The Politics of Gender: Social and Historical Perspectives

Dr Charlotte Faircloth, Dr Lucy Delap and Dr Deborah Thom

This course offers a critical analysis of gender, sexuality and family life in the context of 20th and 21st century Britain. It discusses the theory and practice of men’s and women’s participation in political and governmental processes at the local and national level, and looks closely at changing legislation around marriage and family during the period. It sets these political changes within the wider gender order, played out in social and economic realms and in intimate relationships. It concludes by aiming to place contemporary controversies around gender, employment and parenting within this broader historical framework.

This course is aimed at:Undergraduate level students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, but particularly those in the social sciences and humanities. Students with an interest in family, gender and politics will find the content of the course both informative and stimulating.

Pre-requisite knowledge required: None required, but experience of social science and humanities approaches is valuable. Reading will be provided.

Transferable Knowledge and Skills: The course will encourage students to hone their analytic skills, deepen their textual analysis and develop their presentation skills. It will also offer experience of writing extended essays for examination.

Required Pre-Arrival reading

• Barbara Caine, English Feminism, 1780—1980 (1997) chapters 4-6
• Hera Cook, The Long Sexual Revolution: English Women, Sex and Contraception, 1800-1975 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), parts II and III
• Tong, R. 1989/1998. Feminist thought London: Routledge. (2nd. ed.1st ed. 1989).
• Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984)
• Hays, S. 1996. The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood Yale: YUP

Further Pre-arrival reading

• Amanda Vickery, Women, Privilege and Power: British Politics 1750 to the Present (2001)
• Jeffrey Weeks, The World We Have Won (2007)
• Riley, D. 1988. Am I that name? Feminism and the Category of Women in History Mineapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Additional reading will be provided in the course reader, for discussion in seminars, in conjunction with extended readings lists for individual research projects.

Assessment:

• 1 Final Exam: 45%
• 1 Final Essay: 45%
• Participation, progress and attendance: 10%

Lecture hours: 12 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 15 hours)

Seminar hours: 8 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 10 hours)