Academic Catalog

SOC509 INT.REGIMES AND GENDER EQUALITY

Course Code: 2320509
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): 3(3-0)
ECTS Credit: 8.0
Department: Sociology
Language of Instruction: English
Level of Study: Graduate
Course Coordinator: Prof.Dr. YAKIN ERTÜRK
Offered Semester: Fall or Spring Semesters.

Course Content

The course aims to analyze the interplay between governmental and non-governmental actors at national and international levels in establishing international regimes to transform social inequalities particularly in the area of gender. It starts out with a discussion on the need to link paradigm (academia), policy (governance structures) and praxis (activism) in the production of socially relevant knowledge. The focus will be on international regimes, particularly those within the context of the United Nations, that promote equality and human rights for women. It will focus on both the processes of the intergovernmental bodies (Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), General Assembly (GA) and the treaty body (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)) and the impact of scholarship and activism on their creation. Equality policies and human rights instruments and the institutional support mechanisms for these bodies will be analyzed. The effectiveness of the 4 World Conferences and World Conferences of the 1990s in fostering compliance with equality policies and international law will also be analyzed. Finally, the affect of these mechanisms and processes in achieving gender equality at the national level will be examined.