ASTK18338U Cancelled Gender, politics and policy

This course aims to familiarize students with the study of public policy from gender and feminist perspectives.

This course introduces students to a broad range of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of gender and public policy. This includes familiarizing students with the major theories used to analyse the politics of policymaking as it concerns questions of gender and equality. Students will develop their ability to critically assess the manner in which public policies affect the social, economic, and political citizenship and lived experience of gendered individuals over time. Students will also study how the political process influences the nature and functioning of gender equality policy. During the course, we will consider questions such as: What impact does women’s presence in the policy process have on gender equality outcomes? How do past and present policies structure different groups’, and especially women’s, status and welfare in society? What institutional and policy instruments do we have to try and improve gender equality across different aspects of social and political life?

In sum, the course aims:

• To introduce students to the theories, concepts and methods with which to compare, critically understand and systematically analyse public and social policy from feminist and gender perspectives;
• To provide students with a critical understanding of the role past and present policies structure different groups’ status and welfare;
• To help students acquire the practical skills to research and analyse and evaluate policies using feminist and gendered lenses, and generate well-founded and insightful assessments of the impact of policies on different groups’ political, economic, and social equality.

To do this, the course is structured into two parts. The first part introduces students to key theories and concepts used in feminist and gendered analysis of politics and policy, with a particular focus on actor- and institution-centered theories of women’s political representation. In this part, students will also become acquainted with the methods and principles underpinning feminist and gender approaches to policy analysis. The second part of the course invites students to examine some of the different policies and strategies used to improve equality and women’s welfare and rights, as well as critically explore contemporary debates on policy issues that affect women’s lived experience, such as commercial sex and reproductive rights.

Sessions will cover topics including:

• Sex, gender, and intersectionality
• The constitutive effects of policy/making
• Theorising women’s political representation
• Feminist policy actors
• Comparative State Feminism
• Feminist institutionalism
• Feminist and gendered policy analysis and evaluation
• Legal and political tools to improve gender equality
• Gender quotas
• Gender mainstreaming

One session will also be dedicated to peer review of assignment work.