POL21: Politics of Gender

Human security, liberty, political voice, economic status, education, health, freedom of expression, institutional behaviour, access to markets and public spaces, war and conflict, and even the nature of 'the political' itself are deeply shaped by gender relations. This paper aims to introduce students to the various ways that 'gender' (broadly conceived) impacts on fundamental political issues. Lectures will explore the questions of 'what difference gender makes' and the politics of different understandings of the relevance of 'gender,' including from liberal, radical, Marxist, intersectional, decolonial, post-structural, ecological, queer and trans perspectives. Rather than broad overviews, lectures will primarily discuss a range of key concepts and debates in relation to current empirical examples. Lectures will be structured by seven themes: Power and the Body, Inequality, Rights, Development and Humanitarianism, Conflict and Violence, Social Movements and Radical Politics, and Climate and the Environment.

Students will be supervised on 6 of the 7 themes. The exam will consist of three questions in which students will have a choice of around 10-12 questions that seek engagement across the course. NB: This course was last offered in 2023-2024 and was numbered POL 17. 

Some representative readings:

  • Butler, J. (1998) ‘Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire’, in Phillips, A. (ed.) Feminism and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 273-293. 
  • Hill Collins, P. (2017) ‘The Difference That Power Makes: Intersectionality and Participatory Democracy’, Investigaciones Feministas, 8(1), pp. 19-39.
  • Phillips, A. (2012) ‘Representation and Inclusion’, Politics & Gender, 8(4), pp. 512-518.
  • Spade, D. (2015) ‘What’s Wrong with Rights?’, in Normal life: administrative violence, critical trans politics, and the limits of law. Revised and expanded edition. Durham, [North Carolina]: Duke University Press, pp. 38–49. (available online at UL)
  • Merry, S. E. (2016) The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence and Sex Trafficking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Ch 1: A World of Quantification] 
  • Combahee River Collective (1977) ‘The Combahee River Collective Statement’
  • Rao, R. (2020) Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
  • Daggett, C. (2018) ‘Petro-Masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire,’ Millennium, 47(1), pp. 25–44. 

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