Introductory description

Over the course of the module we will be exploring the inequalities of development through the lens of gender. Amongst other issues we’ll be looking to understand why women still constitute 70 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion who live in absolute poverty. We’ll be discussing why women make up 60 per cent of the 550 million working poor. Why it is that globally, women can earn anything between 12 and 60 per cent less than men, and why the value of their unpaid work – a staggering US$ 11 trillion every year – remains invisible in national and global accounts. In discussing these and plenty of other issues, we will explore how and why inequalities between men and women continue to persist, and what impact this inequality has upon the national and global economy. We will also examine the strategies that have been developed to challenge this inequality and assess their success.

There are two major themes that bind the module together: the concept of ‘otherness’ and difference; and the gendered analysis of development. These themes will be developed by looking at women and men in their different economic, social, and political roles in society, which we will do in four different areas over the course of this module: (1) Theorising Gender and Development; (2) Gendering Governance; (3) Gendered International Political Economy; and (4) Addressing Issues of Gender and Development.

This course is more wide-ranging than some other gender and development modules that you might encounter in other departments. Taking as our point of departure, existing feminist perspectives from across the world, we will discuss issues relating to masculinities and sexualities in the developing world. This broad theoretical framework will enable us to explore the gendered economic inequalities that have arisen as a result of global capitalism. Taking a distinctly political economy approach we will go on to discuss the gendered impacts of economic policy, trade and microfinance, population control and family planning, as well as issues such as HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, conflict, climate change, and global sex tourism. Therefore, as well as covering the traditional concerns of gender and development such as work, poverty, health, and demography, we will locate these gendered relations and issues within the wider socio-economic and political context.

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: Welcome and Introduction to the Module
Week 2: Feminisms and Difference
Week 3: Theorising and Gendering Development
Week 4: Masculinities and Development
Week 5: Gender and Sexuality in the Developing World
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Colonialism and the (Re-)making of Gender Relations
Week 8: Gendering the (Post-Colonial) State
Week 9: Gender and Global Governance
Week 10: Representing and Mainstreaming Women’s Interests
Week 11: Gender and Global Capitalism
Week 12: From SAPs to PRSPs: Gendered Politics of Crises and Austerity
Week 13: Microfinance: Empowerment or Localised Neoliberalism?
Week 14: ‘The Body’ as a Site of Political Struggle
Week 15: Gender, Globalisation and Sex Tourism
Week 16: Reading Week
Week 17: Gender, Epidemics and Pandemics
Week 18: Trade, Gender and the International Division of Labour
Week 19: Gender, the Environment and Climate Change
Week 20: Gendering Issues of Conflict and Security

Learning outcomes

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

• A sound grasp of the main theoretical arguments and key substantive issues in gender and development.
• Knowledge of how different processes and trajectories of social, economic and political development knit together to affect the lives of women in different developing areas.
• Assess the various theories of gender and development, explaining and defending your preferred model persuasively.
• Conduct high-quality scholarly research concerning issues of GAD, using key statistical and qualitative indicators of development.
• Present your work coherently and to a high academic standard.

Indicative reading list

The routledge handbook of gender and development (2015). In Coles A., Gray L. and Momsen J. H.(Eds.), . Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203383117McMichael, P., & Weber, H. (2022). Development and social change: A global perspective (7th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Momsen, J. H. (2020). Gender and development (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315674186
Willis, K. (2021). Theories and practices of development (Third ed.). Routledge.
Rai, S. (2013). Gender and the political economy of development: From nationalism to globalization. Wiley.
Routledge handbook of queer development studies (2018). In Mason C. L. (Ed.), . Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315529530
Oyěwùmí, O. (1997). The invention of women: Making an african sense of western gender discourses. University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctttt0vh

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

International Development concepts and theories, Gender analsyis concepts, Feminist theories and perspectives on development, gender and development issues and policy related knowledge.

Transferable skills

Key skills necessary for employment related to Politics and International Studies: lateral thinking; problem solving; detailed critical analysis and interpretation of a variety of primary and secondary sources; the ability to digest, retain and apply complex information and ideas; an understanding of language; skills in research, independent study, group discussion, and in oral and written presentation; the ability to consider unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking. in addition, other specific skills on the module include writing policy briefs and gender analysis reports.