Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2107: Gender and Comparative Public Policy

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

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Drawing on research gender and comparative public policy, the module assesses and challenges theoretical foundations through the comparative examination of a range of contemporary issues in the promotion of gender+ equality and sexual+ equality.

 

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following theoretical discussions and case studies:

  • What is gender equality and why does it matter?
  • Gender equality paradigm in action
  • The politics of gender
  • Gender at work
  • Gender and reproduction
  • LGBT rights and same-sex marriage
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Gender and Religion

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
221280

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities1111 x 1hr lectures
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities1111 x 1hr seminars and group work
Guided Independent Study50Private study – reading and preparing for the module, following module-related news events
Guided Independent Study50Preparation of the case study
Guided Independent Study28Preparation of the news-related presentation and presentation report

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Will be provided on ELE

Other Learning Resources

Will be provided on ELE

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
News-related group presentation20 minutes1-9Oral

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Gender policy case study702,500 words1-9Written
Report from the news-related presentation301,250 words1-9Written

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Gender policy case studyGender policy case study (2,500 words)1-9August/September re-assessment period
Report from the news-related presentationReport from the news-related presentation (1,250 words)1-9August/September re-assessment period

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.