The Course Will Aim to Critically Analyze the Main Policy Approaches to Equality of Opportunity

Central European University

Department of Public Policy

Winter 2012/2013

THE POLITICS OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Course instructor: Andrea Krizsan, Center for Policy Studies;

Credit number: 2

Office hours: TBA; Nador u.11, room 316

Course level: M.A.

Course objectives and overview

Gender based violence is one of the main social forces producing and reproducing gender inequality. Brought to international and national policy agendas by feminist movements it has lately become a core policy issue discussed not just in the framework of gender equality policy but related to policies on human rights, crime prevention, child protection, health, development, cross border migration and trafficking and conflict and post conflict intervention. This course aims to look at the politics of gender based violence through understanding the main challenges of framing it as a policy issue. Starting from the history of feminist mobilization around gender based violence and the feminist approach to it the course will progress through understanding contestation to the feminist framing, alternative approaches to it and proceed to examining currently available norms and state responses addressing it. The course will pay particular attention to some specific forms of gender based violence such as violence in intimate relations, sexual violence, sexual harassment, traditional forms of violence, trafficking and violence in conflict and post conflict situations.

Course Structure

The structure of the course will be fourfold.

I. The first part of the class will introduce the course, basic concepts of gender based violence, and will discuss approaches coming from cost and measurement of violence.

II. The second part of the class will introduce the contestation between the feminist framing of gender violence and other important approaches to gender violence such as human rights, family policy and children’s rights and health approaches. A separate class will be dedicated to intersectionality in framing gender violence.

III. The third section of the class discusses different forms of gender based violence, their specificities and the similarities between them.

IV. The last section will be devoted to policy responses addressing gender violence coming from an actor centered approach: responses by states, civil society and international actors will be addressed.

General Resources for the Class

Books:

Wilhelm Heitmeyer and John Hagan eds. (2003) International handbook of violence research. Kluwer

Encyclopedia of interpersonal violence edited by Claire M. Renzetti, Jeffrey L. Edleson. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, c2008

European Commission (2010) Feasibility Study to Assess the Possibilities, Opportunities and Needs to Standardise National Legislation on Violence against Women, Violence against Children and Sexual Orientation Violence. Daphne Program

Sally Merry Engle (2009) Gender violence: a cultural perspective. Wiley-Blackwell

Sokoloff, N. J. & Pratt, C. eds. Domestic Violence at the Margins London: Rutgers University Press.

Stark, E. & Buzawa, E. (Eds) Violence against women in families and relationships: making and breaking connections, New York: Praeger Publishers 2009. ISBN: 978-0-275-99846-2

Articles and chapters:

Sylvia Walby (2012) Violence and Society: Introduction to and Emerging Field in Sociology. Current Sociology.

Carol Hagemann-White (2002) “Violence against women in the European context: histories, prevalence, theories” in Thinking differently: a reader in European women's studies edited by Gabriele Griffin and Rosi Braidotti Zed 2002

Marianne Hester (2004) “Future Trends and Developments : Violence Against Women in Europe and East Asia” in Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1431

Compares terminology and processes in UK, DK and China

Journals:

Violence against Women SAGE http://vaw.sagepub.com/

Social Politics http://sp.oxfordjournals.org/

European Journal of Women Studies http://ejw.sagepub.com/

International Feminist Journal of Politics http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14616742.asp

Websites

University of Michigan database of reports on violence against women

http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/svaw/domestic/reports/institution.htm

Stop Violence against Women website of the Minnesota based organization Advocates for Human Rights

http://www.stopvaw.org/

European Women’s Lobby Observatory on Violence against Women

http://www.ewlcentreonviolence.org/

Coalition for Women’s Human Rights in Conflict Situations

http://www.womensrightscoalition.org/site/publications/index_en.php

Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice

http://www.iccwomen.org/index.php

The International Monitoring Center on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts

http://www.viol-tactique-de-guerre.org/bibliography.html

European Commission Anti-Trafficking Website

http://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/

Teaching Method and Learning Outcomes

The course will meet once a week and work in a seminar format. After the discussion of the required readings in which all students are expected to take part, presentation(s) will follow that reveal the challenges that policy actions face in transnational and domestic context in regard to the problems/themes of the specific classes. The assignment for presentation will be either individual or small group based depending on the size of the class.

Due to the nature of the topic, the course will invite students to develop their skills of critical thinking by understanding major theoretical, moral and practical debates that shape considerations on responding to the problem of violence against women. The teaching method will ensure that students have to regularly synthesize different pieces of knowledge (discussion of the core readings), to critically evaluate the differences and overlaps of arguments (presentations), to do targeted small inquiries for relevant policy cases (voluntary presentations and term paper), and to develop their academic writing skills (written support to the presentation and term paper).

Assignments and assessment

(1) All enrolled students are expected to carefully consult with the required readings prior to the classes, ideally by taking notes. Active participation in the seminar discussions is expected from all students. Students are expected to be prepared to reflect upon these questions in the class. Seminars will be discussion-based, often group based and their success will largely depend on the students’ contributions to the class.

Weight to the grade: 30%

(2) Students will sign up to one seminar presentation during the semester. The course syllabus details the texts or materials that could be presented. The presentation shall be of 15-20 minutes, should always be supported by a written handout or power-point file. An outline of the presentation should be submitted to the course instructor (email) a few days prior to the class.

Weight to the grade: 30%

(3) Students will write a term paper of 3,000 words. A two-paragraph abstract of the paper should be submitted by February 20th. Preliminary discussion with the course instructor on the paper topics is encouraged.

Please note that late papers submitted after the deadline will be marked down by half of a letter grade per day. The papers should be double- or 1,5 spaced, appropriately referenced, and provide a bibliography of sources consulted. Please include the word count on the title page. All written assignments should be produced exclusively by the student who submits the work. Any text reproduction which is not clearly identified and attributed will have to be considered as plagiarism (see related provisions and guidance in the Student Handbook and other relevant University policies and regulations).

Weight to the grade: 40%

Audit Students

Audit students are expected to do all required readings in the class, to actively participate in the class discussions and additionally to make a seminar presentation.

Topics and Readings

First Week: Introduction

Introducing the course and basic concepts of gender based violence. Cost and measurement of violence. Concepts, types, facts and figures.

Questions for discussion: Gender based violence: What is it? What forms? Whose problem? How to measure it? What is its cost?

Readings

Sally Merry Engle (2009) “Introduction” in Gender violence: a cultural perspective. Pp.1-25. “Naming and Framing the Problem” 27-29 in Gender Violence: a Cultural Perspective. Wiley-Blackwell

Recommended

Sylvia Walby (2012) Violence and Society: Introduction to and Emerging Field in Sociology. Current Sociology.

Sylvia Walby (2004) The Cost of Domestic Violence. UK Government. Women and Equality Unit. http://www.devon.gov.uk/cost_of_dv_report_sept04.pdf

Walby, Sylvia and Andrew Myhill: 'Comparing the methodology of the new national surveys of violence against women' , British Journal of Criminology, 2001, 41, 3, 502-522, with Andrew Myhill, )

Carol Hagemann White (2003) “A Comparative Examination of Gender Perspectives on Violence” in Wilhelm Heitmeyer and John Hagan eds. (2003) International handbook of violence research. Kluwer. Pp. 97-117

Carol Hagemann-White (2002) “Violence against women in the European context: histories, prevalence, theories” in Thinking differently : a reader in European women's studies edited by Gabriele Griffin and Rosi Braidotti Zed 2002

Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Say They Have Been Sexually Assaulted

By Roni Caryn Rabin, December 14, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/health/nearly-1-in-5-women-in-us-survey-report-sexual-assault.html?_r=4&hp

Materials from UNECE Workshop on Measuring Violence against Women (Geneva, 29-30 April 2010) http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/2010.04.vaw.htm

Second week: What is the Problem? Violence against Women, Women’s Rights as Human Rights

The feminist approach to gender based violence. Mainstreaming violence into human rights.

Questions for debate: What are the weaknesses of the feminist approach? Can men be victims of gender violence? Can women be perpetrators?

Readings

Radford, Kelly, Hester (1995) “Introduction” in Marianne Hester , Liz Kelly , Jill Radford Eds. (1995) Women, Violence, and Male Power: Feminist Activism, Research, and Practice. Open University Press.

CEDAW Recommendation 19

Presentation:

Alice Edwards (2010) "Equality and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Sex" in Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law. CUP. Pp.140-197

Recommended

Catherine MacKinnon “Equality Remade: Violence against Women” in Are Women Human? Harvard UP.2006. Pp. 105-111

Kelly, Liz 2005 “Inside outsiders: Mainstreaming Gender Violence into Human Rights Discourse and Practice” International Feminist Journal of Politics Vol.7, no. 4, pp.471 - 495

Charlotte Bunch. 1992. "Women's Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Revision of Human Rights," 12 Human Rights Quarterly 486

Laura J. Shepherd (2007) “‘Victims, Perpetrators and Actors’ Revisited: Exploring the Potential for a Feminist Reconceptualisation of (International) Security and (Gender) Violence” in BJPIR: 2007 VOL 9, 239–256

Kelly & Radford (1995) “’Nothing really happened’: the invalidation of women’s experiences of sexual violence” in Marianne Hester , Liz Kelly , Jill Radford Eds. Women, Violence, and Male Power: Feminist Activism, Research, and Practice. Open University Press. Pp.19

Third week: What is the problem – coming from health?

This class we discuss approaches defining violence as a health problem.

Question for discussion: is the health approach in conflict with the gender based violence approach? Are they compatible? How do they complement each other?

Readings

World Bank website on Gender-Based Violence, Health and the role of the Health Sector

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTHEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/EXTPHAAG/0,,contentMDK:22421973~pagePK:64229817~piPK:64229743~theSitePK:672263,00.html

Presentation

Cheryl Hanna. 2010 “Health, Human Rights, and Violence Against Women and Girls: Broadly Defining Affirmative State Duties After Opuz v. Turkey”. Forthcoming, HASTINGS INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW REVIEW

Recommended

WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women. 2005. http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/en/

Mental Health Europe (2012) Shaping attitudes. A handbook on domestic violence and

mental health.

US Violence Against Women Health Initiative Act of 2011

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1578ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr1578ih.pdf

Background material to the law:

http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/PublicPolicy/PublicPolicy/VAWA_Summary_%20Initiative_2011.pdf

http://www.louise.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2466:slaughter-introduces-legislation-to-prevent-violence-against-women&catid=95:2011-press-releases&Itemid=55

Fourth Week: Defining the Problem: Coming from Family Policy and Children’s Rights

The strongest competing approach to that coming from feminists is a family policy approach which sees gender violence as a family problem. This class will discuss some of the challenges coming from the family focused approach.

Children’s rights are a crosscutting topic of gender violence debates. While inseparable from gender violence, violence against children often becomes a competing approach. This class will discuss some of the emerging dilemmas in this realm as well.

Questions for discussion: Is there an inherent conflict between a children’s rights and a gender equality approach? Is the gender based violence approach missing out on something? Is the children’s rights approach missing out on something? Are these two incompatible? Think about domestic violence, rape, trafficking.

Readings

JoAnne Langley Miller and Dean Knudsen (1999) “Family abuse and Violence” in Handbook of marriage and the family / edited by Marvin B. Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson. New York, Plenum Press. Pp. 705-743

Presentation

Hester, M. (2011). The Three Planet Model: Towards an Understanding of Contradictions in

Approaches to Women and Children’s Safety in Contexts of Domestic Violence. British Journal of Social Work (2011) 41, 837–853

Fifth week: Intersectionality

One of the major challenges to the violence against women approach comes from the recognition that gender violence may have varying impact on different subgroups of women depending on other intersecting inequalities. Class, ethnicity and disability are some of the most evident and most widely discussed intersections. This class will discuss the problem of intersectionality in the field of gender based violence.

Questions for discussion: Is attention to intersectional subgroups disrupting the wider gender based violence is universal claim? Can they be seen as complementary?

Readings

Sokoloff, Natalie J. and Dupont, Ida (2005). Domestic Violence at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender: Challenges and Contributions to Understanding Violence Against Marginalized Women in Diverse Communities. Violence Against Women. 11(1):38-64.

Presentations

Kimberle Crenshaw (1991) Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, Vol. 43, No. 6: 1241-….

Weldon, Laurel (2011) “Inclusion, Identity and Women’s Movements: State Policies on Violence against Women of Color” in When Protest Makes Policy. Michigan UP

Recommended

Irma Morales Waugh (2010) Examining the Sexual Harassment Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Farmworking Women. Violence Against Women 16( 3): 237-261

UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Rashida Manjoo (2011) Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G11/130/22/PDF/G1113022.pdf?OpenElement

http://www.violenceisnotourculture.org/

Michele Bograd (2005) “Strengthening domestic violence theories. Intersections of race, class, sexual orientation and gender” in Sokoloff, N. J. & Pratt, C. eds. Domestic Violence at the Margins London: Rutgers University Press. Pp 25