Syllabus, Gender and work, 2022-06-27 and until further notice

This course introduces the area of gender and work. The relation between production and reproduction is explored over time, as well as the processes of inclusion and exclusion in the labour market. Dealing with issues such as the historical and intersectional dimension of welfare politics, activation policies, migration and care work the course explores how gender and other structuring categories relate to reproductive and productive practices. What is work? How do norms of wage work govern the ideas of equality and welfare? What are global care chains and how do they emerge? How come unequal conditions are maintained and reinforced in family and work organizations and how can these be challenged?

Expected learning outcomes

Having completed the course, the students are expected to have the ability to:

Knowledge and understanding
After the course, the student is expected to:

understand and explain how production and reproduction, paid and unpaid work relate to each other, and to gender, age, class, race/ethnicity, and sexuality
understand the changing organization of work in a global economy
understand domestic work migrations related to home and care work, and the development of global care chains.

Skills and Abilities
After completing the course, the students shall:

account for and relate independently to central perspectives, dividing lines, concepts and themes concerning gender, work and migration.
independently and critically reflect on power relations in and outside the labour market.

Judgement and approach
Upon completion of the course, the student shall:

orally and in writing present independent analysis on the relation between production and reproduction.

Required Knowledge

To be admitted to the course applicants must have completed three semesters of full time studies, equivalent to 90 ECTS, of which at least 15 ECTS must be an independent project or four semesters of full time studies equivalent to 120 ECTS.

English proficiency equivalent to English A from Swedish Upper secondary education.

Form of instruction

The course focuses on active learning, i.e. putting knowledge into practice and critically reflecting upon the knowledge. Different strategies for teaching and learning will be used, such as lectures, group discussions and various forms of individual and group exercises on selected topics. To pass the course the student is expected to actively participate in all seminars and to pass the final examination

Examination modes

Examination takes place through fulfilment of two parts:
1) Mandatory assignments during the course
2) Individual written assignment.

For part 1 the grades are Fail (U) or Pass (G). For part 2, as well as for the whole course, the grades are Fail (U), Pass (G) and Pass with Distinction (VG). The grade for the whole course in based on the examination of part 2. The whole course is not graded until part 1 is fulfilled.

Other regulations

Students have the right to apply to have a previous education or experience evaluated for transfer of credits. For more
information, see: www.umu.se/utbildning/antagning/tillgodoraknande/

Literature

Valid from: 2025-09-01

Acker Joan
Inequality regimes: gender, class, and race in organizations.
Included in:
Gender & society[Elektronisk resurs]b published in association with Sociologists for Women in Society
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 2000- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243206289499

Collins Jane L.
Mapping a global labor market : gender and skill in the globalizing garment industry
Included in:
Gender & society.
Newbury Park, Calif. : Sage : 1987- :
LIBRIS ID: 9318398
Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3081941.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aed875fdb4fdc7b3107c0de4a8d2b0b54&ab_segments=&origin=&acceptTC=1Links to an external site.

Fraser Nancy
Contradictions of capital and care
Included in:
New left review.
London,c 1960- : 1960- :
LIBRIS ID: 19934802
Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii100/articles/nancy-fraser-contradictions-of-capital-and-care

Tornhill Sofie
Capital Visions: Scripting Progress and Work in Nicaraguan Free-Trade Zones
Included in:
Latin American perspectives
Berverly Hills, Calif. : Sage : 1974- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X10390632

Careers Delivered from the Kitchen? : Immigrant Women Small-scale Entrepreneurs Working in the Growing Nordic Platform Economy
Webster Natasha A, Zhang Qian
Included in:
NORA
Stockholm : Taylor & Francis : 1993- :

Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/08038740.2020.1714725?needAccess=true&role=button

Anderson Bridget
A Very Private Business: Exploring the Demand for Migrant Domestic Workers Anderson, Bridget
SAGE : 2007 : 247-264 :

Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp.247-264

Fraser’s care crisis theory meets the Nordic welfare societies
Hansen Lise Lotte, Rhodes Carl, Bjørnholt Margunn, Horn Laura
Policy Press : 2022 : 39-59 :

Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 39-59

Social reproduction Feminisms
Ferguson Sue, Bhattacharya Tithi, Farris Sara.R.
SAGE Publications : 2021 : 138-167 :

Mandatory

Weeks Kathi
The problem with work : feminism, Marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries
Durham : Duke University Press : 2011. : 287 s. :
ISBN: 9780822350965 (cloth : alk. paper)
LIBRIS ID: 12335389
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 1-36