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Syllabus Gender and Development - 59533
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Last update 23-08-2018
HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Glocal International Development

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Amelia Weinreb

Coordinator Email: Amelia.Weinreb@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Mondays and Tuesdays

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Amelia Weinreb

Course/Module description:
Gender and development constitutes its own academic sub-field and has proven to be an enduring international policy and planning focus since the 1970s. With this in mind, the foundational questions that underlie this course are:
• Why should the issue of gender constitute a legitimate planning tradition in its own right?
• Why do the proliferating numbers of policies and plans for action in gender and development often fail to be implemented?
• How do transnational relationships shape trends in gender and development?
To address these questions, this course provides a critical overview of classical and contemporary theories of development linked to core concerns in gender and development including: sex ratio, reproductive rights, health and disease, violence, education, agriculture, urbanization and globalization. Each week a “core concepts” reading explores topic at hand in greater detail and introduces new debates.

Course/Module aims:
This course provides a critical overview of classical and contemporary theories of development linked to core concerns in gender and development including: sex ratio, reproductive rights, health and disease, violence, education, agriculture, urbanization and globalization. Each week a “core concepts” reading explores topic at hand in greater detail and introduces new debates.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Upon completion of the course, students will have developed skills to:
• Explain when, how, and why gender emerged as a development issue
• Articulate central themes of gender and development over time
• Place course themes within in a wider context of social theory and development policy
• Converse, with historical and ethnographic sensitivity, about a range of contemporary case studies
• Analyze possible interventions based on case studies from different areas of the developing world

Attendance requirements(%):
80%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: In this two-credit course, the first course credit is self-paced and offered online (thirteen online sessions accompanied by brief assignments and film that are submitted as a final portfolio). This is followed by the second credit of the course, a live, intensive interactive seminar where students are able to discuss and debate course material, present contemporary research, and sit for an exam (three 4-hour seminar/workshops offered on Hebrew U's campus).

Course/Module Content:
Course Schedule
Part 1:
March 18-May 21, 2018
Self-paced, online completion of the first credit of the course
Each session includes:
• Summary addressing the questions posed at the end of each chapter in Momsen’s text
• Exposure to relevant theory and how it may be applied
• An interactive component that asks you to stop, and write for 7 minutes
• A short video that illustrates a key point or argument
• At least one brief assignment option for your final portfolio

Online Sessions occur in the following order:
• Introduction to the Course
• Gender as a Development Issue
• The Sex Ratio
• Reproduction
• Gender Health and Violence
• Gender and Environment
• Gender in Rural Areas
• Info session on Group Assignment
• Gender and Urbanization
• Gender and Globalization
• How far have we come?
• Preparing for the final seminar

Part 2:
Three Intensive, seminar workshops, second course credit
Monday, May 21, 4:30pm-8:00pm
• Submit Portfolios
• Discussions and debates emerging from text (discussion page)
• Discussion of contemporary articles, topics not covered by Momsen (send links)
• Coaching on improving slides

Sunday, May 27, 12pm-4pm
• Group Presentations
• Q&A
• Break down into theory and practice roundtable
• Test preparation and review

Monday, May 28, 4:30pm-8:00pm
• Exam (1 hour, 30 minutes)
• Final celebration with food, drink and music
• Closure, evaluation of the course

Required Reading:
Momsen, Janet. 2013. Gender and Development. London: Routledge.
Other readings as assigned, available on Moodle

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 100 %
see additional information

Additional information:
Brief Overview of Course Assignments
• Portfolio (25%)
• Contemporary case study proposal (25%)
• Contemporary case study presentation (25%)
• Final exam (25%)

Portfolio (25%)
At the beginning of the live seminar, each student will submit an individual, hard-copy portfolio of written work completed during the self-paced, online section of the course. The portfolio will contain both required short writing assignments and series of 5, 500-word essay assignments. All portfolio assignments and directions for assembly will be posted on Moodle.

Contemporary case study proposal (25%)
Groups of 3-5 students will select a contemporary case study on gender and development and submit three-page mini-proposal. I will provide a rubric that may serve as both the guide for constructing the project in advance, and serve as the scorecard for grading the proposals, which require the following elements:
a) Presents a clear research question that begins with “how” or “why”
b) Establishes the historical, political and cultural context to explore the question
c) Summarizes the debates surrounding the question, based on a literature review
d) Summarizes theories that help frame answers to the question
e) Provides a description of the interventions that attempted to address the problem, if any
f) Offers an analysis of why the intervention succeeded and failed, why, and by what measures
g) Describes the nature of the secondary data to be collected for the project
h) Outlines a flexible but thorough six-week work plan describing how each group member will carry out their project as a team.

Contemporary Case Study Presentation (25%)
The student groups will present a final project based on their research proposal. I will provide a rubric that may serve as both the guide for constructing the final project in advance and that will also serve as a scorecard for grading. The final project will be composed of a maximum of 20 presentation slides addressing the gender and development question posed in the proposal, and an accompanying 3-5 page “executive summary.”

Final Exam (25%)
At the end of the course a collaboratively designed closed-book, in-class exam will test students’ working knowledge of terms, concepts, and their applications.
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Diagnosis and Support of Students with Learning Disabilities, or the Office for Students with Disabilities, as early as possible, to discuss and coordinate accommodations, based on relevant documentation.
For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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