Gender and International Development MA

Explore our Gender and International Development taught Master's degree.

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P-M9P7 full-time

MA

1 year full-time;
2 years part-time

29 September 2025

Sociology

University of Warwick

Our cutting edge MA in Gender and International Development offers you the opportunity of critically investigating the intersection of gender, international development and geopolitical inequalities. It provides insights into the challenges facing gender equality and social justice on a local and global scale, as well as a stepping stone to a career in policy-making or academia.

If you are interested in questioning the concepts of gender and development and giving priority to issues and debates identified within countries of the Global South – rather than relying on predominantly western literature – then this is the programme for you. It is an international, interdisciplinary and analytical course. It does not assume that development is about the ‘Third World’ modelling itself on the West, nor that gender is a fixed category determined by sex, or that men constitute the ideal development subject.

Skills from this degree

• Ability to analyse and evaluate development policy
• Ability to analyse and evaluate development practices
• Ability to analyse gendered effects of development policy and practice
• Ability to carry out independent research
• Ability to understand and assess claims to knowledge made by a range of relevant disciplines
• Ability to write about complex ideas in a clear way

Each of our MA courses has specified core modules which will be studied alongside a range of optional modules. You will be required to choose four optional modules from our departmental list. All our MA courses follow a consistent structure meaning that you will follow a programme of taught modules, followed by a 15,000-word dissertation.

Class sizes can range from 6 to 30 students, dependent on each module.

Each module consists of at least 20 hours of teaching. Many modules are taught in 2-hour seminars of 10-15 students. Others follow a 1-hour lecture and 1 hour class format. You will also have a supervisor for your dissertation, who you will meet regularly to support this independent research project.

Taught modules are assessed through written assignments. You will focus on your 15-000 word dissertation after the end of Spring Term.

Reading lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.  

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department. 

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

Read our department advice on applying to ensure your application has the best chance for success.

Optional modules

You can take four optional modules, at least one from List (A) and one from List (B). Further modules can be taken from any list but no more than one outside option can normally be taken, from the list of Recommended Outside Options (List D) or, by agreement with the Course Convenor, one module offered by another Department or Centre within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

List A

List B

List C

List D

Read more about our core and optional modules on the Sociology website.Link opens in a new window

You can take four optional modules, at least one from List (A) and one from List (B). Further modules can be taken from any list but no more than one outside option can normally be taken, from the list of Recommended Outside Options (List D) or, by agreement with the Course Convenor, one module offered by another Department or Centre within the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

List A 

• Market Life: Wealth and Poverty in Global Capitalism 
• Social Research for Social Change 
• The Sociology of Urban Life 
• Postcolonial Theory and Politics 
• Transnational Media Ecologies 

• Feminist Pedagogy Feminist Activism 
• Queering Sociology 
• Indigenous and Global South Feminisms 

List B 

• Qualitative Methods in Social Research 

• Quantitative Methods in Social Research 
• Understanding Social Science 
• Researching Inequality: Race, Class, Gender in Global Perspective 

List C 

• Politics and Social Theory 

• Capitalism, State and Market 
• State of the Art of Sociology 
• Sociology of End Times 
• Prisons, Punishment and Penal Policy: A Comparative Perspective 
• Mastering Complex Real-World Data 

List D 

• Women’s Human Rights and Global Justice 

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