| CODE | GDS1003 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Gender, Poverty and Development | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Gender and Sexualities | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit introduces students to the various feminist principles related to gender, poverty and development.. The study-unit focuses mainly on processes of globalization and their effects on the lives of women. It raises issues related to women’s empowerment and democratic participation in the public sphere and asks questions about women’s citizenship and education. The study-unit will discuss these issues with reference to the experiences and strategies performed in different countries including Malta. By the end of the study-unit, students will be able to - define poverty via a number of theoretical strands - compare and contrast development theories – Rostow’s economic growth theory, Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory, Gunder Frank Dependency Theory, etc. - compare and contrast two main theoretical strands in theories relating to poverty, namely theories that fall under two categories “flawed character” and “restricted opportunity.” The flawed character theories assume that the poor have ample opportunities for improving their economic status, but lack the initiative and diligence necessary to take advantage of them. These include Oscar Lewis’ “culture of poverty” theory (1968). The restricted opportunity theories contend that the poor lack sufficient access to economic opportunities and cannot avoid poverty unless their economic opportunities improve. - distinguish between different types of poverty absolute vs relative poverty; situational poverty, generational poverty; rural vs urban poverty. - find electronic sites that compare the poverty levels in different countries and use the skills learnt during lessons to be able to read statistics on Human Development Index, Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index, Gender Equality Index, Eurostat, Survey on Income and Living Standards. - understand the cultural, political, legal and socio-economic factors that can lead to the feminization of poverty - peruse the different approaches used on an international and national level in development projects created to alleviate poverty and their success when they take a generic vs a specific approach Learning Outcomes: - Students can critically define the socio-economic, political and cultural factors that need to be tackled to eradicate poverty - Students can critically analyze the relevance of sociological theories when it comes to studying different forms of poverty – situational, generational, rural vs urban poverty - Students can analyze data and map the different pathways that can lead different social groups into poverty and understand the different political and structural factors that could have led to this predicament - Students can critically analyze the efficacy of different development projects and how effective these can be in helping disparate social groups tackle poverty - Students can critique the impact of generic development projects and understand that development projects need to adopt a diversified approach to enable different social groups deal with poverty. Themes: - Processes of globalization of economics politics and culture; - Feminist perspectives on women, poverty and development; - Gender inequality and power; - Women’s different experiences and needs in reform processes; - Women’s participation and citizenship. Reading List: - Momsen, J.D. (Ed.) (2008). Gender and development: critical concepts in development studies. London: Routledge. - J.L. Parpart, MP Connelly & VE Barriteau (2000) Theoretical Perspective on Gender and Development, IDRC. - UNRISD (2005) Gender Equality. Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. UN Publications. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Presentation | ||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Josephine Ann Cutajar |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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