Feminist Philosophy

Overview

Feminism is a political movement which aims to end the oppression of women. Feminist philosophy is concerned with theoretical investigations of central concepts and methodologies which are meant to support the pursuit of feminist agendas.

We will address key questions in feminist philosophy such as the following: What is to be a 'woman'? What is gender? How does gender interact with other features, such as race, class, and sexuality? To what extent is the lived experience of one’s own gendered body socially constructed and politically shaped? Do men and women have distinctive ways of acting and knowing? What is gender injustice, and how have feminists fought against it? 


This course combines online study with a weekly 1-hour live webinar led by your tutor. Find out more about how our short online courses are taught.


Programme details

This course begins on the 16 Jan 2026 which is when course materials are made available to students. Students should study these materials in advance of the first live meeting which will be held on 23 Jan 2026, 2:00-3:00pm (UK time).

  • Week 1: Feminism and Philosophy
  • Week 2: Sex and Gender
  • Week 3: Intersectionality: Sex/gender, Race, Class, etc.
  • Week 4: Feminist Phenomenology of Gender and Lived Experience
  • Week 5: Gendered Bodies
  • Week 6:  Knowledge and Objectivity
  • Week 7: Postmodernism and Feminism
  • Week 8: Epistemic Injustice
  • Week 9: Moral justification and autonomy
  • Week 10: Liberalism and feminism

Certification

Credit Application Transfer Scheme (CATS) points 

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework. All those enrolled on an online course are registered for credit and will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

See more information on CATS points

Digital credentials

All students who pass their final assignment will be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so. 

Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail. 

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £360.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Roxana Baiasu

Apart from being a Philosophy tutor of the Department for Continuing Education, Roxana is also an Associate Member of the Philosophy Faculty, Oxford University, Tutorial Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Stanford University in Oxford and Research Fellow at Birmingham University. Prior to this she was a lecturer at the Universities of Vienna and Leeds, and a Leverhulme Fellow at Sussex University. She is writing in the areas of Post-Kantian metaphysics and epistemology, feminist philosophy, philosophy of illness and mental health, and philosophy of religion. She edited (with G. Bird and A.W. Moore) Contemporary Kantian Metaphysics Today: New Essays on Time and Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and published in, among others, The Southern Journal of PhilosophyIJPSResearch in Phenomenology and Sophia.

Course aims

  • To introduce students to core issues in feminism and philosophy.
  • To develop an understanding of some of the key debates in feminist philosophy.
  • To critically study certain contemporary texts often dealing with topical or controversial feminist topics.
  • To encourage students to think analytically about issues in feminist metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy.
  • To develop an awareness of how feminist analysis can contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the social world around us.

Teaching methods

This course takes place over 10 weeks, with a weekly learning schedule and weekly live webinar held on Microsoft Teams. Shortly before a course commences, students are provided with access to an online virtual learning environment, which houses the course content, including video lectures, complemented by readings or other study materials. Working through these materials over the course of the week will prepare students for a weekly 1-hour live webinar you will share with your expert tutor and fellow students. All courses are structured to amount to 100 study hours, so that on average, you should set aside 10 hours a week for study. Although the course finishes after 10 weeks, all learning materials remain available to all students for 12 months after the course has finished.

All courses are led by an expert tutor. Tutors guide students through the course materials as part of the live interactions during the weekly webinars. Tutors will also provide individualised feedback on your assignments. All online courses are taught in small student cohorts so that you and your peers will form a mutually supportive and vibrant learning community for the duration of the course. You will learn from your fellow students as well as from your tutor, and they will learn from you.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module students will be expected to have attained and demonstrated by performance in the live online sessions and submission of course work:

  • an understanding of some of the most important ideas and methodologies in feminist philosophy, and of core problems that are debated in the area
  • an understanding of what makes feminist philosophy distinctive, and of what is at issue in debates in feminist metaphysics, epistemology, and moral and political philosophy
  • the ability to articulate this understanding through clear, concise and critical arguments.

Assessment methods

You will be set independent formative and summative work for this course. Formative work will be submitted for informal assessment and feedback from your tutor, but has no impact on your final grade. The summative work will be formally assessed as pass or fail.

 

Application

Please use the 'Book now' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.

 

Level and demands

This course is open to all and no prior knowledge is required.

This course is offered at FHEQ Level 4 (i.e. first year undergraduate level), and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments and for the weekly webinar. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours, including those spent in live webinars.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information visit our English language requirements webpage

IT requirements

Any standard web browser can be used to access course materials on our virtual learning environment, but we recommend Google Chrome. We also recommend that students join the live webinars on Microsoft Teams using a laptop or desktop computer rather than a phone or tablet due to the limited functionality of the app on these devices.