GIRI Spring 2024: Gender and Development

What do we mean by "development" and "gender"? What are the barriers and challenges to gender equality in development? What indicators can be used to measure and track gender inequality in economic and social development?

In Spring 2024, the Global Inequality Research Initiative focused on “Gender and Development”. We examined how gender influences and is influenced by social and economic development processes.

The course began by providing an overview of gender inequalities in various aspects of social and economic life around the world. This included an exploration of the disparities that exist in areas such as education, healthcare, and work. Following this, students explored the concept of development with a specific emphasis on how gender is incorporated into the development discourse. We also studied diverse approaches to gender and development and their evolution over time.

The course then examined in detail various specific topics:

• What is the intra-household division of labor and how does it impact gender equality in the household and beyond?
• What is the relationship between long-term development and women’s share of the labor force?
• What are some of the key gender differences in labor markets and paid employment, such as differences in pay, hours worked, and types of jobs held by men and women?
• What are the gender-differentiated impacts of various phenomena such as globalization, macroeconomic policies, and Covid-19 pandemic?
• What are the gender dimensions of poverty, migration and climate change?
• What do intersectional analyses reveal about disadvantages experienced by people when multiple categories of social identity interact with each other?

Professor: Dr. Burça Kızılırmak, Visiting Faculty at the Cook Center

Teaching Assistants: Afrah Muzayen & Jaelyn Nixon