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Gender Studies: Feminisms, Power & Social Change

Reading list

Every reading this course assigns, module by module, with the best free copy we could find.

61 readings25 free to read10 on request26 books

A free copy is the published text, or the author's own manuscript held by a university repository, which has the same content without the journal's layout. A subscription reading opens at the publisher, where your library may give you access. If it does not, request a copy and we will reply by email. Books link to their publisher.

Module 1. What is Gender?

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Oakley, A. (1972). Sex, Gender and Society. Maurice Temple Smith (reissued by Routledge, 2015).Publisher pageBook
  3. Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.Publisher pageBook
  4. Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities, chapter 3. Polity Press.Publisher pageBook
  5. Connell, R. W. and Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. Gender & Society, 19(6), 829-859.Publisher pageSubscription

Module 2. History of Feminist Thought

  1. Wollstonecraft, M. (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Project Gutenberg edition.Read it free
  2. Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation. Autonomedia.Publisher pageBook
  3. hooks, b. (1984). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. South End Press.Publisher pageBook
  4. Mohanty, C. T. (1988). Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses. Feminist Review, 30, 61-88.Publisher pageSubscription
  5. Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), Article 8.Read it free

Module 3. Intersectionality

  1. Combahee River Collective (1977). The Combahee River Collective Statement.Read it free
  2. Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299.Publisher pageSubscription
  3. Rege, S. (1998). Dalit Women Talk Differently: A Critique of 'Difference' and Towards a Dalit Feminist Standpoint Position. Economic and Political Weekly, 33(44), WS39-WS46.Publisher pageSubscription
  4. Guru, G. (1995). Dalit Women Talk Differently. Economic and Political Weekly, 30(41/42), 2548-2550.Publisher pageSubscription

Module 4. Political Economy of Gender

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Agarwal, B. (1994). A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435-464.Publisher pageSubscription
  4. Agarwal, B. (1997). 'Bargaining' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household. Feminist Economics, 3(1), 1-51.Publisher pageSubscription
  5. Kabeer, N. (1994). Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. Verso.Publisher pageBook

Module 5. Care Work & Social Reproduction

  1. International Labour Organization (2018). Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. ILO.Read it free
  2. Federici, S. (2012). Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle. PM Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Razavi, S. (2007). The Political and Social Economy of Care in a Development Context: Conceptual Issues, Research Questions and Policy Options. Gender and Development Programme Paper No. 3. UNRISD.Read it free
  4. Bhattacharya, T. (ed.) (2017). Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression. Pluto Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 6. Gender & Labour Markets

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Chatterjee, U., Murgai, R. and Rama, M. (2015). Job Opportunities along the Rural-Urban Gradation and Female Labor Force Participation in India. Policy Research Working Paper 7412. World Bank.Read it free
  3. Klasen, S. and Pieters, J. (2015). What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India? World Bank Economic Review, 29(3), 449-478.Read it free
  4. International Labour Organization (2018). India Wage Report: Wage Policies for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth. ILO.Read it free

Module 7. Personal Laws & Legal Pluralism

  1. Mill, J. S. (1869). The Subjection of Women. Project Gutenberg edition.Read it free
  2. Agnes, F. (1999). Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women's Rights in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Agnes, F. (2011). Family Law, Volume 1: Family Laws and Constitutional Claims. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  4. Parashar, A. (1992). Women and Family Law Reform in India: Uniform Civil Code and Gender Equality. Sage.Publisher pageBook

Module 8. Sexual Violence, Law & Justice

  1. World Health Organization (2025). Violence against women. Fact sheet. WHO.Read it free
  2. Baxi, P. (2014). Public Secrets of Law: Rape Trials in India. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Supreme Court of India (1997). Vishaka and others v. State of Rajasthan and others, AIR 1997 SC 3011, (1997) 6 SCC 241.Read it free

Module 9. Women's Political Representation

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Chattopadhyay, R. and Duflo, E. (2004). Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India. Econometrica, 72(5), 1409-1443.Free copy, a working-paper versionPublisher page
  3. Kudva, N. (2003). Engineering Elections: The Experiences of Women in Panchayati Raj in Karnataka, India. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 16(3), 445-463.Publisher pageSubscription
  4. Rai, S. M. and Spary, C. (2019). Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament. Oxford University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 10. Women's Movements in India

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Kumar, R. (1993). The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990. Kali for Women.Publisher pageBook
  3. Menon, N. (2004). Recovering Subversion: Feminist Politics Beyond the Law. Permanent Black.Publisher pageBook
  4. Basu, A. (ed.) (2010). Women's Movements in the Global Era: The Power of Local Feminisms. Westview Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 11. Gender & Caste

  1. Ambedkar, B. R. (1917). Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development. Indian Antiquary, 41, 81-95 (paper read at Columbia University, 9 May 1916).Read it free
  2. Chakravarti, U. (1993). Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Caste, Class and State. Economic and Political Weekly, 28(14), 579-585.Publisher pageSubscription
  3. Rege, S. (2006). Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit Women's Testimonios. Zubaan.Publisher pageBook

Module 12. Masculinities & Non-Conforming Identities

  1. UNDP Human Development Report Office (2023). 2023 Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI): Breaking Down Gender Biases. UNDP.Read it free
  2. Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Polity Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Supreme Court of India (2014). National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438.Read it free
  4. Reddy, G. (2005). With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India. University of Chicago Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 13. Gender in Development Practice

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Moser, C. O. N. (1993). Gender Planning and Development: Theory, Practice and Training. Routledge.Publisher pageBook
  3. Razavi, S. and Miller, C. (1995). From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse. Occasional Paper No. 1. UNRISD and UNDP.Read it free
  4. Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: A Critical Analysis of the Third Millennium Development Goal. Gender & Development, 13(1), 13-24.Publisher pageSubscription

Module 14. Gender, Media & Digital Spaces

  1. International Telecommunication Union (2024). Facts and Figures 2024: The Gender Digital Divide. ITU.Read it free

Module 15. South Asia Comparative

  1. UNDP Human Development Report Office. Gender Inequality Index (GII): technical notes and data. UNDP.Read it free
  2. Kabeer, N. (2000). The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka. Verso.Publisher pageBook
  3. Mumtaz, K. and Shaheed, F. (1987). Women of Pakistan: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back? Zed Books.Publisher pageBook
  4. Jayawardena, K. (1986). Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. Zed Books.Publisher pageBook

Module 16. Capstone Project

  1. World Bank (2012). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.Read it free
  2. Menon, N. (2012). Seeing Like a Feminist. Zubaan and Penguin.Publisher pageBook
  3. John, M. E. (ed.) (2008). Women's Studies in India: A Reader. Penguin.Publisher pageBook

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