Program Overview

The Bachelor of Arts is the ultimate, flexible university degree, and you can tailor it to explore your interests and discover a wide range of career possibilities. It is an opportunity to pursue what you loved in high school or branch out into areas you've never had the opportunity to explore.

Our students embrace the joy of open enquiry, are curious about life’s big questions, and are on a life-long quest for knowledge and inspiration. You will hone skills like critical-thinking, research, and inter-cultural awareness under the guidance of passionate academics who are leading researchers in their fields.

You can take on cultural, environmental, and humanitarian challenges from multiple perspectives and gain the confidence to make a positive difference. Through our close relationships with government and industry partners, we will prepare you to start your career with the skills employers want.

Major: Gender and Diversity

When you study Gender & Diversity you will be immersed in an interdisciplinary exploration of the meaning and impact of gender, race, and sexuality on all our lives. Assumptions about sex, gender and race have influenced everything from our most fundamental understandings of what it is to be human to ancient poetry to contemporary fashion. You will become familiar with a variety of theoretical approaches to the subject and will be given a range of methodological tools to help you understand those cultural assumptions and practices which have shaped our lived experiences as gendered, racialised beings.

The core units in Gender & Diversity examine questions of identity, power and change, including how understandings of human bodies and sexuality have changed over time. You will analyse the various ways that masculinities and femininities are enacted in the world, and develop a critical awareness of the gendered and racial dynamics which influence these masculinities and femininities. All human beings live within a particular gender order and racial system: to study gender & diversity is to become more aware of the possibilities and constraints of these structures and their effect on your life and the world's people and processes.

Knowledge gained in this major will prepare you for work in all kinds of settings where an appreciation of diversity matters. This includes the community sector, equity and diversity units in businesses and institutions, discrimination law and human resources.