Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2107: Gender and Comparative Public Policy

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

The aims of this module are to introduce you to key concepts and theoretical perspectives in the analysis of gender-related issues in public policy; to enable you to gain a better understanding of contemporary issues and challenges related to gender+ equality and sexual+ equality; and to provide you with the ability to examine the challenges and barriers related to gender in the policy process. The primary context will be Europe.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate understanding of significant contemporary debates about religion, politics and policy in post-industrialised society;
2. Critically assess the channels through which religion may be still relevant to understand policy making in the 21th century across a variety of policy sectors.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Critically analyse primary and secondary source material and apply theoretical argument;
4. Link concepts and theories to real world examples;
5. Analyse debates and present coherent arguments about gender-related issues in public policy.
Personal and Key Skills6. Present, evaluate and synthesise ideas and debates;
7. Present written material in a coherent manner;
8. Develop autonomous learning skills, notably self-direction and time management;
9. Contribute productively and co-operatively to class discussions.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

G. Waylen, K. Celis, J. Kantola and S. L. Weldon (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Htun, M. and S. L. Weldon (2010). “When Do Governments Promote Women’s Rights? A Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Sex Equality Policy.” Perspectives on Politics 8(1): 207-216.

Bacchi, C. L. (1999). Women, Policy and Politics. London: Sage.

Adam, Barry D., Jan Willem Duyvendak and André Krouwel (1999). The Global Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Banaszak, L. A. et al. (2003). Women’s Movements Facing the Reconfigured State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bowen, J. (2007). Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Burns, G. (2005). The Moral Veto: Framing Contraception, Abortion, and Cultural Pluralism in the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

C. Hakim (2004). Key Issues in Women’s Work: Female Diversity and the Polarisation of Women’s Employment. Routledge-Cavendish.

Carroll, S. J. (ed.) (2001). The Impact of Women in Public Office. Bloomington: Indiana.

Childs, S. (2008). Women and British Party Politics. Routledge.

Christoph Knill, Christian Adam, and Steffen Hurka, eds. 2015. On the Road to Permissiveness? Change and Convergence of Moral Regulation in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dahlerup, Drude (2006). Women, Quotas, and Politics. New York: Routledge.

De Zordo, S., J. Mishtal and L. Anton (2016). A Fragmented Landscape: Abortion Governance and Protest Logics in Europe. New York: Berghahn.

Engeli, I., C. Green-Pedersen, and L. T. Larsen, eds. (2012). Morality Politics in Western Europe: Parties, Agendas and Policy Choices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Engeli, Isabelle (2009). “The Challenges of Abortion and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Policies in Europe”, Comparative European Politics 7(1): 56-74

Evans, E. (2015). Politics of Third Wave Feminisms Neoliberalism, Intersectionality, and the State in Britain and the US. Palgrave MacMillan.

Fetner, T (2008). How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Grzymala-Busse, A. M. (2015). Nations under God: How churches use moral authority to influence policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Hankivsky, Olena (2013). “Gender Mainstreaming: A Five-Country Examination”, Politics & Policy 41(5): 629-55.

Htun, Mala. 2003. Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jacobs J. A. 1989. Revolving Doors: Sex Segregation and Women’s Career. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Joppke, C. (2014). Europe and Islam: Alarmists, Victimists, Integration by Law, West EuropeanPolitics 37(6).

Krook, M. L. (2016). Contesting Gender Quotas: Dynamics of Resistance », Politics, Groups, and Identities 4(2): 268-83.

Latham, M. (2002) Regulating Reproduction. A Century of Conflict in Britain and France. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Lawless, J. (2004). “Politics of presence? Congresswomen and symbolic representation." Political Research Quarterly 57(1): 81-99.

Lépinard, Eléonore (2013), For Women only? Gender Quotas and Intersectionality in France, Politics & Gender, 9(3), p. 276-298.

Mazur, A. G. (2002). Theorizing Feminist Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Paternotte, D. (2015). Global Times, Global Debates? Same-Sex Marriage Worldwide, Social Politics 22(4).

Harvard University Press.

Scott, Joan W. (2005), Parité! Sexual Difference and the Crisis of French Universalism, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Sheldon, S. (1997) Beyond Control: Medical Power and Abortion Law. London/Chicago: Pluto Press

Wilson, J. C. (2016). The New States of Abortion Politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Winter. B. Fundamental Misunderstandings: Issues in Feminist Approach to Islamism, Journal of

Wolbrecht, Christina. 2000. The Politics of Women Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Yuval-Davis, Nira. 2011. The Politics of Belonging: Intersectional Contestations. London: Sage.