Learn about critical theories and topics in the field of gender and development. Gender equality is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. As such, learning about the theoretical and practical interplay between gender and international development is of utmost importance to anyone working in or considering a career in this field.
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Here you will learn about some of the main critical theories and topics necessary for understanding a complicated and sometimes contradictory relationship between gender equality and international development initiatives.
For example, why have women not been better included in peacebuilding processes? Are women more peaceful than men? How do colonial legacies influence how we think about development and gender? How do they influence collective trauma? What role might the State play in constructing gender norms? What is the difference between women’s mobilization and women’s organization? Does gender mainstreaming really work? What about quota systems? And how do we address issues of masculinity?
In this course, a team of internationally acclaimed experts in the fields of gender studies, history, literature, psychology, and development studies will discuss these questions and many, many more.
What you'll learn
By the end of this course, you will understand and be able to discuss:
- The most recent and basic trends in development theory
- How The State regulates gender roles
- How to recognize examples of State-produced gendered harm
- How international security is different from male and female perspectives
- Women’s role in security and defense forces
- The relationship between gender and violent extremism/terrorism
- Securitization and children born of war
- Gender-responsive peacebuilding
- How women have contributed to peace through civil society
- The gender dimensions of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration processes
- The concept of decolonization in various development contexts
- How colonial legacies influence education and knowledge
- How coloniality influences collective trauma
- How gender and development initiatives played out in post-apartheid South Africa
- The trials and errors of gender mainstreaming
- The difference between women’s organization and mobilization
*The role of masculinities and femininities in development contexts
