PLSC 201 - Women and Leadership

This course analyses the connections between gender, power, and leadership. Women are underrepresented in positions of leadership across all fields of structural power: science, arts, politics, and business. Why? The course introduces students to theories of feminism, leadership, and knowledge to best analyze this phenomenon. In this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between social, political, and economic institutions and the construction of individual identities. We will explore how gender interacts with nationality, race, age, socio-economic class, religion, and sexuality to shape the way in which communities define, promote, and advance leaders. Students will also formulate their own definition of women’s leadership. The course draws upon the fields of psychology, political science, business, women and gender studies, history, communications, and economics. Truly interdisciplinary, students will gain a richer understanding of why the gender gap in leadership positions persists, how to apply gender as a category of critical analysis, and their own potential to act as agents, as leaders.

3 credits