, and sexuality, from a variety of thought-provoking and provocative perspectives. Gender Studies provides a refreshing alternative to single discipline based approaches to the study of culture and society as it gives students the opportunity to develop a broad range of research skills from both the Humanities and Social Sciences. The program addresses wide-ranging issues including globalisation and the impact of gender and sexuality on a range of discourses embedded within diverse cultures and histories. Gender always intersects with other categories such as age, class, and race, and is therefore never studied in isolation. This makes it a richly diverse subject that engages with, and sometimes seeks solutions to, many of the pressing concerns of our time.

Gender Studies students stand out from the crowd because of the distinctive skills base they are able to offer potential employers. Our graduates possess exceptional skills in creative and critical thinking, powers of textual and visual analysis, and writing and communication. The training our students receive in the role of gender in everyday life and in global cultures also provides crucial preparation for dealing with the gendered nature of the workplace. Graduates from Gender Studies have gone on to pursue highly successful careers in the fields of equal opportunities and human rights; international development; law and policing; media and advertising; politics and public service; teaching and academia; banking and the corporate world; and the creative arts.

The program draws on a core of subjects taught by lecturers in gender studies and a stimulating range of elective subjects available within other disciplines. These include subjects drawn from anthropology, art history, Australian Indigenous studies, cinema studies, criminology, English, French, history, history and philosophy of science, Islamic studies, linguistics and applied linguistics, philosophy, political science, social theory and sociology. The variety of subjects on offer enables students to gain a crucial grounding in both critical and cultural theory and empirical research.

Under the guidance of its recently appointed Director, Professor Jeanette Hoorn, the core teaching staff in Gender Studies at Melbourne, consisting of Dr. Kalissa Alexeyeff, Dr. Nicholas Chare, and Dr. Maree Pardy, provides an ideal balance of Humanities and Social Sciences experience. The Gender Studies program is situated in the warm and welcoming environment of the Faculty of Arts on the main campus of the University.

Gender Studies, which is currently taught as a minor within the BA, is transdisciplinary and draws on the diverse interests of specialists located throughout the Faculty. The first year subject Introducing Gender: Sex, Sport & Film will be offered for the first time in 2012 and will be compulsory for those intending to complete a minor in Gender Studies. Core subjects taught at second and third year are Anthropology of Gender and Sexuality; Sex Gender and Power, Genders, Bodies, Borders and The Future of Sex and Gender. The number of core subjects will be increased and diversified in 2013. These are taken together with a choice from a list of electives drawn from subjects located throughout the schools of the Faculty of Arts.