Women’s rights are human rights, yet women’s rights claims have often not been taken as seriously as other human rights claims. Despite decades of progress in securing women’s rights around the world, important gaps remain, and both longstanding and new forms of discrimination continue to emerge. This course examines those gaps – from maternal health disparities and undervaluing of care labor to environmental injustice, gender-based violence and human trafficking – by exploring the political, social, economic, and legal dimensions of gender and human rights. Students will also critically examine the limits and benefits of data science approaches for gender and human rights, considering how data and policies might better address and protect the rights of people of all genders. No prerequisites are required.
Central questions include:
- How are global human rights issues related to gender?
- What are the limits and benefits of using data to advance human rights for women & people of all genders?
- How do different policy approaches to global rights issues affect women & people of all genders?
- What are the impacts of gender-conscious data on society and policy making?
In additional to critically examining these and other questions, students will have the opportunity to conduct an independent research project examining a gender-related rights issue of their choice. This process involves interactive learning opportunities in working with primary sources (raw data, court cases, treaties, policy reports) and secondary sources (peer-reviewed journal articles, books), developing analytical skills in reading and evaluating social science research. By the end of this course, students will have gained a deeper understanding of the complexity of women’s rights as a global human rights issue, including how historical progress, persistent gaps, and emerging challenges shape the landscape today. Students will also have hands-on experience working with real data and primary sources, building practical analytical skills that are transferable across disciplines.