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School for Cross-faculty Studies Global Sustainable Development

Gender and the Sustainable Development Agenda

Romain Chenet
GD321 (Second Years) GD322 (Final Years)
Romain Chenet

Module Leader
Option - Second and Final Years
Term 2
15 CATS
 

Not available to students outside the School for Cross-Faculty Studies.

In 2023, this module received a 'Very Highly Commended' recognition from the University of Warwick's Excellence in Gender Equality Award.
Please note: this module may not run in 2025-26 (TBC). If you are currently a first-year student and wish to take this module as part of your degree, it is recommended you apply to do so as a second-year student in 2024-25.

Module description:

With the 2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development, gender equality and women’s empowerment have been presented as not only important aims but fundamental instruments for achieving wider aims. Via the standalone goal of SDG5 as well as frequent mention of a need to ‘mainstream’ gendered considerations into all initiatives, women and girls in particular are cast both as essential targets for sustainable development as well as valuable partners in its realisation. Entire industries now cater to this targeted global policy priority, spanning public, private, and third sectors.

The module supports students in analysing global development aims relevant to gender, and to gain understanding of theories, debates, and critiques across targeted fields of academic enquiry. In addition to scene-setting lectures, weekly seminars will help students to engage with a range of pivotal themes spanning policies and initiatives within and across the world. This aims to provide students with skills to critically assess gendered considerations in theory and practice, and to build knowledge on opportunities and weaknesses in this area of action via transdisciplinary study extending from a (critical) development studies foundation. It includes thematic focuses and case studies on topics such as intersecting inequalities/exclusions, gender mainstreaming, feminism(s) in/beyond development, approaches to 'empowerment' and 'rights', unpaid labour, gendered movements, masculinities, sexualities, trans and non-binary identities, gender-based and sexual violence, political participation, and professionalisation.

Overall, this module will offer an understanding of academic debates and priorities related to gender and sustainable development, alongside a capacity to critically reflect on this. Further, it will consider policy and practice considerations under SDG5 and the 2030 Agenda, and the historical build-up to current approaches. Finally, this module offers students the capacity to investigate targeted development issues with a view to proposing suggestions that may better support a diversity of gendered experiences as an integral part of sustainable futures.

Employability Skills

In this module, you can develop a number of different skills to support your professional development.

These skills will include:

    -- Working with others: developing professional relationships with others to achieve individual and group outcomes in class activities (relevant to all forms of employment).
    - Effective communication: developing ideas and insights which engage others, driving forward discussions with a focus on practical solutions. This is a key focus of the module and relevant across sectors (e.g., marketing, business, academia, civil service, and the third sector)
    - Time management: through a requirement to plan independent study, assignments, and engage in other forms of time management in this module, students are able to build valuable workplace skills (relevant to all forms of employment)
    - Emotional intelligence: students develop a nuanced and practical understanding of complex global issues with an emphasis on taking local context and individual experiences into account, supporting careers where a considered and engaged approach to clients/stakeholders is needed (e.g., social work, NGOs, customer relations, management).

    Assessment

    • Critical Review (25%)
    • Individual (Video) Presentation (25%)
    • Policy Brief (50%)

      Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on this page.