Human Rights, Gender and Religion

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have an awareness of the complexities of how human rights, gender and religion intersect in particular contexts
• Have a knowledge of the current debates about the relationship between religion, gender and human rights
• Be aware of the manifestations of that debate in a variety of areas of human rights, including women’s rights and gay rights in Middle Eastern, Islamic countries as well as in multicultural, liberal states
• Be familiar with the range of the complexities of deploying identity as a means to protect gender identities, including those of women and gays within religious social spheres
• Have the capacity to critically evaluate arguments that deploy human rights discourse to protect gender identities, including those of women and gays in religious social spheres
• Have the capacity to articulate the above knowledge and understanding in oral and written presentations.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• The place of women’s rights and gay rights in international human rights, with a particular focus on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
• An analysis of how human rights scholars deploy identity and identity politics to advance arguments to protect women and gays
• Analysis of the relationship between women’s rights and Islam in the context of Egyptian family law
• Examination of discourses on women’s rights and gay rights in the context of religion, with a focus on their discourse and regulation in multicultural, liberal states
• Consideration of the complexities and issues of interpretation in the context of religious law, and its downstream effects on the human rights treatment of women and gays
• Consideration of the complexities and issues of human rights and its downstream effects on religious discourse in its regulation of gender, particularly as this affects women and gays
• How concepts in religious discourse reflect and reinforce understanding about human rights to yield particular distributive consequences on gender, particularly in relation to women and gays
• Consideration of the complex ways in which Middle Eastern legal systems regulate women and gays through the complicated and interweaving discourses of human rights and Islamic law, and of secularism and religion.

• Simulation exercise (20%)
• Written assignment on simulation exercise 1,000 words (10%)
• Research paper 7,000 words (70%) (25 May) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have an awareness of the complexities of how human rights, gender and religion intersect in particular contexts
• Have a knowledge of the current debates about the relationship between religion, gender and human rights
• Be aware of the manifestations of that debate in a variety of areas of human rights, including women’s rights and gay rights in Middle Eastern, Islamic countries as well as in multicultural, liberal states
• Be familiar with the range of the complexities of deploying identity as a means to protect gender identities, including those of women and gays within religious social spheres
• Have the capacity to critically evaluate arguments that deploy human rights discourse to protect gender identities, including those of women and gays in religious social spheres
• Have the capacity to articulate the above knowledge and understanding in oral and written presentations.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• The place of women’s rights and gay rights in international human rights, with a particular focus on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
• An analysis of how human rights scholars deploy identity and identity politics to advance arguments to protect women and gays
• Analysis of the relationship between women’s rights and Islam in the context of Egyptian family law
• Examination of discourses on women’s rights and gay rights in the context of religion, with a focus on their discourse and regulation in multicultural, liberal states
• Consideration of the complexities and issues of interpretation in the context of religious law, and its downstream effects on the human rights treatment of women and gays
• Consideration of the complexities and issues of human rights and its downstream effects on religious discourse in its regulation of gender, particularly as this affects women and gays
• How concepts in religious discourse reflect and reinforce understanding about human rights to yield particular distributive consequences on gender, particularly in relation to women and gays
• Consideration of the complex ways in which Middle Eastern legal systems regulate women and gays through the complicated and interweaving discourses of human rights and Islamic law, and of secularism and religion.

• Simulation exercise (20%)
• Written assignment on simulation exercise 1,000 words (10%)
• Research paper 7,000 words (70%) (25 May) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)