Gendering the Life Course (L3093E)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

Students taking this elective will learn to think critically about inequalities in our societies as they emerge across the life course, especially those relating to gender.

You'll learn about key topics in the life course including:

• birth and the ascription of gender identity
• childhood and education; sexual reproduction
• parenting and families
• paid and unpaid work
• illness and health
• old age

You'll build on your own experiences and observations to develop new perspectives and insights on these key issues in contemporary society.

Throughout the module, we will explore key theoretical frameworks as well as a series of concrete cases and problems in which researchers apply such theories to gender issues in social policy, health, education and psychology.

By the end of the module you should have gained an understanding of gender and the concept of inequality and be able to provide critical accounts of the links between gendered social relations, cultural settings and individual behaviour and experiences.

 

 

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.