POLITICAL SCIENCE

Gender and U.S. Politics in a Global Context - POLS 206

Georgia Duerst-Lahti Spring 2008

x 2333 office: MI 205

Office Hours: W 1-2; Th 11

Drop-in M 1; T 11; Th 1-3

Email duerstgj@beloit.edu

Compared to many other fields, political science has been slow to embrace research on gender. While a fair number of attitudinal and behavioral studies have investigated sex differences, and many subfields have established a healthy body of scholarship on women and politics, gender and politics research has received only modest attention thus far. (We will read several such recent works.) Sex matters for politics, mostly because it sets important patterns for gender and politics. Too often gender has been equated with sex or with women. However, gender analysis dictates that males, men, masculinity, and the ideology of masculinism be studied as well as females, women, femininity or feminality, and the ideology of feminality. Of course, feminism provides a lens for this study. The premise of this course is that no understanding of politics can be complete without accounting for gender.

From the founding to the present, politics and government in the U.S. have reflected ideological judgments about who gets what, when and how, including especially who gets what kind of power. Operating inside a global context, proponents and beneficiaries of dominant ideologies have created governing institutions and practices that are neither neutral nor fully inclusive. Governments everywhere have legitimized and advantaged certain individuals as political actors, identities as politically relevant, and problems and relationships as important. Empirically, men and masculinity have received favored status in governments, albeit not all men have benefited equally. Normatively ideas and preferences of men have served as a foundation for politics and its institutions and practices. As a result, politics itself is gendered, and so are governing institutions. Because institutions have gendered practices embedded within them, they curtail change and perpetuate prior advantages; even though, paradoxically, they also provide avenues for gender transformation.

This course sets out to discover how sex and gender matter in U.S. politics, placing these politics into both a comparative and global context. We will consider theoretical aspects of gender, as well as the gendering of political participation, governing institutions such as the presidency and congress, war, citizenship, and ideas such as liberty and equality. We will begin by looking at the present circumstances to establish what now is, and then glance to the founding to understand how we became what we are. Throughout, we compare U.S. arrangements to those elsewhere, and consider globalizing processes. In the end, I hope we can envision another way of being that diminishes the importance of gender, without denying that it matters.

This topic is a main focus of my research so I take particular pleasure in teaching you about it. I also invite you to contribute by performing your best academic work. Let’s have fun.

Learning Goals:

To understand basic theories about sex and gender as they apply to U.S. politics.

To be able to articulate how sex/gender matters to U.S. politics, generally and for specific aspects.

To master basic empirical facts about sex/gender in contemporary U.S. politics.

To gain knowledge about political institutions and processes.

To learn to conduct original empirical research.

To improve oral, written, and visual communication skills.

To increase analytic ability.

Student Responsibilities and Accommodations

I expect academic honesty. If you do not understand plagiarism, please ask. Cheating will have grave consequences.

Students with special learning needs should talk with me about accommodations, after meeting with staff at the LSSC.

Student whose religious observances conflict with a class assignment should talk to me about options.

Required Reading:

The following contain required reading and will be used in full. The library’s Reserve Desk should have each on overnight.

Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba, The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality, and Political Participation . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. (BSV)

Mark E. Kann, The Gendering of American Politics. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1999. (K)

Dianne Bystrom et al. Gender and Candidate Communication: VideoStyle, WebStyle, NewsStyle. New York: Routledge, 2003. (B)

Joshua S. Goldstein. War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa.Cambridge, UK, 2001 (G)

Dennis Altman. Global Sex. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.2001. (A)

Stephen Ducat. The Whimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity. Beacon Press, 2004. (D)

R.W. Connell. Gender. Polity Press, 2002.

Brigid C. Harrison, Women in American Politics.. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003.

Choose ONE of these:

Judith A, Baer. Our Lives Before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Juriprudence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. 0-691-01945-2

or

Susan Gluck Mezey. Elusive Equality: Women’s Rights, Public Policy, and the Law. Boulder, CO; Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2003.1-58826-176-x

Recommended Reading

The following books contain recommended reading. One or two students will be assigned to each book and will be responsible to report in class on readings from this book. You are responsible for one of the following:

Gender Power, Leadership, and Governance, Georgia Duerst-Lahti and Rita Mae Kelly, editors. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1995. (D-LK)

R. Claire Snyder. Citizen-Soldiers and Manly Warriors. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999.

Michele L. Swers, The Difference Women Make. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Feminism and Politics, Anne Phillips, editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Gender Blending, Bonnie Bullough, Vern L. Bullough, and James Elias, editors. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.

The Politics of Manhood, Michael S. Kimmel, editor. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.

Mark E. Kann, A Republic of Men. New York: NYU Press, 1998.

Women and Elective Office, Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox, editors. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Understanding Inequality, Barbara A Arrighi, editor. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001.

Cindy Simon Rosenthal, When Women Lead. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

(Women Transforming Congress. Cindy Simon Rosenthal, ed. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.)

Deborah L. Rhode, Speaking of Sex. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.

(Deborah L. Rhode, The Difference That Difference Makes. Stanford Univerisity Press, 2003.)

Linda K. Kerber, No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies, New York: Hill and Want, 1998.

Beth Reingold, Representing Women. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

The Other Elites, Janet Martin and MaryAnn Borrelli , editors. Boulder, CO Lynne Reinner, 1997.

(Anticipating Madam President. Robert P. Watson and Ann Gordon, eds. Boulder CO: Lynne Reinner. 2003)

(Janet M. Martin, The Presidency and Women. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 2003)

Assignments: NOTE: please read this section prior to undertaking each assignment.

Class Citizenship 10%

Citizens are expected to contribute meaningfully to the public good and to engage with each other through public institutions and their practices. In order to do so constructively, the individual must be personally prepared and willing to allocate some effort and resources toward the collective good. In terms of class citizenship, this means developing the basic skills needed to fulfill class assignments (i.e., work on skills you don’t already have or on tasks you don’t know how to do), coming to class (more than two misses will affect your grade), being prepare to discuss the readings (always say something and don’t monopolize), giving respectful attention to classmates, completing assignments on time, and otherwise making each class period better because you were there.

For discussion in class on January 27, analyze the movie GI Jane in terms of gender and power. Focus on the characters and aspects of the plot that reveal gendered practices, roles, access to various kinds of power.

Country Information 5%

Following the country information guide, find and very briefly present to the class the standard information on one country.

Articulation Essay I: 10%

“What is sex and what is gender as each applies to U.S. government and politics?” How does this conceptualization compare to one other country? Using the readings thus far and knowledge gained elsewhere, articulately define characteristics of sex and gender linking them to government and politics. Your primary task is to demonstrate that you can articulate terms and use the concepts analytically. (Hint: you probably will need to cite particular passages when using the readings.) 5-7 pp.

Book Report: 20 % (Presentation 5%; Written materials 15%)

For the book assigned to you, (1) develop a written synopsis of 3-5 pages summarizing key methods, points and findings. The synopsis may detail each in paragraphs arranged in loose outline form by chapter, or it may be in narrative form and may generalize across chapters by theme, utility, relevance, etc.. The purpose of this section is to provide your classmates a resource should they want to use the text for their research. (2) Copy and attach the title page and table of contents as a useful reference. (3) Then in 600 words, write a review of this book in which you cover the author’s stated purpose for writing, and in a few paragraphs summarize the central findings. Then, assess how well the author fulfilled that purpose the book’s major contributions to understanding sex and gender in U.S. politics. Each report must begin with a complete citation and indicate of total pages, and be signed at the end with your name, date and the place you wrote it. (4) In 10 to 15 minutes (prepare accordingly), you will present this book to the class, first giving a basic summary, and then setting up a discussion of its utility for the course and the proximal readings. Your task is to provide your classmates with a clear understanding of the author’s approach to the book and key ideas and findings in the book. You also are providing a reference for peers to help understand the course’s topic and perhaps to use in their other assignments.

Research Findings: 15%

Make one to three tables, (figures, charts) which give empirical evidence of ways sex or gender matter for individuals as citizens and constituents. (Assume citizens participate in/with the government in some fashion and constituents receive–or don’t and should–attention, services, or resources from government in some way). At least one table, etc. must include evidence from our country or otherwise relate directly to it enabling comparison. Evidence should come from primary sources (census data, news accounts, a government report, crime or labor statistics, reputable voting studies or public opinion polls, etc., or the presidential-masculinity data base). Then, write up the analysis of those tables, making clear to the reader what the table shows and what is important on it, and then explain why these findings are important for understanding gender and politics. While you must concentrate on the sex/gender variable, you should try to expand to show variation among women and/or among men, as well as differences and similarities between them; (i.e., race, class, ethnicity, age). Be certain to document fully the sources of your information. The complete paper may not exceed 10 pages.

Articulation Essay II 15%: Global?

How does sex/gender matter for politics, citizenship, and leadership in the U.S. and the global context? Why? Particularly, how does masculinity and war figure into people’s participatory potential in politics? What future directions should we attempt and what will it take to achieve them? Use the course materials to develop an argument and support your case. Your task is to demonstrate that you understand material covered in class and that you can use it to build a strong argument based upon a clearly articulated thesis position of your own. 5-7 pp.

Final research paper: 25% (5% presentation 20 % written material).

Develop a substantial research paper that uses primary data/empirical evidence (interviews, documents, news accounts, poll data, etc.) and a well-developed literature review (think 15 sources with roughly half being books and half being scholarly journal articles). You should focus upon how sex/gender matters in one specific way within U.S. politics. Ideally, you will be able to draw upon or place this research into a global context also. Some areas to consider include: civil rights and liberties, political participation, political parties, interest groups, the news media, congress, the presidency, executive branch, judiciary, or for a particular policy. Your research may be drawn from the masculinity in the presidency data, and focus upon one term of set of terms. Again, ideally, your research will show differences among women and among men as well as between them. The paper may be on the same topic as the earlier assignment on research findings. The paper should include a title page with a100 word abstract, and complete bibliography. The entire paper may not exceed 20 pages (and should probably be at least 15 pages). Your task is to produce empirical research that meets professional scholarly standards (Hint: look at journals such as Politics and Gender, Women & Politics, Gender & Society, Men and Masculinities, Signs or standard political science journals). Ideally, your research could contribute an original finding to a book on sex matters in U.S. politics. During the final-exam period, you will present your findings in 10 minutes.

Daily Assignments

January

18 Introductions

20 Thinking about Sex and Gender in Politics and Political Science

Preface in A; C and chap 1

Pick country

25 Thinking About Gender

C 2-4; Handout GDL

Book: Rhode; Gender Blending

27 Seeing Gender Theories

GI Jane: Discuss

C 5-8

February

1 In U.S. Politics

H 1; Handout GDL

Book: Kann

Due: Country info

3 U.S. Politics—links

H 2-4

Book: Phillips; Gender Power,

8 U.S. Political Participation

H 5-6; BSV 1,2

Due: Articulation I

10 Political Behavior

BSV 3,4

Books: Politics of Manhood

Attend: Beggars and Choosers, Wright Museum, 4 p.m.

15 Politics of Home

BSV 5-7

Due: Draft Research Tables

17 Other Politicized Institutions

BSV 8-12

Book: Rosenthal, Lead; (Rhode, Difference)

22 The Private and the Political

BSV 13,14; B 1,2

Book: Understanding Inequality

24 Stereotypes Head On

B 3-12

Book: Thomas and Wilcox

March

1 Implications

B 13

Due: Research Findings

3 Due: Research Findings

BREAK

15 Congress and Representation

H 7; GDL handout, Sex Roles;

17 On Gender in U.S. Politics

Books: Swers; (Rosenthal Transforming;) Book: Reingold; : The Other Elites; (Martin); (Anticipating Madame President); Kerber

Receive: WW=P Leadership and Participation

22 WW=P Conference: Madison

Plan to attend, at least the morning.

Look ahead. Big reading assignments.

24 Presidency

H 8

About the conference, presidency.

Look ahead. Big reading assignments.

31 Justice

H 9-10

Baer and Mezey

Attend: Susan Pharr, Japanese Women, 4 p.m. Richardson

April

5 Sex,Gender and Global Policy

A 3-10

7 No Class (movie?)

12 Gender and War

Goldstein 1-4

Book: Snyder

14 No class: Student Symposium

19 More on War

Goldstein 5-7; Ducat Intro

21 Anxious Armed Masculinity

Ducat 1-5

Book: Snyder

26 Anxious Masculinity, Now and Then

Ducat 6,7; Kann Intro., Part I

Due, Wednesday, April 27 by 4 p.m., Articulation Essay II

28 Consequences of Then, Now

Kann 4-7

May

3 Close Out, Reflections, Evaluations

Final Exam: Present Research, turn in papers, Friday, May 6, 9-12 a.m.