PUBPOL 3151

Gender Inequality and Global Policy

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 states that countries should: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” by 2030. What is empowerment and how will we know when it has been achieved? Why is gender inequality a problem for countries and why does it exist in the first place? In this course we formulate answers to these questions through an examination of gender and development policy past and present. We unpack different and often competing definitions of ‘empowerment’ and ‘gender equality’ deployed in global policy and understand the historical lineages of development theory and feminisms that led to ‘gender’ as an important policy consideration. Importantly, students build analytical tools for evaluating how intersectional experiences of gender shape the impact of these policies on the lives of women, girls and other gender minorities. This course blends practice and theory, encouraging students to evaluate the material effects of diverse approaches to reducing gender inequality through case studies, writing, and readings in gender and global policy.

Enrollment Priority Recommended prerequisite: PUBPOL 2060 (or equivalent).

Distribution Requirements (SBA-AG), (SBA-HE)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2024FA

Learning Outcomes

• Describe at least three distinct historical movements in gender and development policy and the various feminist theories connected to these movements.
• Discuss current approaches and major debates in women's 'empowerment' across key policy sectors including: economic growth, education, public health, and agriculture.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of historical and contemporary gender policy cases for promoting gender equality.
• Assess SDG 5 as a policy framework for reducing gender inequality globally.
• Synthesize theoretical and empirical evidence into convincing and cohesive written analytical arguments.

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