Gender and Development - L9553

Professor Katherine Franke
Spring 2005
Thursdays 4:10-7:00
Room WJW 600

All students interested in enrolling in the class should fill out the on-line form here.

The 1960s marked a transition in global economic engagement from one characterized by colonial extraction and exploitation, to sustainable development emphasizing economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. Over time it became clear that development was not a process that lifted all boats, but rather that successful development strategies must include attention to gender. In 1995 the United Nations Development Programme supplemented its Human Development Index with a Gender Development Index, reflecting gender disparities in basic human capabilities. This seminar will introduce students to the role that gender plays in the success and assessment of development strategies and the expansion of human capabilities.  Class attendance and a final paper are mandatory.

Students are expected to do all the reading in advance of each seminar meeting, attend every seminar meeting, and participate actively in seminar discussion.  Every week students must write a short (1-2 page) critical response to the weekly readings which must be e-mailed to the class by 5:00 pm on Wednesday before the seminar meeting.  Students must also complete a 20-25 page seminar paper on a topic to be chosen in consultation with Professor Franke. Seminar paper topics must be developed by the students and approved by the Professor no later than March 10^th.  Final papers will be due on May 13^th.  Law students may use the seminar paper to fulfill the major or minor writing requirements for the J.D. degree.  The paper will determine 75% of the grade, while seminar attendance, weekly papers and class participation will make up 25% of the grade.

Professor Franke's Coordinates:

Office: Room 627
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-3:30
Phone: 854-0061
E-Mail: kfranke@law.columbia.edu
Professor Franke's Assistant: Jinah Paek, 854-2511, jpaek1@law.columbia.edu

Several texts will serve as background for our discussions this semester.  Students will be expected to familiarize themselves with these publications:

• United Nations Development Program, 2000 Human Development Report available here
• World Bank Policy Research Report, Engendering Development Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voices - on reserve in the Law Library
• Development and Rights, The Role of the World Bank available here
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of  Discrimination Against Women available here
• Millennium Development Goal #3 - Gender Equality available here

Supplemental Texts/Sources:

• Diane Elson, Gender Responsive Budgeting pdf
• UNIFEM, Gender Responsive Budget Initiatives link
• UNIFEM Second Regional Workshop on Gender and Poverty Reduction Strategies link
   

  Required Texts:

- Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, and 
- Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development, available for purchase at Labyrinth Books

- Readings distributed during the course of the semester

 

Syllabus

• January 13 - Introduction to Course
             

• January 20 - Theories of Women, Gender and Development                        

• January 27 - Critiques of the Theory
  
       Geeta Chowdhry, Engendering Development? Women in Development (WID) in International Development Regimes
       Mitu Hirshman, Women and Development: A Critique
       Marianne Marchand, Latin American Women Speak on Development: Are We Listening Yet?

• February 3 - The Capabilities Approach

       Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach
           Introduction and Chapter 1

• February 10 -  The Capabilities Approach (cont.) - The Critiques

       Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach
           Chapter 3
       Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na‘im, Islam, Islamic Law and the Dilemma of Cultural Legitimacy for Universal Human Rights
       Anne Phillips, Multiculturalism, Universalism and the Claims of Democracy    
  Diane Elson, Justice, Human Rights, and Neo-Liberal Economic Policies - Optional

• February 17 - Gender-based Implications of Economic Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs)
  
       Diane Elson, Gender Awareness in Modeling Structural Adjustment
       Ann Whitehead & Matthew Lockwood, Gender in the World Bank's Poverty Assessments: Six Case Studies from Sub-Saharan Africa
       Shahra Razavi, Gendered Poverty and Social Change: An Issues Paper

• February 24 - Human Rights and Development

       Anne Griffiths, Gendering Culture: Towards a Plural Perspective on Bakwena Women’s Rights
       Joseph Oloka-Onyango, Human Rights and Sustainable Development in Contemporary Africa: A New Dawn, or Retreating Horizons?
       Susan Moler Okin, Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women?

• March 3 - Human Rights and Development (cont.)

       Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development - Reading Questions

• March 10 - No Class

• March 17 - No Class - Spring Break

• March 24 - Case Study: Beijing +10 - Susana Fried, Program Director, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission

• Beijing Platform for Action
• Declaration adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-ninth session as orally amended on the 4 March 2005
• Written Out - please read introduction and Chapter III

• March 31 - Case Study: Afghanistan - Zulaikha Aziz, Chemonics Inc.

• RECOMMENDATIONS for INTEGRATING GENDER INTO THE REBUILDING AGRICULTURAL MARKETS IN AFGHANISTAN PROGRAM (RAMP)
• Afghanistan National Human Development Report - Gender Disparities as a Challenge to Human Development
• Strengthening Afghan Women's Civil Society to Secure Afghanistan's Future

• April 7 - Workshopping Papers

• April 14 -  Workshopping Papers

• April 21 - Workshopping Papers