| CODE | GRS3006 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Gendered Decision Making | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Gender and Sexualities | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Women’s participation in politics and decision-making has been less than that of men. The study-unit aims to develop and/or strengthen awareness and understanding of how power and decision making is gendered, racialised and classed. It provides an introduction to the concepts, theories, and methods used for increasing women's participation in politics and decision-making, explaining why this is needed. The study unit that is being proposed will cover the following subject areas: - Women's Participation in Politics and Decision-Making - where are they in the EU, Malta, Western countries, globally? - Theories explaining the dearth of women in politics and decision-making - Women's struggle for the vote - Impeding factors- culture - Impeding factors- structural and personal barriers - Impeding factors - Electoral Systems, Political Parties, Local Governance, EU, Companies and other decision making structures - International factors - CEDAW, EU - Do women in power make a difference? - Women from Marginalized Groups - The way forward - Quotas, mentoring, critical mass - Gender mainstreaming: political parties, parliament and private companies - The way forward - changes in legislation, role models, media representation - Women's movement, women's policy machinery as alternative source of influence Study-Unit Aims: - To introduce the students to the main questions, issues and theories explaining the dearth of women in politics and decision-making - To offer new and alternative ways of increasing effective female representation at decision making levels - To critically challenge the culture, structures and practices that prevent women from reaching the top and being effective in promoting women's issues and needs. - To enable analysis of institutional practices and discourses that produce power - To discuss the way forward, namely what needs to be changed to ensure a more inclusive democratic system. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Use a more expansive understanding of gender as it inter-relates with other identity markers such as race, ableness, nationality and class when it comes to politics and decision-making - Demonstrate their understanding of what is meant by efficacious representation in decision-making and how it can be deployed in societal contexts - Critically elaborate on the importance of effective representation at decision-making level - Describe ways of deconstructing and challenging cultural discourse and legislation that promote a status quo - Demonstrate that women's representation in top leadership positions helps promote issues dealing with social justice 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Analyse legislation, discourse and practices to see how these can act as structural barriers - Interrupt and interrogate cultural understandings of gender when it comes to promote women in politics or decision-making - Question electoral systems, political parties, companies and media representation for helping occlude women from decision making - Use theories as well as UN and EU declarations to critique and analyse women's position in decision making at a local, national, regional and international level Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Pamela Paxton & Melanie M Hughes (2020) Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective. Sage. Supplementary Texts: - Frances Camilleri Cassar (2007) No room at the top : gendered forces behind women's lives and their reflection in Maltese politics. - Isabelle Ragonesi (2019) Democracy in Southern Europe. Bloomsbury Publications. - Reading pack |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Seminar | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Kurt Borg Josephine Ann Cutajar |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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