Population, Gender and Development

Course No.

Course Title: Population, gender and development

Number of credits: 3 (2.5-0.5-0)

No. of Lectures – tutorial – practical: 34-8-0

Course coordinator: Dr Mala Narang Reddy

Course outline

This course is designed to give students an understanding of the interrelationship among population change, gender and socio-economic development. The course examines the factors responsible for demographic trends (mortality, fertility, and migration patterns), the role of gender in these processes and the impact of changing social and economic aspects of development on the lives of women and men.

The course will help students think critically and analyse how population policies have not been successful in linking means to the ends, and how they can be made more effective by including gender and other social dimensions.

The course will generate knowledge on the following aspects:–

(1) Why gender is important when considering development issues and the need to integrate population and gender into research and policy agendas (2) various population and gender parameters of development (3) issues and debates on population and gender in development in developing countries.

Evaluation Procedure (% of aggregate marks):

n Review (1000 words) : 15%

n 2 minor tests : 40%

n 1 major test (end semester) : 45%

Detailed of course contents and allotted time

S.No / Topic / Allotted time (hours) /
Lectures / Class Discussion/tutorials /

Part A. Introduction to the Concepts and Issues 14 2

1

/ Population and gender parameters of development; Concepts and definitions of population processes: fecundity, fertility, morbidity, mortality, CBR, CDR, and migration; social indicators of development (human development index) / 2

2

/ Gender insensitivity at academic and practice level; consequences of gender insensitive approach of development policies; Population policy in India and family planning programmes – critical evaluation / 3

3

Gender Disparity – Gender and kinship/gender and household/female-headed households/gender specific roles; Gender, land and other resources (women’s rights)

/ 3

4

/ Population vs. Food Trends (population bomb in developing countries) / 2
5 / Global perspective – Demographic change in a globalising world; gender at global level; relevance of demographic transition theory; Changing perspective on population paradigm – demographic divident; consequences of urbanization and industrialization on gender / 4

Part B. Population, Gender & Development: 16 4

Linkages and Challenges

6

/ Gender, Health and Mortality – Differential trends of mortality; HIV and AIDS (Gender relations in AIDS epidemic); state and population policies / 3

7

/ Ageing and Gender – Demographic, social and economic aspects of population ageing; state and care of the elderly / 2

/ Education and Development – Impact of education on differential fertility and mortality rates; gender gaps in education and development / 2

/ Culture, religion and demographic behaviour – Religions in India: Major categories, population, and distribution; religion and gender relations; regulation of sex, issues of premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations; religion on drug abuse. / 3

/ Work and Gender – Participation of women in labour force; case studies from India and other countries / 2

/ Gender Based Migration – Migration: push and pull hypotheses and their relationship; aspects of internal migration and emigration – gender aspects of population movement; forced migration (induced migration (development project) and its impact on women in India); national and international policies / 4

Part C. Contemporary Issues in Developing Countries 4 2

/ Recent policies related to women; Rise of ethnicity and its impact on gender and population variables; changing aspects of social stratification and gender; case studies
Total 34 8

The course is reviewed and commented by the following experts.

Prof. Vinay Kumar Srivastava

Professor of Social Anthropology

Department of Anthropology

University of Delhi

Dr. Avanish Kumar

Associate Professor

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon.