Overview
The Feminist and Gender Studies* program teaches with a focus on anti-racism, feminist theory, queer and trans studies, and social justice.
*Previously Women's and Gender Studies
At a Glance
Curriculum
Why study feminist and gender studies at Mount Allison?
At Mount Allison, the Feminist and Gender Studies program cultivates new perspectives from which all students may analyze such issues as work, health, sexuality, violence, family, race, class, colonialism, disability, and ethnicity.
The program teaches research skills and critical analysis while promoting student engagement with one another as well as with theory and social justice issues.
With an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, the program focuses on issues of gender, race, sexuality, class, ability, religion, ethnicity, and age.
Feminist and Gender Studies is available as:
- BA major (60 credits)
- BA honours (72 credits)
- Minor in any degree (24 credits)
Not sure about the difference between a major, a minor, an honours, and a certificate?
With an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, courses focus on interlocking issues such as the construction and material consequences of gender, race, sexuality, class, ability, religion, ethnicity, and age.
The program includes core courses in feminist and gender studies and elective courses in a wide range of other departments and programs.
The core courses provide a valuable introduction to the principles of feminist and gender studies as well as a more advanced study of the diverse theoretical and methodological approaches of feminism.
In upper years, students focus on:
- issues of gender, identity, and culture
- theories of gender and power in society
- gender, science, and research
- contemporary issues in feminism and gender studies
FGST 1001 — Introduction to Feminist and Gender Studies
This course introduces the core principles of the discipline of gender analysis and women-centered research and surveys key issues in current Feminist and Gender Studies scholarship, including: social construction of sex, gender, race and sexuality; body politics; gender subordination; women's activism; and social change initiatives. (
FGST 2101 — Gender, Identity, and Culture: Sexing the Body
This course examines human bodies in historical and contemporary socio-political contexts, investigating gender and embodiment both as an expression of individual identity and a production of complex social processes. Drawing upon scholarship on body politics in the interdisciplinary fields of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, it explores how bodies are simultaneously gendered, raced, classed, sexualized, and politicized through interpersonal, social, and institutional processes, including culture, science, medicine, and globalization.
FGST 2201 — Gender and Science
This course focuses on the relationship between scientific institutions and communities that are marginalized by gender, race, colonialism, class, disability, and other social markers. It explores the structural forces that contribute to exclusion and the effects of being seen as an object of scientific inquiry through feminist intersectional and decolonial approaches to the practices of scientific knowledge production. Finally, this course addresses current efforts to create a more inclusive scientific community.
FGST 3111 — Feminist Theories
This course provides a comparative and critical analysis of various feminist theories developed as explanatory frameworks for the understanding of gendered and other divisions within society. It surveys a range of feminist theoretical traditions, traces the emergence and transformation of central feminist concepts, and investigates the connections between theory and political practice. It examines theoretical frameworks that may include: Black feminist thought, anti-racist and postcolonial feminism, queer theory, trans theory, theories of embodiment, transnational feminist theory, psychoanalytic feminist theory, and decolonial theory.
FGST 3201 — Gender and Work
This course applies a feminist analysis to the study of people at work with the premise that the workplace and the labour market cannot be understood in isolation from the private spheres of the household and the labour of social reproduction. It focuses on different experiences of work across gender, race and ethnicity, and class using an intersectional approach. It draws on interdisciplinary studies in industrial relations and feminist research practice to explore experiences of paid and unpaid work and labour.
FGST 4301 — Gender and Settler Colonialism
This course focuses on the gendered, racialized, and sexualized dimensions of settler colonialism and Indigenous resurgence. It begins with the recognition that all of our learning takes place on the lands of the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoquyik peoples, and with the acknowledgement that we all have different and specific relationships to this land and these nations. Attending to these relationships and the responsibilities they entail, the central questions this course examines include: How do Indigenous thinkers conceptualize identity, land, and belonging? How do they think and talk about gender, sexuality, and difference?
Explore all Feminist and Gender Studies courses
(still listed under previous program name)
Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Christiana MacDougall ('93)
Assistant professor, Sociology, Feminist and Gender Studies
» Dr. Christiana MacDougall sends Class of 2020 off with words of wisdom
What can I do with a feminist and gender studies degree?
Whether you're entering the job market or continuing your education, your Mount Allison degree will stand out.
Mount Allison has been recognized by Maclean's as the top primarily undergraduate university in Canada more times than any other university.
With experiential learning and career development opportunities available in every degree, you'll also graduate with hands-on learning and real-world experience.
Our graduates also boast extraordinarily high acceptance rates to top graduate programs and professional schools such as law and medicine.
Popular career paths for Feminist and Gender Studies graduates include:
- community support worker
- human rights advocate
- public policy analyst
- crisis program manager
- community health co-ordinator
- social worker
- human resources diversity specialist
- counsellor
- market researcher
- non-profit organization director
- midwife
- lawyer
- teacher
Alumni Spotlight
Sarah LeBlanc ('06)
Bachelor of Arts, honours Political Science, minor in Women's and Gender Studies
Lead, Public Engagement, Privy Council Office (GC)
What is it like to study at Mount Allison?
A key reason I found the Women’s and Gender Studies program so enriching is because it enabled me to hone in on my analysis skills and to apply an intersectional framework on a vast array of topics, ranging from embodiment to the relationship between science and gender. It is a well-rounded program that gives students a strong foundation of knowledge and critical thinking skills to understand and challenge intersecting systems of oppression in all their complexity.