Gender in a Global Perspective
Gender relations are global. They are key to understanding how the world works today. War, globalisation, sexuality, migration, representation, employment, media, history - all of these are gendered. If you are interested in global power relations, a gender analysis is essential.
But what is GENDER? Gender can mean men and women, and the relationship between them. But it is also about masculinity and femininity, divisions of labour, self-presentation, public and private spheres, access to institutions and the organisation of family life. It can be understood as static or in flux, oppressive or a source of pleasure.
From our global perspective, gender always intersects with other categories of analysis such as race, ethnicity, class and sexuality. And because gender relations work in all spheres of life, interdisciplinarity is key to their analysis and transformation.
Why Gender Matters for Social Science
Why Gender Matters for Social Science
by London School of Economics and Political Science
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.lse.ac.uk/genderInstitute/home.aspx
This film comprises of a number of interviews with LSE academics discussing the importance of gender research for their discipline and talking about the range of work in this field being carried out at the School.To download the video please right click on the download link and choose ‘save target as’ or ‘save link as’.
The Gender Institute was established in 1993 to address the major intellectual challenges posed by contemporary changes in gender relations. This remains a central aim of the Institute today, which is the largest research and teaching unit of its kind in Europe. The Gender Institute is interested in mapping and intervening in the gendered nature of social processes, and believes that an integrated interdisciplinary and global approach is needed to do so. We aim to combine theory and practice with an interdisciplinary and transnational scope. We are a recognised centre of research, teaching, policy advice and advocacy work, with faculty having won a range of awards, and with students from across the globe.
The Institute runs five Masters programmes, attracting students from a wide range of different countries. In 2010/11 we have 80 Masters students and typically have 20 MPhil/ PhD students researching gender concerns. The Institute serves as a focus for gender research across the LSE, and works to promote a close relationship between policy makers and the academy. Though the Institute only has a small core teaching staff, it provides a vibrant research culture with resident Research Fellows, visiting scholars, public lectures and conferences, and a regular programme of research seminars. We also co-host with the University of East London a monthly forum for Postgraduates in Narrative, Discourse and Representation.
The research work of the Institute is informed by the belief that all social processes are 'gendered', and that understanding gender relations is therefore a crucial component in any social science research. Some of the projects undertaken at the Institute focus directly on the position of girls and women, the contemporary character of gender relations, and the formation of sexual identities. Others employ a gendered perspective to address issues not normally considered as gender concerns. The focus of the research projects ranges across local, national and international contexts, and the relationship between gender and ethnicity has become an increasingly prominent concern.
The Gender Institute offices comprise a suite of rooms surrounding an open space where we have occasional seminars and receptions, a Masters' study space, a dedicated library, our own course collection of offprints and journals, and a kitchen. The PhD students have a connecting room with wireless access.