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Programs

Undergraduate Programs

Bachelor of Arts: Women’s and Gender Studies Major (4-Year)

Number of credits required from Athabasca University: 30 credits.

Maximum credit awarded in this program for prior learning through Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) processes: 9 credits.

Program Learning Outcomes

Knowledge Outcomes

As a result of completing this program, students should be able to

  • demonstrate a broad understanding of the diversity of women's experience.
  • exhibit familiarity with the breadth of feminist research methods and approaches and how and why these methods have changed over time.
  • show familiarity with integrating women's studies methods and approaches with other disciplines and also show familiarity with the influences of other disciplines on women's studies.
  • demonstrate familiarity with basic concepts, terminology, controversies and theories in women's studies.

Skills Outcomes

As a result of completing this program, students should be able to

  • demonstrate familiarity and experience with women-centred research methods and analytical techniques and critically analyze their use of these methods and techniques in a cross-disciplinary approach.
  • apply feminist research methods in designing their own research projects.
  • demonstrate insights into ethical questions, with discussion of the elements of solutions, their sources, and qualities of evidence for their resolution.
  • demonstrate an understanding of the history of feminist thought and discuss its influence on how we think about questions and issues across disciplines and in daily life.
  • exhibit university-level skills in academic writing, including research and argumentation, and apply their academic writing skills to women's studies problems and issues.
  • employ basic research skills to access and critically evaluate information that bears on topics in women's studies from scholarly and popular sources, including electronic (web) sources, video and audio sources, archival and printed sources.

Value Outcomes

As a result of completing this program, students should be able to demonstrate a fundamental awareness of

  • the cultural and social bases of human prejudice and discrimination (e.g., sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, agism, classism).
  • feminist insights and alternatives that foster tolerance for diversity of human experience and ways of life.

Possible Career Options

  • Addictions Counsellor
  • Advocate for women’s/children’s rights
  • Program Co-ordinator
  • Researcher
  • Program Advisor
  • Child Welfare Worker
  • Education Co-ordinator
  • Residential Counsellor
  • Lobbyist
  • Journalist
  • Mental Health Care Counsellor
  • Social Service Worker
  • Fundraising Consultant
  • Training and Technical Assistance Specialist
  • Crisis Intervention Worker
  • Life Skills Worker
  • Rehabilitation Advisor
  • Organizer/Co-ordinator
  • English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher

Possible Further Education Options

At Athabasca University

At Other Educational Institutions*

  • graduate studies in women’s studies or other related/unrelated disciplines
  • social work
  • community development
  • human services
  • journalism
  • urban planning
  • law
  • education
  • police studies
  • library science

* Entrance requirements vary among educational institutions. It is the students’ responsibility to research the entrance requirements of other educational institutions.

Updated March 25, 2009