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Both gender and development are complex constructs affecting global gender justice. Watch Dr Maree Pardy explain more.

Welcome to Gender and Development.

This free open course is part Deakin University unit ADH714: Gender and Development.

It will provide you with a taste of the broader Masters of Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Action, a degree designed to cultivate the skills and the knowledge required to respond to national and international emergencies.

Course purpose and context

In 2015 the United Nations pledged to work towards ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls by 2030.

Such commitments indicate the success of gender and development as both an intellectual and a political project.

In this course we’ll trace this project’s history and also subject claims of success to some serious scrutiny.

To do this, we’ll ask and seek to address the following big questions:

Is the developing world heterosexual?
Is gender a performance?
What’s the story with gender and development?

What you’ll be learning

Over the next two weeks you’ll:

explore the concept of gender and how it is now considered an integral part of development
analyse the concept of development, including what it means, what its history is and whether we’ve arrived yet
investigate if the association of gender with development is making a positive difference in people’s lives
consider how can thinking about development improve the life experiences of people in diverse contexts.

See the to do menu for an overview of all Week 1 and Week 2 activities and steps.

Meet the team

Your Lead Educators for this course are Dr Maree Pardy and Claire Kennedy along with Dr Francesca Bussey.

If you haven’t already, take a moment to view your teaching teams’ profiles and follow Claire for course updates, feedback and discussions.

You can also add to the conversation on social media using #FLgenderdev.

Making the most of your learning

If you have a general interest in this topic, you can work through the core learning activities in about three hours each week. You will have the opportunity to check your understanding and spend some time joining the discussions.
If you would like to develop a more integrated understanding of the topic, such as what’s expected at a postgraduate level, you can spend more time engaging with the learning materials and activities. This may include looking at additional resources provided in the see also section and participating more actively in conversations.

Your task

Watch the video to hear more from Maree and Francesca about what you’ll be learning in this course.

When you’re done, use the comments to introduce yourself, why you’re taking this course, what you hope to get out of it and what the concept of global gender justice means to you.

Next, select the mark as complete button (doing this will help you keep track of your progress) and move to the next step.