Director: Dr Katherine Gibson (room S216, Menzies building)
Deputy director: Dr Rose Lucas
Graduate coordinator: Dr Katherine Gibson
The Centre for Women's Studies was established in 1987 and is based in the Faculty of Arts. Its purpose is to encourage and supervise graduate research, to offer subjects in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and to organise seminars, conferences and workshops in the area of women's studies. The centre provides a focus for those interested in gender issues and feminism across the university.
The centre offers the degrees of PhD, MA by research and MA by coursework. The aim of the graduate program is to provide the opportunity for a range of links between staff and students not only between a variety of disciplines within the Faculty of Arts, but also with several vocationally oriented and professional courses offered by other faculties. The centre organises a series of regular staff and graduate seminars on topics of general concern to those engaged in feminist and women's studies. Research students are normally expected to attend these seminars. The centre also organises occasional symposia and conferences. In 1994 we held a half-day seminar on the work of French feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray and a two-day postgraduate student conference `Feminism in transit'.
Members of staff and their fields of special interest
Robin Arianhrod Feminism, science and mathematics (Mathematics).
Chris Atmore Feminist poststructuralist theory, sexual violence and representation, lesbian and gay theories (Anthropology and Sociology).
Susan Blackburn Women in Asia, Indonesian women's movement (Politics).
Robyn Burns Women's health (Social and Preventive Medicine).
Denise Cuthbert English and American women's literature (English).
Gloria Davies Post-colonial theory and feminism (Asian Languages and Studies).
Anne Edwards Women's welfare and social policy, social theory (Anthropology and Sociology).
Joy Fisher Sociology of education, feminist theory, the family (Anthropology and Sociology).
Joanne Finkelstein Media images of women, fashion, cultural studies, sociology of health (Anthropology and Sociology).
Gerald Fitzgerald Gender, sexuality, the body (Greek Roman and Egyptian Studies).
Freida Freiberg Feminist theory (Visual Arts).
Elizabeth Gaze Feminism and law (Law).
Katherine Gibson Anti-essentialist Marxism, feminist geography and industrial restructuring (Women's Studies/Geography and Environmental Science).
Joan Grant Contemporary Asian fiction (Monash Asia Institute).
Karen Green Feminist humanism, sexuality and moral psychology (Philosophy).
Elizabeth Grosz Psychoanalytic theory, French feminism, critical theory (Women's Studies, Philosophy, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies).
Barbara Hatley Indonesian women's literature and theatre (Asian Languages and Studies).
Lucy Healey Gender and social transformation in Southeast Asia, feminist and post-colonial theory (Anthropology and Sociology).
Liza Heslop Caring and nursing (Nursing).
Silke Hesse German women's writing (German).
Rae Langton Feminism, liberalism, pornography (Philosophy).
Rose Lucas Contemporary women's literature and popular culture (Women's Studies, English).
Chris Lloyd Feminism and psychology, sexuality, mental health, research approaches (Anthropology and Sociology).
Anne Marsh Photography, performance art, psychoanalysis (Visual Arts).
Ross Moer Japanese industry and society (Japanese).
Bronwyn Naylor Crime and gender (Law).
Leonie Naughton Feminist film theory, German cinema (Visual Arts).
Pauline Nestor Nineteenth and twentieth-century women's literature (English).
Anne Pauwels Language and discrimination (Linguistics).
Marian Quartly Nineteenth-century women's history (History).
Gillian Robinson Feminism and political theory (Politics).
Alba Romano Women in Roman society (Greek Roman and Egyptian Studies).
Terri Seddon Women and education policy (Education).
Jenny Strauss Australian contemporary fiction and poetry (English).
Ulla Svensson Sociology of work, the family, the welfare state (Anthropology and Sociology).
Terry Threadgold Critical legal studies, performance studies, feminist pedagogy (English).
Helen Thomson Australian women's writing (English).
Georgina Tsolidis Identity, difference, ethnicity and race in Australia (Education).
Jan van Bommel Female subjectivity and madness, sexual division of labour (Anthropology and Sociology).
Annette van den Bosch Feminism, politics and contemporary art (Visual Arts).
Joanne Winter Language, gender and discourse analysis (Linguistics).
PhD
The degree of PhD in women's studies is taken by the submission of a thesis (the normal length is 60-90,000 words), on a topic approved by the director of the centre, at the end of a period of supervised study and research. Candidates for this degree must have obtained a masters degree, or a first or second class honours division A or the equivalent in a course at bachelors level in either women's studies or a field in which feminist approaches were used and developed.
MA by research
The MA by research in women's studies may be completed by research alone. The 100% research MA thesis should normally be 40-60,000 words. Candidates with a BA honours degree with first or second class honours or the equivalent in a relevant discipline are eligible for admission and this research degree may be completed in no more than three years of full-time study or five years of part-time study.
The MA by research in women's studies may also be completed by research plus coursework. Candidates with a pass degree are eligible for admission into the MA Part I by coursework. Students are required to complete subjects in Part I totalling forty-eight points value, and to attain a credit standard in all subjects before proceeding to Part II. Candidates with an honours degree with H1 or H2A honours or the equivalent can enter at Part II of the MA program. In Part II students are required to undertake a 66 per cent thesis and subjects totalling sixteen points value.
The word length of the 66 per cent thesis is approximately 25-35,000 words. The thesis topic will be of an interdisciplinary nature in the area of women's studies, chosen in close consultation with the supervisor(s). The thesis is to be submitted by 31 January of the year following enrolment (for full-time students).
MA by coursework
Coordinator: Dr Katherine Gibson
Students with a pass degree are required to complete subjects in Part I and Part II totalling ninety-six points value, whereas students with an honours degree with first or second class honours or the equivalent may be admitted to Part II of the MA program and are required to complete subjects totalling forty-eight points value.
Core subjects
Students must take WSM 5010 (Feminist theory) as part of an MA by research plus coursework and an MA by coursework in women's studies. Those students entering the program at Part I must also take WSM 5020 (Feminist research).
MA Part I (both programs)
Part I will consist of:
* WSM5010 Feminist theory
* WSM5020 Feminist research
and a selection of two from the following options. The combined value of the Part I program must total forty-eight points.
Centre for Women's Studies
* WSM4110 Sexual difference
Anthropology and Sociology
* WSM4010 Sexed media, media-ted sex
* WSM4030 Women and social control
* WSM4060 Women, gender and society
* WSM4330 Sociology of the family
* WSM4620 Power, policy, patriarchy and the state
* WSM4630 Feminism crossculturally
* WSM4650 The unconscious in social life: psychoanalytic and feminist perspectives.
Asian Languages and Studies
* WSM4290 Gender and its representation in Indonesian societies.
Greek, Roman and Egyptian Studies
* WSM4410 Women in Roman society
* WSM4670 Gender representation in classical literature
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
* WSM4050 Freud and feminism
* WSM4780 Women's writing in Latin America today
Education
* WSM4130 History of education for women
* WSM4805 Gender in education
English
* WSM4960 Contemporary women's fiction and theory
Geography and Environmental Science
* WSM4080 Gendered cities
Politics
* WSM4140 Rethinking politics: gender and feminism
Visual Arts
* CLM4970 Film theory and film criticism I
* CLM4980 Film theory and film criticism II
MA Part II (both programs)
Coursework degree students take options totalling forty-eight points from the list below and from appropriate offerings by other departments approved by the director of the centre.
Part II for research degree students will consist of two eight-point subjects, including:
* WSM5010 Feminist theory (if not already completed)
* other options from the list below
* a 66 per cent thesis (equivalent in value to thirty-two points).
Centre for Women's Studies
* WSM5020 Feminist research
* WSM5040 Gender issues
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
WSM5290 Reading Irigaray