Women’s Studies

About the subject

Students identify complex and contradictory ideas that exist about femininity and masculinity, and how being a woman or a man may influence an individual's experiences and expectations.

Students study six key issues from the following:

• Representations of Women in Cultural Texts
• Women and Work
• Family Life and Caring
• Health and Well-being
• Women and the Law
• Women’s Struggles, Achievements, and Empowerment
• Women, Culture and Society
• Lifestyle and Choice
• Communication and Technology
• Development and Globalisation
• Negotiated Issue

A Gender Analysis Framework provides the key concepts and analytical tools that students use in examining the key issues.

Assessment

Students demonstrate evidence of their learning through the following assessment types:

Information on the External Assessment

The issues analysis is a piece of writing of up to a maximum of 2000 words. Students undertake a detailed and independent investigation of a gender issue that is derived from one of the key issues.

The issues analysis is double graded, firstly by the student’s teacher and secondly by an external assessor appointed by the SACE Board. The teacher and the external assessor make a decision about the quality of the investigation with reference to the performance standards.

Performance Standards

The Women’s Studies Subject Outline includes performance standards, which describe five levels of achievement that are reported with the grades A to E at the student’s completion of the subject.

The school-based assessments and the external assessment will be graded with reference to the performance standards.