Preamble: This course attempts to understand the significance of ‘gender’ in ordering the structure of society and its institutions. It aims at a systematic analysis of the social construction of gender and its bearing in our everyday lives. Using feminist theories this course will help link the experiences of individuals to the structure of social institutions. The course will discuss theoretical debates, gender inequalities in various institutional contexts, women’s and queer movements and the issues that have been central to it. It will help students examine, through a lens of gender, relationship between cultural practices, social processes, development policies and marginal status of women, and LGBT groups. Sociology of gender: invisible women in the discipline, ghettoization of feminism/gender studies, integrating gender into the discipline; Social construction of gender: sex/gender debate, patriarchy, gender socialisation, heteronormativity, stereotypes, and inequalities; Perspectives on gender: liberal, Marxist, radical, socialist, African-American feminism, third world feminism, ecofeminism, postmodern feminism, queer perspectives, dalit feminism; Gender and social movements: first, second and third wave feminist movements, from global to local gender movements; Feminist Methodology: add on approach, standpoint approach, intersectionality approach,; Emergence of women and LGBTs as a constituency in Development: WID, WAD and GAD approach, representation and reservation; Gender in economy, culture and polity: family, sexuality, caste, labour, violence, law.
