The general course ‘Genders, Knowledge and Social Justice’ is aimed at both bachelor and master degree students from all Schools and courses of study at the University of Padua and the university technical administrative staff. It is a project of the ‘Elena Cornaro’ University Centre for Gender Knowledge, Cultures and Policies, and one of the positive actions approved by the University of Padua to promote equal opportunities and gender equality through education.
The course falls within the scientific disciplinary field SPS/08 - Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes; it is a 6-credit free-choice teaching, at the end of which there is a final exam.
It is aimed at those who want to delve into the relations between genders in the different spheres of people's lives, with the aim of bringing out the stereotypes and prejudices that condition social interactions and encourage a change of perspective necessary for the construction of a more equitable and sustainable society. It may be of particular interest to female students in STEM disciplines to acquire diverse knowledge through which to reread STEM knowledge from a gender perspective.
In fact, the teaching has a transdisciplinary framework and relies on the collaboration of faculty members from the departments of Information Engineering (DEI), Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (DICEA), Language and Literary Studies (DISLL), Historical, Geographical and Ancient Sciences (DISSGEA), Mathematics (DM), Developmental and Socialization Psychology (DPSS), Cardio-thoracic-vascular sciences and public health (DSCTV), Economic and Business Sciences “Marco Fanno” (DSEA), Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), Political Science, Law and International Studies (SPGI).
“Gender, Knowledge and Social Justice” is designed to respond to the University's gender mainstreaming policies, European Union guidance on gender equality, pluralism and respect for difference, and contemporary social challenges. The teaching proposes a constellation of theoretical-methodological inputs from different disciplines to develop skills in analyzing, designing and implementing actions for gender equality.
Students will develop the ability to analyze mechanisms of gender discrimination and promote a culture of equality through countering stereotypes and prejudice and preventing gender-based violence. They will know how to critically reflect on the non-neutrality of knowledge and its transmission, the intertwining of gender, science and technology, and the importance of a gender approach in the field of innovation. They will learn to analyze different course topics through an intersectional approach, attentive to the interaction of gender with other aspects that may influence people's life experiences (age, sexual orientation, dis/ability, educational attainment, economic and social status). They will find theoretical tools that reflect the most recent debates in transdisciplinary gender research, substantiated by a diachronic approach to the social and cultural construction of the feminine and masculine at different moments in history.
Thanks to a transdisciplinary approach, the general course offers tools both to those who intend to study gender issues in more depth and to those who wish to acquire professional skills to counter discrimination, enhance gender differences and identities, implement gender mainstreaming strategies, and promote equal opportunities.
Students of scientific field will have the opportunity to develop skills related to the connections between the gender dimension and technological innovations (gendered innovations), expanding their ability to think of solutions and strategies that support and promote the well-being of the individual, the environment and society.
The course includes two teaching blocks: the first offersintroductory lectures aimed at framing the conceptual and theoretical orientation and transdisciplinary dimension of gender studies, while the second analyzes gender issues in seven domains, taken from the Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The Index measures the level of equality between men and women in the European Union in several domains: knowledge, power, work, health, money and time (to which a study conducted at the University of Padua added the domain of space). Each lecture will use different scientific and disciplinary languages, and will address the multiple aspects of issues related to each domain, in order to render the interconnections and complexity of the cultural and social construction of gender. In closing the program, one lecture will be devoted to European and international efforts to promote gender equality, with a focus on the local dimension as well.
Special attention will also be paid to situated, global and transnational declinations of women's movements, which cross the boundaries of ethnic and national identities. During the course, the concepts of culture, ethnicity, generation, difference and inequality, and the relationships between migration, multicultural societies and identity politics will be analyzed through the lens of gender and intersectionality.
The course is delivered in presence, with some activities on the Moodle platform. Classes are held by lecturers and experts in the field, and also include time for debate and interactive activities.
At the end of the course students will take an assessment test (questions with open-ended answers) on the bibliography indicated by each lecturer and uploaded on the Moodle page. The format of the final test will depend on the number of class hours attended.
Timely information will be provided during the first lecture of the course and posted on the Moodle page.
To enroll, students of the University must log in with their SSO credentials to the Moodle platform of the Department of Language and Literary Studies. The teaching can be selected as part of the “free choices” teaching.
If it is not already included among those of the course of study to which you belong to automatic approval, you are required to submit an individual study plan to be approved by the chairperson of the course.
