POLS 373: WOMEN AND
POLITICS (Fall 2006)
M & W 2:00-3:15 DuSable 461
Department of Political
Science
Northern
Professor L. Kamenitsa Office:
Zulauf Hall 107
Phone: 753-7053 Office
Hours: M 12:30-1:30 &
e-mail: Lynnkam@niu.edu 3:30-4:30
& by appointment
This course examines multiple dimensions of gender
in political life in the
REQUIRED
1. Ford, Lynne E. Women and
Politics: The Pursuit of Equality. 2nd edition.
2. Carroll, Susan J. and Richard L. Fox,
editors. Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics.
3. Required
articles and book chapters are also assigned.
Most are available on-line via Blackboard or Electronic Reserve. A few are only are available at the Founders
Library Reserve Desk. Most of these
required readings and the means of accessing them are indicated in the
syllabus. Additional readings will be
announced in class or on Blackboard.
4. Students are required to
monitor a major daily newspaper (like the New York Times) in addition to
other regular news media sources. This
will be particularly important as preparation for our regular discussions of
gender in the 2006 campaigns and elections.
Given the nature of the research assignment, students are expected to
read campaign coverage in the Chicago
Tribune as well as other state and regional news media on a regular basis.
GRADING: Exam I 30%
Exam II 35%
Class 10%
Research Project 25%
EXAMS:
There will be two exams for the course (10/16 &
12/11). Both
will be primarily essay exams. The
second exam will cover material presented in the second half of the course, but
may require students to draw on material from the first half of the course in a
general way. NO
MAKE-UP EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN, except in case of emergency and then only at
the discretion of the professor (contact the professor before the exam!). If there are problems or conflicts, contact
the professor well in advance of the exam.
CLASS:
Students are to do the assigned readings before the
relevant class period and to come to class prepared to discuss them. Class will be conducted with the assumption
that students have done the reading and been to previous sessions.
The class format will consist of lectures and
discussions. Students will have ample
opportunity to participate in making the course interesting and relevant,
including discussions of the fall 2006 elections and discussions in response to
reading questions posted on Blackboard.
Students' comments and questions on readings, lectures, and current
events are welcome and encouraged. For
this format to work students need to come to class and come to class
prepared. This portion of your grade
is designed to reward students who do that.
The class grade consists of two components: attendance
and in class performance (asking and answering questions, participating in
discussions, staying awake, etc.).
RESEARCH PROJECT:
Each student will be select one a few high profile
electoral races involving female candidates to follow this semester. The student will simultaneously follow the
race and explore the theories and findings of scholarly research related to
female candidates. The final paper will analyze developments in the actual race
according to an original hypothesis derived from a review of the scholarly
literature on the topic. Likely races
include the Topinka- Blagojevich gubernatorial race
and the Duckworth- Roskam congressional race.
In addition to the final
paper, the research project includes several assignment
intended to help the student become familiar with the race, the scholarly
literature, and developing a hypothesis and research design. Details for each will be distributed in
class. Due dates are listed below:
Campaign-to-date summary (1-2 pages) -
10% of project grade; DUE 9/20
Literature review, hypothesis, & research design (2-3 pages) – 15% of project grade; DUE 10/11
Final paper
(10-12 pages) due – 75 % of project grade; DUE
11/20
BLACKBOARD:
This course uses the university’s Blackboard Course Server for posting assignments and communicating with students. This course website can be accessed only by students enrolled in this course. The URL for Blackboard is http://webcourses.niu.edu . Login with your student Z-ID and password. For login questions go to http://www.helpdesk.niu.edu/ and click on “Blackboard” or contact ITS at 753-8100. The system uses your NIU student webmail account (NetMail). To receive course-related e-mails at another address, you need to forward mail from your NIU account to another account. (Learn how at http://www.its.niu.edu/its/helpdesk/webmail_students.shtml .) It is your responsibility to set this up -- do it today! Blackboard sometimes goes down unexpectedly. Therefore, do not wait until the last minute to access materials you need on Blackboard.
ACADEMIC HONESTY &
PLAGIARISM:
No
paper (or other written assignment or exam) submitted for another course or
written by another person will be accepted.
Plagiarism - presenting the thoughts or words of others as if
they were your own - will not be tolerated.
You must credit all of the sources from which you obtain data,
information, ideas, or language with a full and accurate citation (and
quotation marks, when appropriate).
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty can result in an
automatic "F" for the course and even expulsion from the University
(see the Student Judicial Code). Criteria for these offenses are described in
the Student Judicial Code and the Undergraduate Catalog.
NOTE: All written assignments
must be typed or word-processed. Assignments are due at the beginning of class
on the specified date. Late assignments
will be penalized one grade increment for each 24 hour period they are late (A-
becomes B+). Work turned in more than
one week late will be accepted only at the discretion of the professor.
COURSE SCHEDULE (additional readings may be
announced in class or via Blackboard)
[Bb] = available on
Blackboard
[E-reserves] = available
on electronic reserves; URL posted on Blackboard
[online]
= available on the internet; URL posted on Bb and at end of this syllabus
Week
1 Course Introduction: Politics, Women, & Representation
8/28
& 8/30
Carroll & Fox: Introduction, pp. 1-11
Week
2 Women,
Representation, & Equality
9/4
Labor Day – no class
9/6
Carroll & Fox: Ch 1 (Duerst-Lahti),
pp. 12-42
PART I: WOMEN AND INSTITUTIONAL POLITICS
Week 3 Voters and Public
Opinion
9/11
& 9/13
Carroll & Fox: Ch 2 (MacManus) pp. 43-73
Ch 3 (Carroll), pp. 74-96
CAWP, "Gender Gap
in 2004…" [Bb]
Week 4 Candidates &
Campaigns
9/18
& 9/20
Carroll & Fox: Ch 4 (Fox), pp. 97-116
Ch 7 (Bystrom),
pp. 169-188
*** Campaign-to-date summary DUE 9/20 ***
Week
5 Candidates &
Campaigns (continued)
9/25
& 9/27
Ch 6 (Burrell) pp. 143-168
Ch 8 (Sanbonmatsu)
pp. 189-214
Week
6 Women as Elected
Officials
10/2 & 10/4
McGlen et al., "Women's
Political Participation" (Ch.2), pp. 90-123 only [E-reserve]
“Round
Table Discussion: Women and Reflections on Congressional Life.” [E-reserve]
Week
7 Overcoming
Barriers
10/9
& 10/11
Duerst-Lahti, "The
Bottleneck: Women Becoming Candidates," pp. 15-25 [E-Reserve]
*** Literature review, hypothesis, & research
design DUE
10/11 ***
PART II: WOMEN'S POLITICAL ACTIVISM
Week
8 Women's Activism
& Movements:
10/16
& 10/18
****Exam I -- MONDAY 10/16 ****
-- Covers all material from Course Intro & Part I
Weeks
9 Women's
Movements in
10/23
& 10/25
Kaminer,
“Will Class trump Gender” [Bb]
Mansbridge & Smith. “How did feminism get to be
‘all white’?” [Bb]
Week
10a Women's Movements
in
10/30
PART III: SELECT PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES
Week 10b Understanding
Public Policy & Politics
10/30 Education Equity Issues
Week
11 Economic Equity:
Work, Pay, and Family Issues
11/6 & 11/8
Cohn, “Child's play.”
[Bb]
Mattox, “How to help childraising families prosper?”[Bb]
Welfare Reform
Assessments - a packet or readings available on Blackboard
Week
12 Family,
Reproduction, and Sexuality Issues
11/13
& 11/15
Gornick, “Reconcilable differences.” [Bb]
Public
Policy & Reproduction - a packet of readings available on Blackboard
PART IV: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN AND
POLITICS
Week 13 Understanding gender and
politics across cultures
11/20
11/22 -
THANKSGIVING BREAK (no class)
Sarin, Radhika. "Women gain political seats, but…" [Bb]
Shvedova,
Nadezdha, “Obstacles To Women's
Participation In Parliament.” [online]
Christopher,
Karen, “Family-friendly
Waylen,
Georgina, “Analysing Women in the Politics of the
**** Final paper DUE
11/20 ****
Week 14 Women & Democratization:
Issues & Activism
11/27
& 11/29
Gordon, April, “Women
& Development.” [E-reserve]
Coleman, "The Payoff From Women's
Rights" [Bb]
Week
15 Women &
Democratization: Issues & Activism (continued)
12/4
& 12/6
Moreau & Yousafzai. "'Living Dead' No
More." [Bb]
Women in Afghan Politics
-- a packet of recent articles available on Blackboard
Final
exam period: ***** Exam II, Monday 12/11, 2-3:50 p.m., DuSable 461 *****
FULL CITATIONS FOR ASSIGNED
Carroll,
Susan J. “The impact of term limits on women.” Spectrum v. 74
no.4 (Fall 2001) p. 19-21. [Bb*]
CAWP
(Center for American Women and Politics). "Gender Gap in 2004 Presidential
race is Widespread." Available at: http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/Facts/Elections/GG2004widespread.pdf
[Bb]
Christopher,
Karen. “Family-friendly
Cohn,
Jonathan. “Child's play: why universal, high-quality day care should be
elementary.” American
Prospect v. 11 no15 (June 19-July 3 2000) p. 46-9. [Bb*]
Coleman,
Isobel. "The Payoff From Women's Rights" Foreign Affairs 83 no3
80-95 My/Je 2004 [Bb*]
Dahlerup, Drude.
"Quotas are changing the history of women" Paper delivered at
the conference "Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences" in
Ferree,
Ferree,
Goodwin,
Jan. “An uneasy peace.” The Nation 274: 16 (Apr. 29 2002) p. 20-3. [Bb*]
Gordon, April A. “Women & Development.” In Understanding
Contemporary Africa Third Edition, edited by April A. Gordon and Donald L.
Gordon.
Gornick,
Janet C. “Reconcilable differences.” American Prospect v.
13 no7 (Apr. 8 2002) p. 42-8. [Bb*]
Kaminer,
Wendy. “Will class trump gender? The new assault on
feminism.” American Prospect
no29 (Nov./Dec. 1996) p. 44-52. . [Bb*]
Mansbridge,
Jane. and Barbara Smith. “How did feminism get to be
‘all white’? A conversation between Jane Mansbridge
and Barbara Smith.” American Prospect v. 11 no9
(Mar. 13 2000) p. 32-6.
[Bb*]
Mattox, William R., Jr. “How to help childraising families prosper?” The American Enterprise
v. 12 no3 (Apr./May 2001) p. 14-15. [Bb*]
McGlen, Nancy, Karen O'Connor,
Laura van Assendelft, and Wendy Gunther-Canada. 2005. "Women's Political Participation"
(Ch.2). Women, Politics, and American Society. Fourth edition.
Moreau, Ron and Sami Yousafzai.
"'Living Dead' No
More." Newsweek 144: 15 (10/11/2004). [Bb*]
Patterson, Amy S. “Women in global politics: progress or
stagnation?.” USA Today v. 129 no2664 (Sept. 2000)
p. 14-16. [Bb*]
“Round Table Discussion: Women and
Reflections on Congressional Life.” Extensions:
A Journal of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and
Sarin, Radhika. "Women gain political
seats, but gap in education and employment persists." World Watch
16 no5 8 September/October 2003 [Bb]
Shvedova, Nadezdha.
“Obstacles To Women's Participation In
Parliament.” (
Waylen,
[Bb*]
= available on Blackboard AND on WilsonSelectPlus, an
OCLC Database on the NIU library website
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