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Gender Policy (GP)
The Gender and Policy Program of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs endeavors to use the prism of gender to shed light on both domestic and international policy challenges. In dealing with issues as diverse as talent pipelines, dependency ratios, outsourcing or human rights, it is increasingly critical to understand the cultural and structural constraints of gender. The program is interdisciplinary and multi-cultural in its theoretical underpinnings and is relevant to the private, NGO and government policy-making. The programmatic goals are threefold:
- To create an analytical framework for understanding gender issues which has heft and rigor.
- To impart a body of knowledge which has specific career applications in fields ranging from talent management to microfinance.
- To educate female students (who have comprised nearly 60% of SIPA graduates for the past 4 years) about the barriers that linger in the professional workplace and thereby enable them to be more strategic as they negotiate their own careers.
Completion of the program constitutes an official focus in gender policy, which supplements a functional concentration in the MPA, MIA or joint MIA-MBA program. Requirements for the program comprise the following:
- Enrollment in a two course sequence from a list of core courses which include: Women and Globalization; Women and Power; Women and Global Leadership; and Mainstreaming Gender in Global Affairs
- Enrollment in two electives chosen by the student from the attached list of recommended courses.
- Approval of the student’s program by the advisor.
- A research paper.