This course offers an in-depth and critically oriented introduction to the field of Gender Politics, exploring the complex ways in which gender and sexuality intersect with political power, institutions, media representation, and public discourse. Gender politics constitutes one of the most dynamic and multifaceted areas within contemporary social and political sciences: rather than referring to a single object of study, it encompasses a broad range of phenomena, theoretical approaches, and empirical developments that reveal how deeply gender structures political life at both national and global levels.

The course is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in the major schools of thought that have shaped feminist theory and gender studies across time. It begins by tracing the historical evolution of feminism through its multiple “waves,” highlighting the plurality of movements, traditions, and debates that have marked feminist struggles from the early fight for political rights to the emergence of intersectional, postcolonial, queer, and transnational feminisms. Particular attention will be devoted to the tensions and continuities among feminist theories, as well as to the ways in which gender has become a key analytical category for understanding modernity, citizenship, embodiment, and social hierarchies.

Building on this historical and conceptual groundwork, the course then turns to the relationship between gender and media, investigating how gender identities, roles, and power relations are constructed, reproduced, and contested through media narratives. In contemporary societies, media are not merely channels of representation but central arenas where gender norms are negotiated and where political imaginaries are shaped. Students will be encouraged to critically examine the symbolic and material implications of gendered portrayals in journalism, popular culture, digital platforms, and political campaigning.

A core component of the course focuses on political communication, addressing the gendered dynamics of leadership, visibility, electoral competition, and public rhetoric. Through comparative perspectives, the course will analyze how political actors are framed according to gender expectations, how women and LGBTQI+ individuals experience access to political power, and how communication practices can both challenge and reinforce structural inequalities. Questions of representation, stereotypes, emotional regimes, and the mediatization of politics will be central to this section.

Finally, the course explores the domain of gender-related public policies, examining how states and institutions respond to feminist claims and how gender becomes embedded within legislation, welfare systems, body politics, reproductive rights, and equality agendas. Students will engage with key contemporary debates surrounding social movements, institutional change, inclusion, and backlash, considering gender as a site of conflict and transformation in democratic societies.

Throughout the course, the primary aim is not only to provide knowledge of gender politics as an academic field, but above all to foster a critical lens through which students can interpret political reality. Gender will be treated as a powerful analytical tool: a way of interrogating what is often taken for granted, of uncovering invisible power relations, and of developing a deeper understanding of politics, media, and society. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to use gender critically as a framework for analyzing institutions, discourses, and contemporary political struggles.

Friday seminars will complement the lectures through workshop-based activities focused on the close reading of pivotal feminist texts and the development of analytical and interpretive skills. Active participation and collaborative discussion will be essential components of the learning process.