HEY!!!

Okay. Now that I have caught your attention, let's get to the real deal:

 

What has this Science Major student learned taking Women and Gender Study class.

Let me start this blog by giving a little bit of my background. I immigrated to Canada with my family in the year of 2006. I am currently a third year Physiology and Pharmacology major student and through this post I would like to share with you my personal journey with taking women gender study classes which eventually resulted in me making WGST as my minor.

So What initiated my desire to take Women and gender study (WGST) classes?

CURIOSITY

I hate to admit it, I use to be ignorant about the need for women and gender study classes during the initial year of my University life. I even use to think they were pointless, always ending the thought with what could someone possibly get out of WGST degree. But this was because I never questioned the norm of my society and the world in general. More so, I never saw anything wrong with the norm. Girls obviously need to be more careful than boys, obviously boys will be boys, and obviously the girl should have known better. You see these things were and are still so “obvious” that it became ingrained in my mind that these are how things are suppose to be. But why are these things so... “obvious”? Why was it so obvious that my brother and most boys were encouraged to be bold, strong, fight for their opinions and why was I and most girls groomed to talk softer, listen and be considerate of other’s opinion? Suddenly a curiosity had sparked and little did I knew that this very curiosity would turn into a burning desire to question the norm in which I so passively lived in.

MY EXPERIENCE:

Right from the start I noticed that WGST class sizes were much more smaller compared to the science classes. I was so used to being in a class-size of average 150 students per instructor that having an average of 40-50 students per instructor was much more interactive. I felt my professors in WGST actually knew me and that led me to consciously and subconsciously put extra effort to perform better in my WGST classes.

Because the goals of the Science courses and WGST courses are so different, I found that the teaching method for these two courses are also very different. The science classes had little room for deviating from the specific content. Therefore at times it felt that the main goal for the instructor was to complete the content for that particular lecture. The most frequent question I heard from the Science instructors were, “ So does everyone understand?” or "Is everyone clear?" The questions demanded definite answers therefore science classes provided me with a very structural based learning.

On the other hand, WGST classes (compared to science classes) did not have heavy material coverage. Yes there were heavy readings but students would read it prior to class therefore leaving an ample room for sharing ideas, questioning and understanding the material. The most frequent question I heard from the WGST instructors were, “so why do you think…” or “What does it mean when…” and so on. Therefore the questions were very open ended which led the class to think about the answers they wanted to share. This in turn provided me with critical thinking skills.

I found the WGST classes complemented my science classes. In my science classes a lot more emphasis was given in memorizing and deeply understanding the materials (as you can for most cases cannot argue with the knowledge provided). There were no assignments but only midterms and finals therefore a lot of self-discipline regarding staying on track had to be from my part. The heavy emphasis on getting the grades only through exam made me very exam focused. BY this I mean, after the exam I would not worry abut refreshing the content I learned but quickly just start focusing on the new materials. Most of my classes had little room for time to even talk about new innovations, current situation on science progress etc.

However in WGST classes I found that we were discussing a lot more about current events, local events and even political issues. There was ample time for the whole class to contribute, agree and disagree. As there were assignments and projects, I was not exam focused but rather more focused on understanding and questioning the content I was provided. The course material in general was very interconnected with each-other and more so, very relatable in general day-to-day life. The guest speakers and documentaries shown in WGST classes bridged my insight on how people are treated and placed in different country and cultural societies solely based on the gender one identifies with.

After taking WGST classes I started reflecting and realizing how I myself belong to a patriarchal family, culture and beliefs. It has made me realize how much influence all these factors has had on my identity that I carry today. At this point I am still on my journey however I have an invaluable appreciation for WGST courses compared to when I first started my University journey. The skills and learnings I received after WGST classes have made me versatile. It has taught me to question and to be bold enough to not just live passively amongst the crowd but to have an opinion and be willing to stand out.

So this is it, this is the story of a journey of a Science major student who thankfully decided to take the WGST course.