92156 |
LIT 131 Women and Leadership |
Deirdre d'Albertis |
F 10:00
am-12:00 pm |
BARD CHAPEL |
D+J |
|
2 credits
It is 2017. Why aren’t there more
women in leadership positions? According
to a 2014 Pew Research Center report, the majority of American men and women
acknowledge the capacity of women to lead. Yet in certain domains—most notably
politics and business—women continue to be under-represented at the top. Last year's Presidential race polarized the
electorar around constructions of gender in particularly dramatic ways. If we are living in a post-feminist society
(as some claim), why do these questions and conflicts continue to arise?
Identity is an urgent conversation in 21st-century politics and everyday life,
and this includes awareness of how intersectionality shapes gendered
experiences. What are the stories that we tell ourselves and each other about
equality, representation, privilege, freedom, authority, and success? How do these
inflect real-world outcomes for individuals and societies? In this two-credit course we will explore
some of the stories that circulate in our culture around women and power, both
from an academic and from a practical, real-world perspective. What does it mean to lead? How do we use a language of
empowerment? Why has the United States
embraced certain narratives of gender equity and success as opposed to those
being created in other countries and cultures?
We will focus on learning from women who are committed to making a
difference in the world through their personal and professional choices,
hearing their stories, and reading texts that have been particularly important
to them in their lives and work. So too,
we will engage with stories from the past (archival research), from across
disciplines (the military, higher education, STEM, the arts, media) and from a
wide range of perspectives. As an
Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences course, this seminar will provide students
with the unique opportunity to bring theory and practice together in a very
immediate sense: by the end of the term you will have identified a story only
you can tell, whether it is based in political activism, community engagement,
or work experience. Drawing on the rich
resources here in Annandale as well as through Bard’s other campuses, we will
reach out to groups and organizations with a shared focus on gender. Network building is something we will
explicitly address. This course is open
to all first-year students, but enrollment is limited. Class size: 20