Gender, Development, & Violence

Question 1

“Missing” Women

Answer 1

• Clear sign of women facing greater hardships than men is “missing” women
• Demographers note that populations should have about 5% more women than men
  – Due to better chances of survival of females, especially during early childhood
• In many places around the world, there are many more males than females
  – Many women who should be there are absent
  – Suggests that many woman are dying prematurely
• Causes are unclear, only hypotheses

Question 2

Development and Patriarchy

Answer 2

• These and other gendered inequalities cause many developmental experts to declare that development requires the weakening of patriarchy and sexism

Question 3

Sen and Female Agency

Answer 3

• Amartya Sen says breaking down patriarchy involves giving women more agency
• This increases their capacity to pursue their own wellbeing
• Focus on state policy empowering women (2)
  1. Female Education
• Increases status, resources, and power
• Aids child health through care resources for kids and female empowerment (fertility, resources)
  2. Quotas
• Gender quotas in representative government empowers women
• Four main effects: Symbolic, different priorities/policies, policy benefitting women, and improved child health

Question 4

Spillover Effects

Answer 4

• Sen thinks increasing female agency is enormously important in itself
  – Affects half of the world’s population
• Yet he believes it has additional benefits that make it even more important
  – It’s good for kids
• Education: Improves resources for caring for kids (information and contacts), greater say in collective decision making in family and community (fertility and resources)
• Gender quotas: Find that child health improves with growing number of female representatives (policy, role-model effect, spurious)

Question 5

Ethnic Violence

Answer 5

• Ethnic Violence: Violence that is motivated (at least in part) by ethnic difference
• Ethnicity: Imagined community supposedly based on shared culture (recall Anderson)

Question 6

[prof] Lange’s “Killing Others: A natural history of ethnic violence”

Answer 6

Two main arguments for the rise of ethnic violence
1. “Modern” social transformations led to ethnic violence
2. Since World War II, Western Europe and North America have have closed openings for ethnic violence

Question 7

How “modern” social transformations contributed to ethnic violence (5)

Answer 7

According to Lange,
1. Ethnic consciousness
- made possible by modern communication technology
2. Emotional prejudice
- Ethnic consciousness necessary for prejudice
3. Ethnic obligations
- also depends on ethnic consciousness
4. Mobilization resources
- made possible by modern social change
5. States and Nation States
- Contribute to all four previous mechanisms

Question 8

States promoting ethnic violence (3)

Answer 8

1. Perpetrators
2. Encourage
3. Create openings (ignore)

Question 9

States lead to decline of ethnic violence

Answer 9

Political Process Theory (PPT) notes how politics creates or restricts openings for movements
- North America and Western Europe have closed openings for ethnic violence since WWII (delegitimize racism/chauvinism, created peaceful ways to address grievances)
- Primarily through robust democracies protecting human rights
- Example: Quebec nationalism not erupting in violence since the State respects right to self-determination, addressing grievances through formal politics

Question 10

Hate Crimes

Answer 10

• Individual acts of violence rising in NA and W. EUR unlike ethnic violence
• Social media & extremism (recall Sunstein)
• Elected officials with populist policies “us vs. them”
• Example: Quebec Charter targeting “others” and rise in hate crimes

Question 11

Threat Activation Theory

Answer 11

• Public figures and the media strengthen/activate preexisting prejudices by depicting categories of people as a danger
• 2 main effects of public recognition of dangerous “others”
• (1) Public confirmation of prejudices legitimizes them, increases likelihood people act on them * (2) Depicting other as a public menace can motivate people to act in prejudiced ways in pursuit of the “public good”
  – Suggests there is a need to act
• Example: Brexit and immigrants as problem
• Media presenting material depicting people as threats strongly linked to Sunstein’s ideas of echo chambers