DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

SOAN*3100 Gender Perspectives on Families and Households

Fall 2025

TIME:                                                            Wednesdays & Fridays, 14:30-16:00

LOCATION:                                                  MCKN115

INSTRUCTOR:                                             SHARADA SRINIVASAN

OFFICE:                                                         MACKINNON 602

E-MAIL:                                                        sharada@uoguelph.ca

OFFICE HOURS:                                         Fridays, 12:00—13:00 or by appointment           

This course will offer an in-depth examination of families in different parts of the world using a gender perspective. It will examine the formation and changing structures and emerging dynamics in the institution of the family, issues such as gender discrimination, gender division of labour, intra-household dynamics and violence. It will emphasise how sociological and anthropological insights into the family deconstruct economic perspectives on the family and its implications for policy and practice, particularly in the contexts of major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, migration, conflict, and climate change. The course will use a mix of lectures and in-class discussions and will draw from an interdisciplinary list of readings. Learning outcomes will be evaluated through essays, final exam, reflections and in-class quizzes.    

At the end of the course, students will be able to appreciate the diversity and complexities in the structures and dynamics of family and household. They will be able to use a gender/ feminist perspective to understand and critique how family/ household is represented in policy, research, and popular discourse and the diverse contexts within which this takes place.