Kursinformation

This course delves into the role of gender in the economy. It proposes a critical assessment of core topics in economics and the revision of existing theories explaining the existence of gender inequality and gender disparities. The course aims at providing students with theoretical methods and quantitative tools to use gender as an analytical category while promoting critical thinking and developing communicating and writing skills. Both working in teams and active participation in online seminars will be highly encouraged.

The core topics of the course are focused on the gendered processes within 1) the labour market, 2) household production, 3) macroeconomics, 4) migration and 5) globalization and development.

Throughout these core topics, we will overview issues that are transversal to all of them, such as the distribution of paid and unpaid work, gender segregation in education, industries and occupations, gender discrimination or violence against women and girls, among other issues. These core topics and transversal topics will be covered both theoretically and empirically.

The course reviews both neoclassical theories and unorthodox/heterodox perspectives of gender and economics. We will study and discuss how different economic thinking traditions propose alternative questions, paradigms and responses to similar phenomena. To do so, we will review articles and book chapters in theoretical lectures. The course goes beyond economic man to open the floor to study feminist economic methodologies and approaches. Importantly, the course pays special heed to intersectional approaches to gender and economics, where the interplays between gender and race, ethnicity, religion, caste, ability or socioeconomic statuses are key to get a bigger picture and understanding of real-world economy. As the course goes by, we will discuss more advanced topics, such as postulates that challenge the binary division of gender, and explore more diverse, inclusive and decolonial research agendas.

Each core topic is companioned by a set of measures and quantitative techniques, allowing students to have a deep dive into data analysis. Thus, the course provides hands-on training in quantitative analysis of gender inequality and other many aspects relevant for the economy. The course includes some introductory-level lessons of applied econometrics and statistics so as to measure phenomena such as gender gaps in various dimensions (inter alia wages, participation, political representation, power), gender discrimination (e.g. Oaxaca-Blinder), gender segregation (e.g. similarity/dissimilarity indices), time-use methods and techniques of non-binary gender categorizations.