Topics in Gender, PSY 425-01
Cross listed with WST 425 and INS 425, Cross Cultural Aspects of Gender
Instructor: Cynthia Smith, Ph.D. |
Office: Donahue 243D |
Email: cysmith@wju.edu |
Office Phone: 304 243-4429 |
Office Hours: MW 1 to 2:30 PM or by appointment |
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Class meets: M & W 3 to 4:15 PM in Donahue 236 |
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Website for Blackboard: http://cardinal.wju.edu
The goal of the course is to examine the joint influences of gender, culture, and ethnicity on the lives of men and women. This course will introduce students to psychological research on gender across various cultures. One emphasis is sex differences and similarities in cognition, attitudes, personality, and social behavior and the causes of these differences and similarities. The implications of gender roles and how they vary across different cultures will be examined too. In particular we will study behaviors and concepts such as aggression, health, feminism, language, achievement, and religion. We will actively examine the role of research and ethics in applying principles learned in psychology to issues of gender and culture.
Prerequisite: PSY 110, General Psychology .
Required Textbook: Galliano, G. 2003. Gender: Crossing boundaries. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Various readings will be placed on reserve in the library throughout the semester.
Course Requirements:
There will be three exams that cover the readings and lectures. The format of the exams is multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions. Exams give approximately equal weight to lectures and the readings. Make up exams are not allowed unless in extreme circumstances. The makeup exams will be much more difficult than the regular exams.
Exam 1 |
100 points |
Exam 2 |
100 points |
Exam 3 |
100 points |
Paper on other country |
100 points |
Oral presentation on the country |
30 points |
Total |
430 points |
The general grading scale is 93 to 100 is an A, 90 to 92 is an A-, 87 to 89 is a B+, 83 to 86 is a B, 80 to 82 is a B-, 77 to 79 is a C+, 73 to 76 is a C, 70 to 72 is a C-, 67 to 69 is a D+, 60 to 66 is a D, and below 60 is an F (based on percentage). The total points for the course is 430 points. Divide the total number of points you obtain throughout the semester by 430 to get your percentage total. For example, if you get 390/430 = 90.6% (.906) then you get an "A-" for the course.
Academic dishonesty and/or plagiarism will result in an "F" for the course and a recommendation for disciplinary action by WJU. Cheating on exams is not allowed and will result in a zero for the exam and a recommendation for disciplinary action by WJU.
Some class lecture outlines will be available on the Blackboard website. These outlines will be useful, but are not detailed enough for you to skip class. Blackboard will also provide announcements and a Discussion Board for the exchange of ideas about the topics under discussion in the class.
Paper Requirements
You will write an extended paper (8 to 10 pages) on gender roles and issues in another country. In particular we will focus on the Middle East this semester. I will assign you a particular country, which you will research on your own. In particular your paper should focus on information about the country (where it is located, size of the population, economic factors, etc.) and how gender is defined in that country. In particular I would expect you to address issues of gender roles, gender behaviors and occupations, marriage and childbearing expectations. In addition to the paper requirement you will also give a 10-minute presentation on your country to the class. As part of your presentation you will create one multiple-choice question and one short answer/essay question based on your country. As we get closer to the presentation days, I will assign you to particular
days and times. The paper is due on April 28 th.
For extra credit: You can complete a research paper on the placement of men and women in advertising photographs. In Gender Advertisements Erving Goffman compellingly demonstrates the ways that differences in power and authority between men and women are represented and constructed in advertising photographs. He shows, for example, the regularity with which (1) men are portrayed as larger, bigger, higher or taller than women, (2) women are portrayed as physically prostrating themselves before men, (3) women, social subordinates, and children are held by or around the shoulders in a way that precludes reciprocal shoulder-holding, (4) women are portrayed as losing control of their emotions. In this research exercise you will be attempting to replicate Goffman's study.
Goffman's study was conducted in the mid 1970s. Are the same gender configurations regularly used by advertisers in 2003? That is, are gender differences still constructed in the same ways? Choosing one of the positions/configurations examined by Goffman that you suspect is still used in advertising today, examine a selection of popular magazines (sample size should be at least 5 magazines - either the same magazine or different ones) to see if that particular configuration is still found in advertising photographs. Submit a 4 to 5 page paper (research style, APA style - go to the ARC if you do not know how to complete an APA style research paper or see me) describing your research and findings. Please include your advertisements with your extra credit paper. This extra credit paper will be worth up to 30 points. Just by completing the paper does not mean that you will earn 30 points. You must do excellent work in order to obtain 30 points! This extra credit project will be due on April ? (before Easter break).
Tentative Course Schedule
January 13 |
Introduction to the course, getting enrolled in Course Info |
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January 15 |
Gender definition & stereotypes |
Chapter 1 |
January 20 |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - no class |
Chapter 2 |
January 22 |
Research methods |
Chapter 3 |
January 27 |
Theories of Gender |
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January 29 |
Diversity of gender across cultures |
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February 3 |
continue with theories of gendere |
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February 5 |
Sex differences in the brain |
Chapter 4 |
February 10 |
Gender and education |
Chapter 9 |
February 12 |
Academic achievement |
Notes from lecture |
February 17 |
Exam 1 - Lectures and readings |
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February 19 |
Gendered personality |
Chapter 7 |
February 24 |
Gender in organizations |
Chapter 10 |
February 26 |
Media presentation of men and women |
Chapter 13 |
March 3 |
Gender and relationships |
Chapter 6 |
March 5 |
Gender and sexuality |
Chapter 8 |
March 10 & March 12 |
Spring Break - have a good time! |
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March 17 |
Exam 2 - Lectures and readings |
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March 19 |
Culture and childbirth |
Notes for lecture |
March 24 |
Gender and power |
Chapter 14 |
March 26 |
What is Islam? Video, Women in the Middle East |
Readings |
March 31 |
Women in Iran, spirituality video |
Readings |
April 2 |
Women in public and private space |
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April 7 |
Presentations on other countries |
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April 9 |
Presentations on other countries |
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April 14 |
Presentations on other countries |
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April 16 |
Gender and physical health |
Chapter 11 |
April 21 |
Easter Monday - no class |
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April 23 |
Mental health |
Chapter 12 |
April 28 |
Exam 3 - Readings and lectures |
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April 30 |
Life span and Gender |
Chapter 5 |
May 6 |
Looking backward, Looking forward |
Chapter 15 |
May 7 |
Final exam - comprehensive |
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Here are the grading criteria for the presentations in Topics in Gender (worth 30 points):
Illustrations clear and well described |
Response to questions friendly |
Effective use of audiovisual |
Presenter confident, poised |
Presentation effective and well-organized |
Effective use of time (10 minutes) |
Speech neither rambling nor rushed |
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Organization of teaching module for Women in Islam grant
Islamic women in space - public and private
Cynthia Smith, Psychology, Wheeling Jesuit University
1. Theoretical orientation within psychology
a. Separate cultures theory
b. Applied to Islamic women?
2. Background on Islam
a. Video, Women in the Middle East (Turkey perspective)
b. Reading on rural Iranian women
1. Accessibility to religious services and rituals
2. Use religion to reduce domestic hardships
3. Pilgrimages allow women to travel and to feel equal to men
4. Different moral codes for women and men
5. Impossibly high standards for a wife's behavior
6. Women are thought of as weak moral beings = weak Muslims
7. Suicide one of the top problems for women
8. Women develop their own personal views towards Islam
3. Classroom exercise - imagine you woke up tomorrow…
a. Students able to understand how life might change
b. Depends on the country
4. Parallels to Christianity?
a. Christian Right - promote material over moral; dismantle traditional family
b. Healthy view of women's spirituality? Introduction to feminist spirituality
5. Any applications of these two religions to human behavior?
a. Sexuality
b. Domestic violence
6. Conclusions?
a. Difference between public and private voices, need a public voice
b. Difference between space and function for women in US and Middle East
Teaching module for NEH Women in Islam grant
Islamic women in space - public and private
Can we measure women's rights by this dichotomy of space, public and private? Some feminists argue that women must have access and be in the public in order to achieve human rights. However, from the perspective of some Islamic countries, women are not visible in the public, but does this mean they do not have rights (and power) within their country?
Objectives:
1. To understand that there is not just one example/representation of women in Islam.
2. To understand the role religion, in particular Islam and Christianity, can play in creating and maintaining gender roles and gender identification, looking specifically at two aspects of human behavior, sexuality and domestic violence.
Prior to this lecture the students will have information both in lecture and in the textbook/readings about the terms gender roles, gender identity, and gender stereotypes. We will have discussed theories of gender development including the notion of separate cultures theory that attempts to explain the differences between men and women due to their socialization within different cultures/groups. A noted linguist, Deborah Tannen, maintains that men and women talk differently due to these separate cultures. Eleanor Maccoby (noted developmental psychologist) asserts a similar application of the separate cultures theory in terms of other human behaviors (e.g., emotions, academic interests).
Can this Western theory of separate cultures be used to explain or support Islamic principles of separation/segregation of the sexes?
Start out with Janice Spleth's orientation of
What do you know about women in Islam?
What do you want to know about women in Islam?
What have you learned about women in Islam?
First we need to discuss "what is Islam?" In particular what does Islam say about the role of men and women within the Quran? How are these passages enacted in society?
Readings from Matthew Gordon's book, Islam - particularly pages 6-9, 100-105.
Many Islamic countries use interpretations from the Quran for family and civil laws. Family laws are largely taken from what is called the Shar'ia, interpretation of the Quran to regulate family life. These laws include right to inheritance, divorce, and custody of children. In some Islamic countries women are not allowed to inherit property, money, or divorce. Women retain the custody of children depending on the age of the children - boys younger than 7 and girls younger than 9. However, via the Quran, women are entitled to 1/4 of the inheritance and can divorce. Why the difference in family laws versus the Quran? May have to do with historical colonization - European, Ottoman influence in that women had their rights removed. State does not have to take care of women if men inherit everything and women do not have access to divorce. Therefore, many women's movements in the Middle East do not use the individual human rights as the reason for women's rights but instead use theological arguments - Quran says men and women are equal in the eyes of God/Allah. However, once and if women are successful in achieving some rights, this movement towards Islam is viewed from the state perspective - rise of Islam or nationalism. So the state may co-opt the women's movement and become their voice? The roles of Islam and secularism within a culture are very complex. Women in the Middle East see their role as one of motherhood not individual rights, equal but not identical to men's rights. From a Western feminist view, this is difficult to understand.
Is this enactment the same throughout all of the Islamic countries? Use two countries as examples, Turkey and Iran. Why these two countries?
Video - Women in Middle East (1993). 52 minutes involving an interview with Guity Neshat and Sule Ozler. www.ideachannel.com
Women in the Middle East
Guity Nashat, of the University of Illinois, and Sule Ozler, of the Hoover Institution, discuss with American author and feminist Joan Kennedy Taylor their thoughts about the position of women in the Middle East. Nashat and Ozler, both of whom were reared as Moslems in the Middle East, contend that women are oppressed throughout the world, in every culture; however, they insist that the position of women in Middle Eastern countries is about equal to, though different from, the position of women in western countries.
Nashat and Ozler caution that evaluating one culture by the standards of another is inappropriate and misleading. Moslem women have long enjoyed an economic freedom denied to western women until very recently. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, English women forfeited their property to their husbands at the time of their marriage. In community property states in the U.S., men are automatically assumed to be property managers. In contrast, Moslem women are sole owners of their inheritance and dowries, and can invest or spend their money as they choose.
Turkey is perhaps the most "westernized" of the Middle Eastern countries. Ozler notes that Turkish women have had the right to vote and hold office since 1935. She believes that educated women in professional positions are actually accorded more respect in Turkey than women in similar circumstances in the United States. Does the veil necessarily oppress women? Nashat and Ozler (both of whom dress according to western fashion) acknowledge that seclusion and the veil curtail women's freedom, but insist that Moslem women wield considerable economic and social power. They believe that Middle Eastern women will gain greater equality as their countries become more active participants in the international market, and women become more prominent in the labor force.
Readings on Iran: Erika Friedl (2001). Islam and tribal women in a village in Iran. In N. Falk & R. Gross (Eds.), Unspoken worlds: Women's religious lives. (pp. 157-167). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers. There are 8 objectives from this reading:
- Accessibility to religious services and rituals
- Use religion to reduce domestic hardships
- Pilgrimages allow women to travel and to feel equal to men
- Different moral codes for women and men
- Impossibly high standards for a wife's behavior
- Women are thought of as weak moral beings = weak Muslims
- Suicide one of the top problems for women
- Women develop their own personal views towards Islam
Nafisi's book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, contains the memory of Azar Nafisi, a professor at the University of Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in Iran (late 1970s-early 1980s). She talks about her teaching experiences and her students' reaction to Western literature while coming to terms with the changes that are taking place in Tehran. One of the foci of the book revolves around the wearing of the veil/chador and later a scarf. Several of the women in Nafisi's underground class are not comfortable wearing the veil but feel they do not have a choice whereas other female students "wearing the veil is natural" (page 327). The women comment on how the worst fear is losing your faith. At this point in the revolution that is all these women have. If they did not have faith in Islam they would not be accepted by anyone (secular or Islamic). "The women indicate that their religion has defined every single action we have taken. If one day I lose my faith, it will be like dying and having to start new again in a world without guarantees." (page 327)
Based on these 2 countries then we can see that women in Islam vary depending on the country under investigation, the state of the political environment (nationalism, separation of church and state), the historical background, and social/economic class issues. The social vision of Islam is where Islamists differ. You have 2 paradigms according to Yvonne Haddad - paradigm of family versus paradigm of genderless. The paradigm of family is idealized with virtuous women. The paradigm of genderless is based on the idea that Adam and Eve are from the same being. So where is the middle?
Classroom exercise: Imagine you woke up tomorrow in a very devout, practicing Muslim country. How would your life be different? What aspects about you would change given your new location? How would your life be the same?
One strategy in trying to identify this middle paradigm is to simplify women in Islam according to how they are dressed. But can we reduce women in Islam down to the veil, hijab, chador, chadra?
Are there any parallels of Islam and gender roles with Christianity and gender roles?
Susan Faludi in her 1991 book, Backlash, stated that the New Right (fundamental Christian movement in the 1980s) "began" the first backlash against second wave feminism. The New Right argued that women's unhappiness in the 1980s was due to women's equality. They indicated that women's equality lead to "two sins": promoting materialism over moral values and dismantling the traditional familial support system (welfare in the US). These same arguments have been used by the Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists organizations for why Muslims must practice hijab/veiling. Women are used as the saviors and sinners of their countries' problems via religious leaders.
Is there a healthy view of women's spirituality that is not heard?
Video, An introduction to feminist spirituality by Kathleen Fischer, Fisher Productions
Five major points to the film (25 minutes):
Healing sexism, discipleship of equals, women's experience and women's heritage, images of god, and transforming the world
Loss of uniqueness due to patriarch/sexism; all inclusive love - community of equality; women's story reflects struggle - devaluation, shame and blame.
Imagine a world transformed in which our language is broadened to be inclusive, there is a spirit of peace and no violence. If women are not allowed to voice their lives, then what power do they have?
An additional aspect to think about: Is there a loss of identity for women under patriarchal/sexist conditions?
One way that we can use to examine how religion/Islam creates and maintain gender roles is by looking at those who convert to Islam. In general in the US conversion occurs in prison and college campuses according to Yvonne Haddad and John Esposito. In the Nation of Islam (US movement) the ratio of men to women is 5:1. Why? Speculate that Black/African American women have been empowered (Black house servants) and the welfare system which allows women to abandon men. By joining Islam, black women are sacrificing…white women who convert are stereotyped as ugly and fat - may convert to avoid body image issues, obtain men, sense of community, and increase marriage prospects.
Issue of sexuality of men and women is one way in which religion/morality can maintain gender segregation or differences. And there are some religious and social teachings that make distinctions between men and women in terms of sexuality. Certainly in the US there is double standard associated with male and female sexuality. But are these differences enhanced/maintained by religion?
Issue of domestic violence - Quran says it is acceptable for a husband to beat his wife to maintain control/keep her from rebelling. Islamic women in the US are less likely to report domestic violence due to concern that husband will be arrested and deported - assume immigrants. Certainly the 1960s/70s women's/feminist movement in the US drew attention to domestic violence and created changes to laws regarding domestic assault. Women and children were considered property of men - but that ideology has changed due to the feminist movement for equality of men and women.
Conclusion: What I would argue is that women do need public space. Does the veil prevent women from being in public space? Or does the veil allow a woman take up public space?
Based on Haideh Moghissi 1999 book, Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis,
"Finally improvements in the quality of gender relations have only come about when women have secured the space they need to articulate oppositional discourses and countercultural politics. Such an achievement, in turn, has been conditional on the existence of a public sphere. By definition, a religious state prohibits such developments. It negates the most important aspect of equality, equality before the law, providing the followers of the state religion and a religiously based social order, and excluding or persecuting non-believers and non-conformists. The religious state by monopolizing the discourse shrinks the chances for women to formulate counterdiscourses, narrowing women's options, preaching what it takes to be a singular truth" (pp. 147-148).
Gerami stated that the dichotomy of public versus private space is more relevant to the Islamic faith than Christianity in the US but that the functionality of women is more relevant to the Chrisitian faith than Islamic faith.
So in terms of the question first posed in this lecture - do women in Islam need public space to acquire certain rights - I think they do. The veil may afford some women that space. In other places, women would be helped in to public space without the veil. However, Islamic women in the US (which is presumed to be secular) may not need public space but instead may be struggling with their role within their families and in the public, in other words the function that they play in their family and society.
References/Extended reading list.
Bailey, David & Gilane Tawadros. Veil: Veiling, representation, and contemporary art. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Faludi, Susan (1991). Backlash: The undeclared war against American women. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.
Falk, Nancy & Rita Gross. Unspoken worlds: Women's religious lives. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Gerami, Shanin (1996). Women and fundamentalism: Islam and Christianity. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Goodwin, Jan (1995). Price of honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic world. New York: Plume/Penguin Books.
Gordon, Matthew (2002). Islam: Origins, practices, holy texts, sacred persons, and sacred places. New York: Oxford University Press.
Haddad, Yvonne & Jane Smith (1994). Muslim communities in North America. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Hambly, Gavin (1998). Women in the medieval Islamic world: Power, patronage, and piety. New York: St. Martins Press.
Kulwicki, Anahid (2000). Arab women. In M. Julia (ed.), Constructing gender: Multicultural perspectives in working with women. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Lamsa, George M. (1923). The secret of the Near East: Slavery of women, social, religious, and economic life in the Near East. Philadelphia, PA:
Maccoby, Eleanor (2000). Perspectives on gender development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 398-406.
Mayar, Ann Elizabeth. (1995). Islam and human rights: Tradition and politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Mernissi, Fatima (1991). The veil and the male elite: A feminist interpretation of women's rights in Islam. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.
Moghissi, Haideh (1999). Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis. New York: Zed Books/St. Martins Press, Inc.
Nafisi, Azar (2003). Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books. New York: Random House.
Sharma, Arvind (1994). Today's woman in world religions. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Sharma, Arvind & Young, Katherine. (1999). Feminism and world religions. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Smith, Bonnie (2000). Global feminisms since 1945: A survey of issues and controversies. London, UK: Routledge.
Stowasser, Barbara (1994). Women in the Quran, traditions, and interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Walther, Wiebke (1992). Women in Islam: From medieval to modern times. Princeton, NJ: M. Wiener Publisher.
Websites:
www.brandeis.edu/departments/nejs/fse/Pages/veiling
Farzaneh, Journal of Women's Studies and Research, with articles published in Persian and English, provides a forum of exchange of ideas and advancement of women's studies in Iran and of increasing knowledge about women and the region. Its mission is stated as that of creating an atmosphere for debate and discourse on interdisciplinary subjects related to women. www.farzanehjournal.com