This module will explore understandings of gender as both a social construct and an organising category in social life. Gender impacts our lives from conception through to old age and death, and issues of gender arise in our everyday practices and interactions, in politics, and in our language. The module will take students through various conceptualisations of gender and sex – what these terms mean – as well as the ways in which gender is constructed in articulation with other social and cultural identities, such as ‘race’, ethnicity, age, sexuality, class, and religion. During the module, students will explore the impact of gender upon social structures, relationships and experiences. They will learn to challenge ‘common sense’ understandings of gender using theoretical frameworks and drawing on empirical examples from across the world. In particular, students will be encouraged to interrogate the dominance and relevance of ‘Western’ scholarship and gender models and norms, as well as the gendered nature of knowledge. The lectures will introduce the main conceptual issues and foundational texts in the study of gender, while during the seminars students will be led in structured discussions, presentations, and group work. Broadly, the first half of the course takes students through the history of gender scholarship and feminist theory, whilst the second looks at these issues through a variety of substantive case studies. The module content encourages critical and theoretically informed examination of contemporary social issues, specifically relating to gender inequality.