In a world where women’s rights and women’s place in society are constantly contested and feminist claims manipulated to promote conservative, even illiberal, agendas, one could be tempted to see women as mostly victims of attacks on their rights and democracy. This is especially so because in the history of revolutions and pro-democracy and decolonisation movements there has typically been an overemphasis on the role of male leaders, thinkers and strategists compared to women’s.
However, looking more carefully at history and global politics, we can find plenty of examples where women have been at the forefront of movements aimed to topple authoritarian regimes or resist to attempts to roll back democratic institutions. Even when this does not necessarily translate into a betterment of women’s rights, it has been shown that pro-democracy movements that see a massive participation of women tend to be more resilient, creative and ultimately successful and are more likely to lead to a more equal and effective democracy especially when women’s participation and rights are integrated in the post-revolutionary transition period. Despite this, there has never been a systematic overview of the impact of women in pro-democracy movements. The MOOC on Women at the Forefront of Democratic Change will fill this knowledge gap and shed light on women’s crucial role in the fight to build and protect democracy and bring about social change.
The MOOC runs over 4 weeks and is organised as follows
Week 1 – Setting the scene
Week 2 – Women’s quest for democracy in authoritarian and hybrid regimes
Week 3 – Gender equality, women and democratic backsliding
Week 4 – Ways forward for more inclusive democracies
In this MOOC, we invited experts in gender studies and democratisation as well as women’s right and pro-democracy activists from different regions (read all bios here): The faculty includes among others:
Kalliope Agapiou-Josephides
University of Cyprus, GC Europe
Aida Ghajar
Journalist and women's rights activist
Anja Mihr
Center on Governance through Human Rights, GC Central Asia
Natallia Satsunkevich
Viasna, Right Livelihood Laureate 2020
Mozn Hassan
Nazra for Feminist Studies
Roberta Caminero Baggio
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, GC Latin America
Zahara Gómez Lucini
Artivist, Winner of the First Joint Annual Artivist Award
Bonolo Makgale
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, GC Africa
At the end of the course, participants will have gained:
You can start the enrolment process by clicking the "enrol" button.
The course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means we do not select participants on any basis. Rather, we welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic to enrol and participate for free.
Our course is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which means all components are open and totally free for anyone.
There are no registration or tuition fees. The certificate of participation is also free and offered to all those who successfully complete all the course requirements (see below for details on the certificate).
We want all participants in our courses to enjoy a great learning experience and we strive to always improve accessibility. Each week of the course includes one or two video lectures with accompanying transcripts and reading materials. The texts are in PDF format, work at low bandwidths, are printable and can be zoomed to the desired size. Some readings may include pages from accessible websites. This makes all of them accessible to those who use assistive technology software such as screen readers. Likewise, weekly discussions and module quizzes can be completed through our platform which is accessible, for example, to people who use speech input, keyboard accessible controls or text to speech tools. For more details please visit EdX Website Accessibility Policy.
The course is self-paced and mostly asynchronous so participants can study in their own time. However, to enhance peer learning, interactive participation and self-assessment, weekly topics and discussions as well as module quizzes are proposed at set dates. In any case, they are all open until the end of the course to facilitate access and completion at any preferred time.
At the end of the course, if you have actively participated in all required weekly discussions and successfully completed all quizzes, you will receive a certificate confirming your participation.