Women and international development

Number of participants is limited to 25.

Objectives

Introduction:

This course will include class instruction 5 sessions for two and a half hours over five days. There will be five articles and some on-line readings assigned for students. There will also be a class presentation consisting of reaction to an article or case situation by each student.

There will be five class sessions consisting of 2.5 hours each over a one-week period in February. Readings will amount to 30 hours of work, with one assigned reading (for Class 1) and some preparation (for Class 4) to be completed prior to the start of the course (see below). Completing these activities will save you time in this short course. (Feel free to look at the other material mentioned below if you wish to learn more about the content of the course.)

Content

Class Topics:

Class session 1 —International development: selected issues and concepts; overview of the field of international development and development studies; achievements and failures of development aid; key issues and emerging trends [Read Chapter 2 By Reddock in the document produced by the International Development Research Centre in Canada, located at pages 1 to the middle of page 8 in the chapter located at website http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-27443-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html ] Come to class on the first day prepared with an idea or question to discuss from your reading of Chapter 2.

Class session 2—Women and gender in international development:

• history and rationale for focusing on women in the South
• developments related to gender in international development—case study of micro enterprise
• women’s roles in production, reproduction and community work—with class exercise [we will refer again to chapter 2, this time from the middle of page 8 to page 19 (the end of the chapter) at the same website as above (http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-27443-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html ) to discuss concepts and cases and also take a look at pages 15 to 21 in the report entitled, The Global Gender Gap Index 2007 Rankings and 2006 Comparisons found at http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf

Class session 3—meeting women’s practical needs and gender interests

• gender analysis methods and means Print out and bring to class material on gender planning approaches and strategies, gender needs assessment, and gender resources and benefits profile, and roles identification located at websites: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/mdtmanila/training/unit1/trsrcprof.htm and http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/mdtmanila/training/unit1/exgroles.htm We will use these in class.

Class session 4—Finding out what women in developing countries need and want

• class presentations by groups of students on 1) Sri Lankan women tea pickers and 2) girls’ education in Ghana
• priorities of women in local contexts
• diversities and locations shaping women’s lives and opportunities
• research about women, with women and for women—with case situations

Assignment:

[Those students whose surnames begin with the letters A to L will view some videos on Youtube about Sri Lankan women tea pickers. Please search for these on www.Youtube.com and also on the world wide web to find more details about the lives of women and men who live and work in Sri Lanka’s tea plantations. One website you can go to is: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/sril-d09.shtml Please make use of these resources to help you understand about the Sri Lankan women’s home and work lives and the challenges that they experience. In groups, you will present the information in a 15 to 20 minute presentation to the class. You can use powerpoint presentations, role plays, and/or panel discussions to present your ideas. You can begin searching for material BEFORE the course starts so that you have some idea of this topic. Keep track of the websites and sources of other information you find so you can work with these later.

Those students whose surnames begin with letters M to Ö will learn about gender equality issues in Ghana through readings on websites at www.undp-gha.org/project.php?page=21 and http://www.wikigender.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ghana. Then, focus on girls’ education in Ghana, an important subject in that country. There are some videos on Youtube if you search for ‘Ghana and girls education’. Please make use of these resources to help you understand about the Ghanaian women’s home and work lives and the challenges and opportunities that they experience compared with those of men. In groups, you will present the information in a 15 to 20 minute presentation to the class. You can use powerpoint presentations, role plays, and/or panel discussions to present your ideas. You can begin searching for material BEFORE the course starts so that you have some idea of this topic. Keep track of the websites and sources of other information you find so you can work with these later.

Class 5—Rural women: Issues in villages of China

• class presentations on reading and cases -Women in China and comparisons with women in other countries. See information on the following three websites: International Fund for Agricultural Development (undated). Rural poverty in China, On line publication at: http://www.ifad.org/gender/learning/role/workload/34.htm and Study: Gender inequality serious in China’s rural areas at http://english.people.com.cn/200509/08/print20050908_207353.html

Completion

Some readings, videos or case situations will be assigned (see the information provided for each class above) that students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss in small groups and in the larger class. Although you don’t know who your group members will be yet, you know that it will be necessary for you to review the material on Sri Lanka or on Ghana (see Class 4 above), so you can begin to do that even before the course begins. That way you will be better prepared for the course work. Class members will be given a grade between 1 to 5 based on their degree of participation (including attendance) in class. Participation consists of asking questions, responding to them and taking part in class activities. The second part of the course grade is based on a group assignment involving a class presentation of 15 to 20 minutes. These will be discussed on the first day of class. The instructor will grade the work of each group (all members of the group get the same grade) based on 1-5. These two grades will be combined (50% + 50%) for each student’s total course grade. Course grades will be sent to the coordinator of this course at the university.

Readings and Resources--Women and International Social Development Course, Winter, 2010

BBC Report (2005). Sri Lankan tea pickers, retrieved July 13, 2008 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2005/09/12/jenny-august.shtml

A day in the life of a Sri Lankan tea plucker, retrieved July 13, 2008 from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/sril-d09.shtml

Education of girls in Ghana (Parts 1 and 2), On line videos retrieved July 13, 2008 from http://ftp.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqHpx2qRso and http://ftp.youtube.com/watch?v=ustqSWOTPec

Empowering rural women… (undated). On line publication retrieved July 13, 2008 from www.undp-gha.org/project.php?page=21

Gender equality in Ghana (undated). On line publication retrieved July 13, 2008 from http://www.wikigender.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ghana

Hausmann, R., Tyson, L. & Zahidi, S. (2007). The global gender gap report 2007, On line publication of the World Economic Forum retrieved on July 12, 2008 from: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf

ILO/SEAPAT (undated). Conceptual framework for gender analysis and planning, Unit 1 [various materials] On line publication of the International Labour Organization and South-East Asia and the Pacific Advisory Team in Manila, Philippines retrieved on July 12, 2008 from: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/mdtmanila/training/unit1/

International Fund for Agricultural Development (undated). Rural poverty in China, On line publication retrieved July 13, 2008 from: http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/english/regions/asia/chn/index.htm

International Fund for Agricultural Development (undated). Gender [in China], On line publication retrieved July 13, 2008 from: http://www.ifad.org/gender/learning/role/workload/34.htm

People’s Daily on line (2005). Study: Gender inequality serious in China’s rural areas, On line publication retrieved July 13, 2008 from: http://english.people.com.cn/200509/08/print20050908_207353.html

Reddock, R. (undated). Chapter 2. Why gender? Why development? On line publication of the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada retrieved on July 12, 2008 from: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-27443-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Youtube video (undated). Sri Lankan women tea pickers, retrieved July 13, 2008 from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxi3_290SGw&feature=related

NOTE: Some of these links may be broken. If so, use key words (those that are mentioned in the topic) to search for alternate resources (e.g., gender in China or gender analysis or Sri Lankan tea pickers).