Studying Women's Studies in Finland
Do you want to study women’s studies in Finland? In addition to master’s programmes and PhD courses, the universities also offer parts of their programmes in english. Here you can find short descriptions of the curricula of each university.
University of Helsinki
The Christina Institute for Women’s Studies was established in 1991 as a multidisciplinary teaching and research institute. The Institute is part of the Faculty of Arts, but serves the whole University through its multidisciplinary research and instruction. The emphasis has been on humanistic analyses in a very broad sense, and the competence of researchers and teachers at the Institute centers on multidisciplinary humanistic analyses of culture, arts, history, intellectual history, language, literature, religion and society as well as on lesbian studies and queer theory. Questions of feminist theory, embodiment, representation, gender and space, notions of family, kinship and sexuality, as well as political theory and practice have been emphasized, but the research staff also has interests in gendered violence and everyday practices and environment. Despite the emphasis on humanities, the multidisciplinary research environment has furthered the dialogue between humanistic and social sciences. Through an extensive network of teachers in different departments and faculties of the university, intermediate studies at the institute offer a wide perspective of multidisciplinary women’s studies.
The Christina Institute teaches Women’s Studies at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It offers a two-years Master’s Programme (in Finnish) and doctoral degrees in Women’s Studies. On a yearly basis the Institute offers also several courses in English. Instruction in English is aimed both for the exchange students and the Finnish students.
The institute has hosted several large research projects. The national Women’s Studies Doctoral School as well as the university network Hilma are directed from the Institute. The Christina Institute also participates in several international networks and programmes, including Socrates and Nordplus exchange programmes and the EU Thematic Network ATHENA. The Institute has organized the biennial international Christina Conference since 2003.
University of Joensuu
The Women’s Studies at the University of Joensuu is an inter- and
multidisciplinary subject next to Cultural Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities. The main focus is thematically initiate into cultural,
religional, historical and social views on feminism as well as
critical studies on men and masculinity. The curricula consists of
basic and subject studies, pointing out ethnicity, nationality and
problems of sex and gender. Women’s Studies is a main subject in the degree of BA. In the degree of MA advanced level of Women’s Studies can be included as a part of the curriculum of Cultural Sciences.
University of Jyväskylä
The Women’s Studies unit at University of Jyväskylä is located within the department of Social Sciences and Philosophy. The unit specialises in feminist theory, feminist political theory, and lesbian and queer studies, but the staff also have interests in critical analysis of gendered social phenomena such as housework, work life and violence. Both MA and PhD degrees in Women’s Studies are offered. Each academic term, a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses are taught in English. The Finnish Centre of Excellence research group Politics of Philosophy and Gender is located at the unit, and an international visitors program is run through it.
University of Lapland
The Women’s Studies Programme at the University of Lapland offers 24 ECTS in English. It is a multidisciplinary block of courses spanning all of the academic interests at the University’s faculties: education, art, social sciences and law. The way of working is essays based on the literature.
Research is done from feminist perspective in different areas concerning social and political issues, culture and art and media. The focus of the research is in educational sciences and the gender system and women’s position in the Northern periphery.
University of Tampere
The Department of Women’s Studies at University of Tampere was established in 1990 as a Research Institute. In 1998 it gained a department status in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The research at the Department of Women’s Studies aims at analysing the intersections of representing and doing gender in different social and cultural settings. The theoretically informed empirical research, which is mostly qualitative, has included the following themes:
- feminist methodologies in knowledge production
- doing gender in organizations and entrepreneurship
- gender and technology
- family expertise, immigrant work and differences in families
- gendered and sexualised violence
- gender, age and education
- queer history and theory
- critical studies on men and masculinities
- constructions of gender and nationality in Finland and Russia
The Department teaches Women’s Studies on both undergraduate and post graduate levels. Three main themes run through the Women’s Studies Program: doing and performing gender, feminist knowing and the history of feminist ideas and theory. The Department offers the Basic Studies Program (30 ECTS) as well as doctoral courses in English. A two-year Master’s Program (in Finnish) and a doctoral program started in September 2005.
University of Turku
The Basic Studies Program in Women’s Studies at the University of Turku (25 ECTS credits) offers an in depth introduction and discussion of the field of study. The program focuses on feminist critique of knowledge and interdisciplinary approaches to issues concerning women and gender, such as feminist history, women and politics, feminist cultural studies, body and sexuality. Most of the courses in the Basic Studies Program are individual study-based, where the form of studies is either exam or essay.
Women’s Studies at the University of Turku addresses from various feminist theoretical perspectives questions related especially to arts and culture. Within this profile feminist research interests encompass such issues as autobiography, memory, body and sexuality, feminist reading and intersectionality.
University of Oulu
The subject of Women’s Studies at the University of Oulu is both inter- and multidisciplinary in nature and it offers courses on a variety of topics ranging from equality, education, and violence to sexuality, popular culture, ethics, and northern issues. The curriculum of the subject consists of basic and intermediate studies and Northern Women’s Studies (60 study points in total). The subject offers a variety of options to its students in terms of course contents, literature, and study methods. All students in the University of Oulu are welcome to study Women’s Studies, hosted by and situated in the Faculty of Education.
In addition to teaching, there is a lot of research activity within Women’s Studies at the University of Oulu. Research areas include gendered and sexualised violence, globalisation, equality, education, and queer and lesbian studies. Members of the Women’s Studies staff are also active participants in and coordinators of national, Nordic, and international research, development and education projects as well as networks. One of the latest projects is the SINNI Start –project which is a model for women’s and girl’s resource centre in Province of the Northern Ostrobothnia. The project aims to promote equality, regional development from a gender perspective, and female entrepreneurship.
Åbo Akademi University
The Women’s Studies programme at Åbo Akademi University consists of BA, MA and PhD level training. The full programme is available only in Swedish. Each academic year a variety of modules are offered in English. They usually focus on Gender in a Nordic Context, Critical studies on Men and Masculinities, Sexualised Violence, Ethnicity, etc. The amount of training in the English-speaking modules is around 25 credit points (Bologna ECTS). In addition to taught courses, some reading courses are available. Guest students are also entitled to take part in English-speaking courses at Turku University. In addition individual arrangements are available. In total, an individual BA programme in Women’s Studies (70 ECTS) is available on request.
The research activities of the Institute of Women’s Studies focus on feminist theory and Women’s Studies, citizenship, ethnicity, health, equal opportunities, and qualitative as well as quantitative research methods. In addition, on-going research includes studies on sexualised violence, ageing in working life, whiteness, girlhood, masculinities, nationalism, and women’s autobiographies. On-going research projects are Changing Knowledge and Disciplinary Boundaries through Integrative Research Methods in the Social Sciences and Humanities and HIV, knowledge and power. “African Aids” as represented in HIV activism and medical discourses.
