Introductory description

This module fosters comprehensive, critical and advanced knowledge of theoretical approaches to gender and development. It starts by locating gender and development within a history of colonialism, imperialism and orientalism, asking how gender relations have shaped and been shaped by colonialism; how contemporary forms of western imperialism invoke ideas about gender; and how far western feminism has been able to resist orientalist ideas about a ‘modern’ west and a ‘backward’ east. Then it looks critically at some of the measures of gendered development today, including the GDI, GEM, Millennium Development Goals and the replacement Sustainable Development Goals. As well as practising interpreting statistics, students ask who decides what counts enough to be measured and how it should be measured, using gender-based violence as an international case study. The module also sets up a political context, exploring the importance of political movements for gender equality through four country case studies. The second half of the module explores the main theories in the development field and how they have been gendered, looking at modernisation theory, dependency theory, environmentalism, and post-development thinking. Finally, the module considers approaches to gender and development based around the concepts of human rights, capabilities and justice, returning to the original questions about what constitutes development and what the implications of this question are for a gendered approach.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1 Introduction – Categories, Objectification and Ways of Seeing
Week 2 Historical Contexts - Gender and Imperialism
Week 3 Discursive Contexts - Feminism and Orientalism
Week 4 Quantitative Contexts: Measures Of and Targets For Gendered Development
Week 5 Political Contexts - Women’s Movements for Social Change
Week 6 Reading Week
Week 7 Liberal, Marxist and Neo-liberal Paradigms of Women/Gender and Development
Week 8 Ecological and Postmodernist Paradigms of Gender and Development
Week 9 Rights based Paradigms of Gender and Development
Week 10 Entitlements and Capabilities: Reimagining Gendered Development

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of the historical, discursive and political context to gender and development (e.g. colonialism; imperialism; Orientalism; women’s movements)
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of gender divisions and their impact on processes of development in an international context;
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of key theoretical approaches to gender and development;
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of established quantitative indices of gender and development and the political and conceptual frameworks that lie behind them;
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of issues and debates developed by women activists, practitioners and researchers from within the majority world;
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of communication, learning and teamwork in a diverse international group;
• By the end of the module students should have an advanced and critical understanding of written and oral communication skills.

Indicative reading list

Aikman, Sheila and Unterhalter, Elaine (Eds) (2005) Beyond Access: Transforming Policy and Practice for Gender Equality in Education, Oxford: Oxfam GB
Batliwala, Srilatha (2012) Changing Their World: Concepts and Practices of Women’s Movements, Toronto: AWID
Bhavnani, Kum-Kum, Foran, John and Kurian, Priya (Eds) (2003) Feminist Futures: Re- imagining Women, Culture and Development, London: Zed
Cornwall, Andrea, Jerker Edstrom and Alan Greig (Eds) (2011) Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities, London: New York: Zed Books
Cornwall, Andrea and Jenny Edwards (Eds) (2014) Feminisms, Empowerment and Development: Changing Women’s Lives, London: Zed Books
Escobar, Arturo (2012) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Griffin, Penny (2009) Gendering the World Bank: Neoliberalism and the Gendered Foundations of Global Governance, Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Harcourt, Wendy and Ingrid L. Nelson (Eds) Practising Feminist Political Ecologies: Moving Beyond the ‘Green Economy’, London: Zed
Harcourt, Wendy (Ed.) (2016) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Harcourt, Wendy (Ed.) (2017) Bodies in Resistance: Gender and Sexual Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Hellum, Anne and Henriette Sinding Aasen (Eds) (2013) Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Jackson, Cecile and Ruth Pearson (Eds) (1998) Feminist Visions of Development: Gender, Analysis and Policy, London: Routledge
Levine, Philipa (Ed.) (2004) Gender and Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Levine, Philippa (2013) The British Empire: Sunrise to sunset, Harlow: Pearson Education
McClintock, Anne (1995) Imperial Leather, London: Routledge
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade (2003) Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity, Durham; London: Duke University Press
Nussbaum, Martha C. (2011) Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Oberhauser, Ann O. and Ibipo Johnston-Anumonwo (Eds) (2014) Global Perspectives on Gender and Space: Engaging Feminism and Development, London: Routledge
Okkolin, Mari-Anne (2017) Education, Gender and Development: A Capabilities Perspective, New York: Routledge
Rai, Shirin and Georgina Waylen (Eds) (2014) New Frontiers in Feminist Political Economy, London: Routledge
Reilly, Niamh (2009) Women’s Human Rights: Seeking Gender Justice in a Globalizing Age, Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity
Said, Edward (1979) Orientalism, Harmondsworth: Penguin
Sarkar, Aanchal (2006) Gender and Development, New Delhi: Pragun Publications
Sen, Amartya (2009) The Idea of Justice, London: Allen Lane

Visvanathan, Nalini et al (Eds) (2011) The Women, Gender and Development Reader, London; New York: Zed Books
Wilson, Kalpana (2012) Race, Racism and Development: Interrogating History, Discourse and Practice, London; New York: Zed Books

Subject specific skills

Typically students who have completed this module successfully will be able to:

• deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level
• continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level.

Transferable skills

By the end of the module students should be able to:

• exercise initiative and personal responsibility
• engage in decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations
• demonstrate the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development