Minoring in the major differences

Posted by admin on Oct 7, 2009 in Academy | 0 comments

A Christian university that houses feminists—is it a myth? An oxymoron? You won’t find a specific section called “Gender Studies” when you go to select courses, but the Gender Studies Institute (GSI) offers a minor with course options in more than a dozen disciplines, including philosophy, religious studies, and computing science. The institute also hosts a monthly “Gender Café;” a great forum to have intellectual dialogue, meet and hang out with professors, and discuss the role of gender in books and movies.

But why talk about gender? Classes which fall under the GSI seek to explore a litany of questions: Why is it that the majority of people living below the poverty line in Canada are women? Why does society cheer on female doctors but still make jokes about male nurses? Why are women more likely to be diagnosed with depression though more men commit suicide? Why is it that women fill universities but still not the top positions in companies?

The topic of gender is vast and interdisciplinary, and hopefully any ideas about gender studies being (as I heard from one student) “a dating service” can be dispelled.

In addition to classes, the GSI seeks to bring in relevant speakers. On Oct. 16 there will be a public forum with controversial author Rosemary Radford Ruether at 12:15 p.m. in the Northwest Auditorium. Ruether is known as an eco-feminist-theologian, and the forum will focus on “Gender, Religion and the Third Wave.”

The next Gender Café is on Oct. 20, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at St. George’s Church in Fort Langley. Dr. Bob Doede, Associate Professor of Philosophy at TWU, will lead a discussion on bell hooks’ book, Feminism is for Everybody.