Women and Global Human RightsPSYC/ANS0 4600 01
Instructor: Dr. Linda M. WoolfOffice Hours:
|  |
Texts:
- Agosin, Marjorie (Ed.) (1999). A Map of Hope : Women's Writing on Human Rights. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Readings will be provided by the instructor and fellow students may submit readings to be distributed to the class.
Course Description:
Discussions of human rights often fail to acknowledge the unique concerns of women around the globe particularly as they relate to the subordination of and injustices against women. Yet clearly, women's rights are human rights concerns. Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive violation of human rights in the world today. Discrimination against women and girls is an important basic cause of malnutrition. The very high rates of child malnutrition and low birth weight throughout much of South Asia are linked to such factors as women's poor access to education and their low levels of participation in paid employment, compared with other regions. Women comprise 70% of the world's poor. Eighty percent of the world's refugees are women and children. And as stated by Her Excellency Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Bonded labour and the traffic in women and children have become our modern day versions of slavery." More than 1 million children, mostly girls, are forced into prostitution every year. In this course, we will examine the issue of women's rights within the context of global human rights. Additionally, we will be developing a web site resource for others concerned about and interested in becoming more actively involved in combating women's human rights violations around the globe.
Course Objectives:
- Objective: To become more knowledgeable about global human rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Objectives: To become more knowledgeable concerning the major human rights violations experienced by women across the globe including the United States.
- Objectives: To examine the unique concerns of women and why these concerns are often omitted from discussions of global human rights.
- Objectives: To further develop library and cybrary research skills.
Course Outcomes:
- Outcome: The student will be able to discuss the concept of global human rights and the thirty articles contained within the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Outcome: The student will be able to articulate and discuss global human rights within the context of women's rights and concerns.
- Outcome: The student will be able to discuss in depth at least two human rights concerns of particular and/or unique concern for women.
- Outcome: To student will be able to discuss the reasons why women's concerns are often omitted from the discussion of global human rights.
- Outcome: The student will to conduct independent research and communicate their findings through written and oral presentations.
- Outcome: Students will be able to put all of the information from the course into a comprehensive resourse that can be accessed via the world wide web.
Class Meetings:
The class will meet on Wednesday from 2:00 - 4:50. As this is a seminar class, classroom attendance is mandatory. Class participation and discussion will greatly enhance your understanding of the material. Additionally, you and your fellow classmates are interdependent in a seminar course. A high level of commitment is necessary from everyone to guarantee optimal learning and benefit. As such, participation/discussion will constitute a large percentage of your final grade.
Course Requirements:
Since this is a seminar course, student input will be part of the process of defining course requirements. I present the following as a guide to possible requirements:
- Major paper with bibliography discussing a particular human rights concern of women. A presentation to class to accompany the paper. Students will select readings for other in the class. These reading may be from the class text or other additional reading. 25%
- Three short papers with bibliography and short presentations discussing these specific human rights concerns of women. A presentation to class will accompany the paper. Individuals may work in pairs on these papers and submit/present jointly. Students will select readings for other in the class. These reading may be from the class text or other additional reading. 30%
Note: Students will select which isses to study during the first three weeks of class. No students (or pairs) may select the same topic. Our goal is to be able to discuss as many human rights concerns of women as possible during this seminar.
- A personal reaction paper discussing the issue of women and global human rights (Final essay question). 10%
- Participation in class creation of world wide web resource. 10%
- Class participation and discussion. 15%
All grades will be assigned on a scale of 0 - 10 with:
| 90 - 100 | A-,A | Excellent |
| 80 - 89 | B-,B,B+ | Above Average |
| 70 - 79 | C-,C,C+ | Average |
| 60 - 69 | D-,D,D+ | Below Average |
| Less than 60 | F | Failing |
Policy Statements:
Plagiarism (attempting to pass off the work of another as one's own) is not acceptable and will result in a grade of 0 for that assignment and will be turned over to the appropriate university source for disciplinary action. In addition, cheating on exams will also result in the same fate. Late withdraws from this class will not be approved by the instructor except in cases of emergency discussed with the instructor. No late withdraws will be approved on the basis of poor class performance.
The schedule below provides a general guideline to the semester and will be revised based on class discussion/decisions during the first two weeks of class.
Course Schedule | |||
Week | Topic | Reading | |
| January | 17 | Introduction to class What are Global Human Rights Are Women's Concerns Unique? | Introduction Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| January | 24 31 | Topic to be selected by the class | TBA |
| February | 7, 14, 21, 28 | Student Presentations Work on WWW Page | TBA |
| March | 7 | Student Presentations Work on WWW Page | TBA |
| Spring Break | |||
| March | 21, 28 | Student Presentations Work on WWW Page | TBA |
| April | 4, 11, 18, 25 | Student Presentations Work on WWW Page | TBA |
| April | 13 & 20 | Student Presentations Work on WWW Page | TBA |
| May | 2 | Finish work on WWW Page | No readings assigned |
| May | 9 | Final wrap-up and discussion | |
 |  Woolf Home Page |