Course Outline: Gender and Politics

UCL DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY

Undergraduate Affiliate Program in Political Studies 2008/09

POLS6008

Gender and Politics

Teaching: 10 hours of lectures, 10 hours of seminars

Credits: 0.5 Course Units/ 4 US Credits/ 7.5 ECTS Credits

Lecture Times: TBC

Seminar Times:TBC

Assessment: Two 2,000 word essays (40/60%)

Essay Deadlines:Essay One: Monday 23 February 2009 at 2pm Essay Two: Monday 23March 2009 at 2pm

Lecturer:TBC

Office Hours:TBC

Course Outline: Gender and Politics

This course provides an overview of some key topics in politics and gender. The first part of the course includes some introductory theory, looks at the impact of gender on citizenship and voting behaviour, and considers whether the gender of our political representatives matters, how we might ensure that political institutions are gender balanced and what the normative arguments about the use of positive action measures are. The second part of the course has a more international flavour, considering women’s rights and human rights, the importance of gender in international development, and the role of gender in armed conflict. We will also look at gender ‘policy machinery’, such as specialist government departments and quangos concerned with women and equality, at both the national and international level. Throughout the course we will seek to focus on ‘gender’ rather than on ‘women’, though in most cases women are the underrepresented sex. We will therefore often discuss women’s equality, though we will also touch on the role of masculinity and men’s movements.

By the end of the course the students will:

be familiar with some of the basic theories and policy questions around politics and gender;
be able to critically assess the arguments for and against greater gender equality in different political institutions, and the mechanisms for achieving this;
have a sound understanding of the role of gender in civil society and political participation;
understand some of the key issues regarding gender in international relations, particularly with respect to development and to conflict;
have been exposed to the arguments of key commentators on each of the above points;
have studied in depth at least two questions in politics and gender, and be able to communicate these through essays and/or presentations.

Course Structure

Week 1History of feminism, feminist political thought and masculinism (extended lecture)

Week 2Gendering politics

Week 3Gender and political behaviour

Week 4Women’s representation in elected office: does it matter?

Week 5Quotas, positive discrimination and positive action

Week 6Gender policy machinery and ‘mainstreaming’

Week 7Gendered states and the gendered international

Week 8Gender and armed conflict

Week 9Gender and human rights

Week 10Gender and development

Lectures and presentations

Each week there will be an introductory lecture and general discussion on a different subject, as listed below, in the first hour. The other hour will be given over to student presentations and discussion arising from the presentations and the recommended reading. Seminars will discuss the previous week’s topic.

A suggested list of presentation topics will be circulated as a handout in the first week of class. Students will be asked to sign upfor one or two topic they would like to present. Depending on numbers in the class everyone will be expected to give either one or twopresentations. The standard time for a presentation is 10 minutes or, where there are two presenters in a class, 15 minutes between two. Note that you will be kept to time!

Presentations on a topic will be held on the week after the lecture. So, for example, in week 2 we will have a lecture ongendering politics, and the presentations and discussion in the seminar will be on the introductory topics from week 1.

How to use this reading list

The list below includes some general indications of appropriate books and journals, and then a detailed list for each week. You are not expected to read everything on the list,but you should do some reading each week, and come prepared to discuss what you have read with others in the class. You should aim to spend around five hours reading for the class each week, which should be enough to read at least three chapters and articles. On top of this you will need to read for your presentation/s and essays.

Each week there are‘recommended‘ readings listed. To prepare for the class you should generally start here, and read at least 2-3 items. Many of these are available electronically, but as not everybody will access all the readings we will co-ordinate this in class. You may be asked to summarise what you have read for others. You are therefore advised to take notes on your reading before the class which will then also be useful later for your essays.

The ‘additional’ reading will allow you to explore a topic further, particularly if you are preparing a presentation or essay. When preparing your presentation or essay you are also encouraged to seek out further reading beyond that included on the list, for example to include case studies of a particular political system with which you are familiar. Some recommendations for further sources are listed in ‘general reading’, below. You will also want to follow up references in the other books, articles or reports that you have read.

Most of the reading is available in UCL library, although there are only limited copies of books. Most of the journals from which articles are recommended are available online. The online teaching collection also contains chapters from some of the key books,but licences permit us to digitise only one chapter from each book, and most additional readings have not been digitised. You should therefore visit the library regularly as well as reading items online. Many items are also held in Senate House library, SSEES, SOAS and at LSE library.

Assessed essays

The course is assessed on the basis of two essays, each contributing 50% to the overall course mark. The essay length is 2,000 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography).

Essays should be based on the questions included at the top of the reading list for each week’s class (and may be on a topic on which you have given a presentation to the class). Exceptionally other questions may be used, but students must agree any change of title with the tutor in advance.

Essay 1 should be based on a question from week 1-5 and is due by Monday 23 Februaryat 2pm.

Essay 2 should be based on a question from week 6-10 and is due byMonday23Marchat 2pm.

Note that the tutor is happy to look at essay outlines in advance, but these must be submitted at least two weeks before the essay deadline.

You will find useful guidance for writing and presenting essays on the SPP student website These guidelines are designed to help you, and you should read them carefully and do your best to follow them. You will be penalised, for example, for inappropriate or inadequate referencing, insufficient evidence of reading, unclear language or a poorly structured essay. Plagiarism is also taken extremely seriously and can disqualify you from the degree (for details of what constitutes plagiarism see If in doubt about any of this, ask the tutor.

Provisional Core Reading List

There is no single text that adequately covers all of the issues on the course. Much of the reading will be from journals, and chapters in specialist books. There are however a few general books with chapters on the recommended list for several weeks of the course, as listed below. You may want to purchase one or two of these. In practice, however, you may find it best to read (and if necessary photocopy) key chapters from books in the library.

Blakeley, G. and Bryson, V. (eds.) (2007) The Impact of Feminism on Political Concepts and Debates. Manchester: Manchester University Press. -
Judith Squires (2007). The New Politics of Gender Equality. Basingstoke: Palgrave. -
Joni Lovenduski (2005). Feminising Politics. Cambridge: Polity. + (3 holdings)
Louise Chappell and Lisa Hill (eds.) (2006). The Politics of Women’s Interests. London: Routledge.–
Phillips, A. (ed.) (1998). Feminism and Politics. (Oxford: Oxford University Press) + (1)
Randall, V. and Waylen, G. (eds.) (1998). Gender, Politics and the State. (New York: Routledge) + (2)
Stevens, A. (2007). Women Power and Politics. (Basingstoke: Palgrave) + (1)
Stokes, W. (2005). Women in Contemporary Politics. (Cambridge: Polity) + (2)

Some specialist journals likely to be used on the course include:

European Journal of Women’s Studies (-)
Feminist Review (+: 1979 onwards)
Feminist Studies (+: 1972 onwards)
Feminist Theory (+: 2000 onwards)
Gender and Development (+ 1995 onwards)
Gender and Society (+: 1987 onwards)
International Feminist Journal of Politics (+: 1999 onwards)
Journal of Gender Studies (+: 1999 onwards)
Men and Masculinities (+: 1999 onwards)
Politics and Gender (-)

There are also several Special Issues of Parliamentary Affairs on gender issues that may be of interest. Some of the most recent are:

Parliamentary Affairs 49 (1). 1996.
Parliamentary Affairs 55 (1). 2002.
Parliamentary Affairs 61 (3). 2008.

Week 1: History of Feminism,Feminist Political Thought and Masculinism

Recommended Reading

Beasley, C. (1999) What is Feminism: An Introduction to Feminist Theory. London: Sage +(1)
Bryson, V. (1999) Feminist Debates: Issues of Theory and Political Practice. London: Macmillan. + (1)
Bryson, V. (2003) Feminist Political Thought: An Introduction. London: Macmillan. + (1)
Connell, R. W. (2005) ‘Change among the Gatekeepers: Men, Masculinities, and Gender Equality in the Global Arena.’ Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30:3
Durst-Lahti, G. (2008) Politics, Gender and Concepts: Theory and Methodology. Chapter 8 ‘Gender ideology: masculinism and feminalism’, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (KW)
Durst-Lahti, G. (2008) Politics, Gender and Concepts: Theory and Methodology. Chapter 10 ‘Women’s movements, feminism, and feminist movements’, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (KW)
Gross, E. (1992) ‘What is Feminist Theory?’ in Crowley, H. and Himmelweit, S., Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge. Cambridge: Polity Press. +(2)
Squires, J. (1999). Gender in Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity. + (2)
Weldon, S. L. Politics, Gender and Concepts: Theory and Methodology. Chapter 9 ‘Intersectionality’, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Presentation topics (for week 2 seminar):

What does ‘the personal is political’ mean and what relevance does it have in the 21st century? (Essay title)
Select a debate from ‘Does Feminism Discriminate against Men?’ present a summary of the argument and your opinion on the subject.
Evaluate the contributions of the feministresearch approachto political science. (Essay title)

Additional Reading

Bourque, S. and Grossholtz, J. (1974) ‘Politics an Unnatural Practice: Political Science Looks at Women’s Participation’, Politics and Society 4 (2): 225-266. Or in Phillips, A. (ed.) (1998) Feminism and Politics. Oxford: OUP. +, +(2)
Brod, H. (1987) The making of masculinities: the new men's studies. Boston: Allen & Unwin. -
Butler, J. and Scott, J. (eds.) Feminists Theorize the Political. New York: Routledge. +(2)
Carver, T. (1998) ‘A Political Theory of Gender: perspectives on the “universal subject” ‘ in Randall, V. and Waylen, G. (eds.) Gender, Politics and the State. New York: Routledge. +(2)
Charli Carpenter, R. (2002) ‘Gender Theory in World Politics: Contributions of a Non-Feminist Standpoint’, International Studies Review 4 (3): 153-66. +
Evans, J. et al (1986) Feminism and Political Theory. London: Sage +(1)
Evans, J. (1995) Feminist Theory Today. London: Sage. +(1)
Farrell, W. with Svobada, S. (2008) Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men? A Debate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frazer, E. (1998) ‘Feminism and Political Theory’ in Jackson, S. and Jones, J. (eds.), Contemporary Feminist Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. +(1)
Krook, M.L. and Squires, J ‘Gender Quotas in British Politics: Multiple Approaches and Methods in Feminist Research’. (2006)British Politics Issue 1. +
Martin, P.M. (2004) ‘Contextualising Feminist Political Theory’ in Staeheli, L.A. et al (eds.) Mapping Women, Making Politics. London: Routledge +(1)
Nagy Hesse-Biber, S. (2007)Handbook of feminist research: theory and praxis. Thousand Oaks, Calif.:Sage Publications. -
Nagy Hesse-Biber, S. (2007)Feminist Research Practice: A PrimerThousand Oaks, Calif.:Sage Publications. -
Randall, Vicky (2002) Theories and Methods in Political Science (2nd ed.) Marsh, D. and Stoker, G. (eds.) ‘Feminism’, Basingstoke, Palgrave-MacMillan. (KW)
Shanley, M.L. and Pateman, C. (eds.) (1991) Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press. +(1)
Zerilli, L. (1991) ‘Machiavelli’s Sisters: Women and the “Conversation” of Political Theory’, Political Theory 19 (2): 252-276. +

Week 2: Gendering politics

Recommended Reading

Annesley, C., Gains, F. and Rummery, K. (eds.) (2007) Women and New Labour. London: Policy Press. Chapter 2 ‘Engendering Politics? Theoretical Underpinnings: Women, Gender, Feminising and Politics.’ +(1)
Fukuyama, F. (1998) ‘Women and the Evolution of World Politics’, Foreign Affairs 77 (5): 24-39. +
Lovenduski, J. (2005) ‘Introduction’ in Lovenduski, J. Feminizing Politics. Cambridge: Polity Press. +(3)
Paxton, P. and Hughes, M. (2007) ‘Introduction to Women in Politics’ in Paxton, P. and Hughes, M. Women, Politics and Power. London: Pine Forge Press. +(1)
Stokes, W. (2005).‘Feminist Theory and Women’s Political Activism’ in Stokes, W. Women in Contemporary Politics. Cambridge: Polity + (2)
Sapiro, V. (1998) ‘Feminist Studies and Political Science- and Vice-Versa’ in Phillips, A. (ed.)Feminism and Politics, pp. 55-76. +
Waylen, G. (1998) ‘Gender, Feminism and the State: an Overview’ in Randall, V. and Waylen, G. (eds.)Gender, Politics and the State. New York: Routledge. +(2)

Presentation topics (for week 3 seminar):

Read ‘Mapping Gender and Politics Concepts: Ten Guidelines’ (Goertz, G. and Mazur, A. (2008) Politics, Gender, and Concepts: Theory and Methodology. Select two of their guidelines, present them and why you selected them.

Additional reading

Carver, T. (1996) Gender is Not a Synonym for Women. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Press. -
Connell, R.W. and Messerschmidt, J.W. (2005) ‘Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept’, Gender and Society 19: 829-859. +
Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialectic of Sex. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. -
Hearn, J. (2004) ‘From Hegemonic Masculinity to the Hegemony of Men’, Feminist Theory 5 (1): 49-72. +
Moi, T. (1999) ‘What is A Woman: Sex, Gender and the Body in Feminist Theory’, in What is a Woman? And Other Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press + (3 holdings)

Week 3: Gender and political behaviour