Introductory description

The module considers the ways in which gender relations interact with economic and social relations in an era of globalisation. We will investigate the ways in which gender norms interact with international economic dynamics, characterised by processes of migration, marketisation, financialisation, and digitalisation. Throughout the sessions we will explore how these processes are interconnected via so-called 'global value chains' that pose new legal, regulatory, and socioeconomic challenges for gender justice. The module uses gender as a lens to understand where inequalities lie in the global economy, how the law enables disadvantage, and whether the law can be used as a tool for justice.

We will examine how the regulation of the global economy reproduces or shapes gender inequalities. Why is access to labour markets gendered? Does paid work improve women’s position within society? Does globalisation offer new opportunities or creates more vulnerabilities for women at the lower end of the global income distribution? What counts as 'work'? Are all women particularly vulnerable to exploitation while at work or do other intersecting inequalities associated with indigeneity, coloniality, race, ethnicity, class, disability, sexual and gender identities play a part? Do the legal and socio-economic gains of women in some parts of the world correspond to marginalisation and exploitation of women elsewhere? How and in what ways can legal regulation contribute to greater and more equal access and protection?

Through critical engagement with concepts such as social reproduction, care, empowerment, precarity, depletion, and the use of specific case studies, we will consider the ways in which gender issues are understood in discourses on the global economy and within key institutions such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), regional bodies, private sector actors such as transnational corporations (TNCs) and financial institutions, and NGOs and grassroots groups. We will consider the questions: who do we care about? Who are ‘we’? If we care about distant others, how do we do this? Through the discourses of labour/social protection/human rights, corporate social responsibility including ethical codes of practice and fair-trade initiatives, or through local and transnational feminist activism and resistance?

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.

• Gender and the law in a global economy: Introducing global value chains and the conceptual and regulatory frameworks for their analysis
• Global commodity chains: The fast fashion industry
• Global care chains: Migrant domestic workers
• Global body work chains: The global sex industry
• Global financial chains: The case of microfinance
• Global digital chains: Gendered platform work
• Class presentations: Preparing for the assessment
• Bringing the strands together: Striving for global gender justice

Learning outcomes

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

• Work effectively in groups, taking account of expressed opinions and dealing with them effectively, work with sensitivity, recognising different perspectives.
• Demonstrate substantial knowledge of the debates relating to the interaction between gender relations and globalisation particularly the contribution of law to these processes.
• Understand the ways in which global trade relates to economic and social inequality.
• Demonstrate an ability to identify and critically analyse the gender implications of global community/value chains and networks.
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective written work and oral presentations.
• Demonstrate critical analysis of current research in the area of gender, social reproduction and international regulatory frameworks in the areas of trade, labour, migration and human rights.
• Identify, and use appropriately interdisciplinary materials, including international policy documents and empirical research findings.
• Critically evaluate the potential for and limitations of legal regulation of aspects of the global economy which particularly affect gender relations.
• Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and drafting skills in relation to the presentation and gender analysis of global value/commodity chains and networks.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Research element

Students will develop research skills throughout the sessions of the module via seminar tasks, group work, the final presentation and through formative feedback. They will need to demonstrate their research skills in the summative assignment which is a research project on a global value chain of their choice.

Interdisciplinary

The module is very interdisciplinary as students engage not only with legal and socio-legal scholarship, but also with international political economy, sociology, development studies and need to identify and use appropriately interdisciplinary materials, including international policy documents and empirical research findings.

International

Throughout the module, students will learn how gender norms and relations interact with international economic dynamics shaped by processes of globalisation. Students will engage with the work of international organisations, with international legal and policy frameworks (including the UN SDGs), and scholarship from different contexts with a particular focus on Global South authors. They will also learn about the local impact of global economic dynamics via specific case studies.

Subject specific skills

Subject knowledge and understanding:

• Demonstrate substantial knowledge of the debates relating to the interaction between gender relations and globalisation particularly the contribution of law to these processes. Understand the ways in which global trade relates to economic and social inequality.
• Demonstrate an ability to identify and critically analyse the gender implications of global value
  chains and networks.

Cognitive Skills :

• Identify, and use appropriately interdisciplinary materials, including international policy documents and empirical research findings.
• Critically evaluate the potential for and limitations of various regulatory frameworks which particularly affect gender relations in the global economy.

Subject-Specific/Professional Skills:
-Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and drafting skills in relation to the presentation of global
value/commodity chains and networks.

Transferable skills

Key transferable skills:

• Work effectively in groups, taking account of expressed opinions and dealing with them effectively, work with sensitivity, recognising different perspectives.
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective written work and oral presentations.
• Demonstrate critical analysis of current research in the area of gender, law and economic policies.