POL S / LSJ 327: Women’s Rights as Human Rights
Summer Quarter 2026
Course Syllabus
Course Instructor: Ji Hyeon Chung
Email: jihyeonc@uw.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 8 – 10 AM (over Zoom)
TA: Ali Bouterse (aliboute@uw.edu)
TA Office Hours: Tuesdays, 8:30 - 10:30 AM (over Zoom)
Lectures: Asynchronous Online
Course Overview
Women’s rights are human rights, yet women’s rights claims have often not been taken as seriously as other human rights claims. Despite decades of progress in securing women’s rights around the world, important gaps remain, and both longstanding and new forms of discrimination continue to emerge. This course examines those gaps – from maternal health disparities and undervaluing of care labor to environmental injustice, gender-based violence and human trafficking – by exploring the political, social, economic, and legal dimensions of gender and human rights. Students will also critically examine the limits and benefits of data science approaches for gender and human rights, considering how data and policies might better address and protect the rights of people of all genders. No prerequisites are required.
Central questions include:
- How are global human rights issues related to gender?
- What are the limits and benefits of using data to advance human rights for women & people of all genders?
- How do different policy approaches to global rights issues affect women & people of all genders?
- What are the impacts of gender-conscious data on society and policy making?
In additional to critically examining these and other questions, students will have the opportunity to conduct an independent research project examining a gender-related rights issue of their choice. This process involves interactive learning opportunities in working with primary sources (raw data, court cases, treaties, policy reports) and secondary sources (peer-reviewed journal articles, books), developing analytical skills in reading and evaluating social science research. By the end of this course, students will have gained a deeper understanding of the complexity of women’s rights as a global human rights issue, including how historical progress, persistent gaps, and emerging challenges shape the landscape today. Students will also have hands-on experience working with real data and primary sources, building practical analytical skills that are transferable across disciplines.
Required Reading & Lectures
All required materials other than the textbook will be available on the Canvas website. Lectures will be posted every Monday as videos every week, posted to Canvas. Readings are organized below by lecture block rather than by date, so students can pace themselves alongside the conceptual arc of each week.
Required textbook (purchase or rent):
- Merry, Sally Engle. 2016. The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence, and Sex Trafficking. University of Chicago Press
Assignments and Grading
|
Assignments |
Weights |
Due dates |
|---|---|---|
|
Weekly Response (discussion board posts) |
25% |
Due Weekly (every Friday & Sunday 11:59pm) |
|
Research Assignment #1: Thesis statement (with Topic and Country) |
15% |
Due July 12th 11:59PM on Canvas |
|
Research Assignment #2: Indicators (4-5 pages) |
20% |
Due July 26th 11:59PM on Canvas |
|
Research Assignment #3: Presentation (~5 mins) |
10% |
Due August 12th 11:59PM on Canvas |
|
Research Paper (9-10 pages) |
30% |
Due August 19th 11:59PM on Canvas |
Assessment in this course will be based on the above criteria. Detailed instructions can be found under the Assignments tab on Canvas. Receiving a zero on any one of the two main research papers will result in a failing grade for the course. Please inform me or the TA as soon as possible of any circumstances that will affect your ability to meet assignment deadlines. I am here to help. The syllabus marks clearly when assignments are due, enabling students to schedule their quarter accordingly. If you have conflicting commitments, please speak with me as soon as possible so accommodations can be made.
- Late policy: Assignments must be completed and turned in by their due dates unless you have received an extension from the TA or me. In this class, all extensions on deadlines should be requested before the deadline. Please inform the TA as soon as possible of any such circumstances. Assignments submitted late without a pre-approved extension will be penalized 5 percentage points for each day they are late. Please note that the instructor and TA will not be able to provide feedback on assignments submitted more than three days late. No work will be accepted after the last day of instruction (August 21, 2026) unless otherwise specified. No request for retroactive extensions would be accepted.
- Grade Scale & detailed instruction for each assignment are available on Canvas