Women Studies

Choose a Canadian issue, person, event, theory, or movement about which you are particularly passionate and on which you can collect relevant data (Pick from topics given) . The issue must pertain to women and gender in Canada. Research it extensively; remember to think with an analytical lens attentive to the intersectionality of privilege and oppression; and write critically with support for a clear argument. This is not simply a descriptive research paper. It should have a thesis statement that is supported by evidence and a discernible analysis. Use a wide array of sources. A research essay of this size should have at least 7 sources (scholarly books and journal articles). These sources can include up to two articles from your textbooks. The paper ought to be 8-10 typed, double-spaced pages, including citations, and a bibliography.

Please note: All topics not chosen from the list under Handouts must be approved by the course instructor.
(I attached the final with the topics, pick one of those).

When preparing or choosing your essay topic for the major research paper, consider one of the following topics within a Canadian context: women and poverty, women and work, women and violence, the glass ceiling, women and unions or women and politics. If you choose a topic like women and violence or women and religion try to narrow the topic down to a particular practice and period of time.

Once you have narrowed down your topic, decide whether you will use an historical or sociological method in your research. In general, if you choose a feminist thinker, event or movement from the past, you will want to adopt an historical methodology in your analysis by which you place the relevant texts, activism, thinker, etc. into an historical feminist context. To what feminist movement did the person contribute? Did the movement or the person contribute to additional rights for women in Canada and have the gains been sustained? Thinking about intersectionality, what factors of privilege or oppression were either considered or ignored by the person or movement you are researching? If you choose to look at an outstanding historical figure, keep in mind that this is a research paper, not a biographical paper. You are not simply to describe the person’s career in activism, but rather to make a particular argument about the person’s contribution to a specific feminist movement in the past, or her particular politics, activist strategy, theoretical or social biases, etc.

If you choose a contemporary issue or event, you will likely want to use a sociological methodology in order to collect relevant quantitative data on the incidence or relevance of a social problem. Analyse the factors involved in a particular social development or concern affecting women in Canada and why we see specific social or political effects. Using an intersectional lens, what factors of privilege or oppression are relevant to an analysis of the issue or event you are researching? The Statistics Canada Database can be very helpful in locating sociological data on gender in Canada. Remember that this is not to be a persuasive or descriptive paper on the issue. You must present concrete evidence of an issue related to women and/or gender in Canada, rather than support an opinion.

In addition, please incorporate a personal response to your findings and the importance of the issue, the struggle, the gains or the retreat in your conclusion

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