International & Comparative Equality Seminar

Catalog description

This seminar focuses on questions of economic equality and gender in international and comparative contexts. This semester, the seminar will function like an advanced graduate seminar, with a specific concentration on corporate board quotas, the subject of the PILR symposium entitled “Comparative Sex Regimes and Corporate Governance.” With this specific purpose in mind, we will first examine historical documents and the role of modern institutions, including the World Bank and IMF. We will compare and contrast gender equality under European and American legal systems. We will focus on quota systems that regulate women’s participation in both the public and private sectors with a major focus on corporate board quotas. The course will employ a comparative methodology to examine specific issues including: a) the role gender plays in national legal and political institutions, b) how various governments’ responses to gender inequality vary and overlap and c) what role legal structures and processes, both economic and supranational, play in facilitating (or obstructing) equality movements. Students who wish to take the class must submit a one-paragraph explanation for why they want to take the class. Corporations is a prerequisite; if a student wishes to take the class but has not taken Corporations, s/he should submit an explanation alongside the paragraph requesting to join the class. Also, the class will meet more frequently in the beginning of the semester to prepare them for the symposium. For the students' request to join the class, please have them submitted to Susie Della Ruffa at [email protected]