About this course: This course focuses on women’s health and human rights issues from infancy through old age, including information about positive interventions relating to those issues. Learners are encouraged to interact with each other through interactive discussions. It is important to us that this course be available to all learners. We encourage you to apply for Coursera's financial aid (see link to left) if the cost of the course certificate is difficult for you to afford. Please note that you may view all materials in this course, and participate in it, without purchasing a certificate. The course was co-created by Consulting Professor Anne Firth Murray and Kevin Hsu. Anne Firth Murray is the Content Director of the course; Kevin Hsu is the Design Director of the course.
Who is this class for: This course is directed toward undergraduate university students, but high school students and anyone else interested in the health and human rights of women will find it of interest.
Created by: Stanford University
Taught by: Anne Firth Murray
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | Depending on your pace, this course can be completed in 8-11 weeks. |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction
1 video, 9 readings
- Reading: Welcome!
- Reading: Who we are
- Video: Welcome to the Course
- Reading: Our Textbook
- Reading: Assignments
- Reading: Complete a brief pre-course survey
- Reading: What resources are available to you?
- Reading: Visit internationalwomenshealth.org
- Reading: Sharing your work
- Reading: Create a local group
Graded: Complete the survey
Women's Rights = Human Rights
Learning the basics of women's rights and human rights. Why do we use the lens of human rights to examine women's issues?
6 videos, 8 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Why do we take a human rights lens?
- Reading: Women's Health, Poverty and Rights [Textbook]
- Discussion Prompt: What are my initial thoughts on these topics?
- Reading: About Akila Radhakrishnan
- Video: Akila Radhakrishnan on Women & Human Rights
- Reading: About Helen Stacy
- Video: Helen Stacy on Women's Health, Human Rights, and International Law
- Discussion Prompt: CEDAW in your Country
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: WHO: Women and Health - Today's Evidence, Tomorrow's Agenda
- Reading: [Optional] We Women Worry a Lot about our Husbands (Ghana)
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect and Respond
- Video: Son Preference & Demography
- Reading: A Deadly Preference
- Video: Son Preference Conclusion
- Video: Week 1 Final Remarks
Graded: Check Your Learning: Women's Rights = Human Rights
Graded: Check Your Learning: A Deadly Preference
Graded: Thought Question on Women's Rights and Human Rights
WEEK 2
Education
5 videos, 10 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Introduction to Education
- Reading: Chapter 3. Childhood: the Hope of Education and the Persistence of Discrimination
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: New Lessons: the Power of Educating Adolescent Girls
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources on Girls' Education
- Reading: What Works in Girls’ Education
- Reading: About Lynn Murphy
- Video: Lynn Murphy on "Learning vs. Schooling"
- Reading: About Wu Qing
- Video: Professor Wu Qing from China
- Reading: About Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg
- Video: Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg from Kenya
- Video: Week 2 Final Remarks
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Education
Graded: Thought Question: Education
WEEK 3
Childhood & Adolescence: Female Genital Mutilation
4 videos, 10 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Reading: Into a New World: Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Lives
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Female Genital Mutilation
- Reading: A Violent Practice: Female Genital Mutilation [Textbook]
- Reading: World Health Organization
- Reading: UNICEF
- Video: UNICEF: Speaking out on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
- Reading: (optional) UNICEF Data
- Reading: Female Genital Mutilation: Guide to Laws and Policies
- Reading: Introduction to FGM in Sierra Leone
- Video: Isha Daramy on FGM in Sierra Leone
- Practice Quiz: Check-in on FGM
- Video: UNICEF: FGM in Côte d'Ivoire
- Reading: [Optional] Cultural Perspective on FGM
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Female Genital Mutilation
Graded: Thought Question on Female Genital Mutilation
WEEK 4
Childhood & Adolescence: HIV/AIDS
8 videos, 11 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS
- Reading: Adolescence, Change & Vulnerability [Textbook]
- Reading: Women, Poverty, and AIDS
- Reading: Women Are Not Just Transmitters
- Practice Quiz: Check Your Learning: (Practice Quiz) HIV/AIDS
- Reading: About Dr. Gene Richardson (Stanford)
- Video: Dr. Gene Richardson on Gender & HIV/AIDS
- Video: Why South Africa?
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Video: What is 'structural violence'?
- Video: Changing Paradigms
- Reading: About TeachAIDS
- Video: About TeachAIDS
- Video: TeachAIDS India
- Reading: About G.R.A.C.E
- Video: Orphans in Africa
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: About this Quiz
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: HIV/AIDS
Graded: Thought Question: Structural Violence, HIV/AIDS
WEEK 5
Reproductive Health
6 videos, 16 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Introduction to Reproductive Health
- Reading: Why Child Marriage Persists
- Reading: Adolescent Pregnancy and Its Outcomes Across Countries
- Reading: About Dr. Caitlin Gerdts (UCSF)
- Video: Dr. Caitilin Gerdts on Reproductive Health
- Reading: The Maternity Death Road: Reproductive and Sexual Health [Textbook]
- Discussion Prompt: Responsibility for Pregnancy
- Reading: Spiraling Discourses of Reproductive and Sexual Rights
- Reading: Activism for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
- Reading: Advancing women's reproductive and sexual health rights: Using the International Human Rights system
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect & Respond
- Video: Unwanted Pregnancy, Contraception, and Abortion
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect & Respond
- Reading: About Ipas
- Video: Safe abortion in Nepal - a success story
- Reading: Outcomes in Nepal
- Reading: READINGS ON CERVICAL CANCER & HPV
- Reading: Lesbians, Health and Human Rights
- Reading: The Maternity Death Road
- Video: Why Did Mrs. X Die?, Retold
- Reading: (optional) "Birth of a Surgeon" documentary film (Mozambique)
- Video: Final Remarks on Sexual Health
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Reproductive Health
Graded: Thought Question: Reproductive Health
Engage Your Community - Assignment #1
One of two special assignments that will take you out to interact with members of your community
2 readings
- Reading: Engage Your Community - Assignment #1
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Engage Your Community #1
WEEK 6
Violence Against Women in the Home and Community
3 videos, 16 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Violence Against Women
- Reading: "Violence against Women: Abuse or Terrorism?" [Textbook]
- Reading: WHO: Intimate partner and sexual violence against women
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: About Jacqueline Pitanguy (Brazil)
- Video: Jacqueline Pitanguy on Violence Against Women
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect & Respond
- Reading: WHO: Going in Depth
- Reading: (Optional) Reflections on Violence, Subordination & Sexual Control (India)
- Reading: About the Film
- Video: From Fear to Freedom
- Reading: (Optional) Survey
- Reading: About the Women's Learning Partnership
- Reading: Impacts on Empowerment (Mexico)
- Reading: An Obstacle to Development (Global)
- Reading: WHO: Primary prevention strategies
- Reading: Ending Violence Against Women
- Reading: Conclusion
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Violence Against Women
Graded: Thought Question: Violence Against Women in the Home & Community
WEEK 7
Women in War and Refugee Settings
6 videos, 15 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: War & Refugee Settings
- Reading: Women Caught in Conflict and Refugee Situations [Textbook]
- Reading: Defining "What is a refugee?"
- Reading: Female refugees
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources on "Rape as a Weapon of War"
- Reading: About Tiela Chalmers
- Video: LGBTI Refugees
- Video: LGBIT Refugees (bonus)
- Reading: War and the Health of Women
- Reading: Forced Evictions in Situations of Armed Conflict (Middle East)
- Reading: Women, Violence and War (Balkans)
- Practice Quiz: Optional Reading Quiz
- Reading: About UN Special Representative Zainab Bangura
- Video: Zainab Bangura
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: About Marjan Sax
- Video: Marjan Sax on Refugees in Europe
- Reading: About the Series "Women, War, and Peace" (2011)
- Reading: (optional) Film: "Pray the Devil Back to Hell"
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect & Respond
- Video: Final Remarks on Women in War and Refugee Settings
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Women in War and Refugee Settings
Graded: Thought Question: Women in War & Refugee Settings
WEEK 8
Women's Quest to Escape Poverty: Work & Economic Empowerment
4 videos, 10 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Women in Poverty
- Reading: Laboring in a Globalized World
- Reading: UN WOMEN: Facts & Figures on Economic Empowerment
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: About Violeta Krasnic
- Video: Violeta Krasnic on Women and Work
- Reading: The Global Gender Gap
- Video: The Global Gender Gap
- Video: Violeta's Comments on the Video
- Discussion Prompt: Reflect & Respond
- Reading: UN WOMEN: Decent Work and Women's Economic Empowerment
- Reading: UNDP: "Valuing Women's Work"
- Reading: UN Special Rapporteur: Unpaid Care Work and Women's Human Rights
- Discussion Prompt: Policy Frameworks for Gender Equality
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Check Your Learning: Women's Work and Economic Empowerment
Graded: Thought Question: Women's Quest to Escape Poverty - Work & Economic Empowerment
WEEK 9
Women's Quest to Escape Poverty: Sex Work & Sex Trafficking
3 videos, 7 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Introduction to Sex Work and Sex Trafficking
- Reading: Sex Work and Sex Trafficking
- Reading: About Katherine Jolluck
- Video: Katherine Jolluck on Human Trafficking
- Reading: Trading women into sex and slavery
- Reading: International Trafficking in Women in the United States
- Reading: Women in the Sex Trade in Calcutta (India)
- Video: Voluntary & Involuntary Sex Work
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Trading women into sex and slavery
Graded: International Trafficking in Women in the United States
Graded: Women in the Sex Trade in Calcutta (India)
Graded: Check Your Learning: Sex Work and Sex Trafficking
Graded: Thought Question: Women's Quest to Escape Poverty - Sex Work & Sex Trafficking
WEEK 10
Women, Aging, and End of Life
3 videos, 10 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Introduction to Women Aging
- Reading: Aging in a Man's World [Textbook]
- Reading: UN WOMEN: Between Gender & Aging
- Reading: About Dr. Carol Hutner Winograd (Stanford)
- Video: Dr. Carol Hutner Winograd on Aging and Demographic Change
- Reading: (optional) Additional Resources
- Reading: Aging in a Gendered World & Special Problems in Developing Countries
- Reading: Who Cares for the Caregivers?
- Reading: Dying and Death
- Reading: Grandmother Power
- Video: Final Remarks
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Aging in a Gendered World & Special Problems in Developing Countries
Graded: Who cares for the caregivers?
Graded: Check Your Learning: Women, Aging and End of Life
Graded: Thought Question: Women, Aging and End of Life
Engage Your Community - Assignment #2
Second of two special assignments where you engage with members of your community
2 readings
- Reading: Engage Your Community - Assignment #2
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
Graded: Engage Your Community - Assignment #2
Choosing Priorities, Making a Difference
5 videos, 11 readings
- Reading: About this Module
- Video: Women's Rights - Looking Back, Looking Ahead
- Reading: About Dr. Iman Bibars (Egypt)
- Video: Dr. Iman Bibars (Egypt)
- Reading: Turning the World Right-side Up [Textbook]
- Reading: About Ana María Enríquez (Colombia)
- Video: Ana María Enríquez (Colombia)
- Reading: How to Proceed from Concept to Action
- Reading: About Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro (Kenya)
- Video: Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro (Kenya)
- Reading: Women's Political Action (India)
- Reading: About Anne Firth Murray
- Video: Anne Firth Murray (New Zealand)
- Reading: (optional) Add to Your Portfolio
- Reading: Post-Course Survey
- Reading: Our alumni community: internationalwomenshealth.org
Graded: Check Your Learning: Choosing Priorities, Making a Difference
Graded: Thought Question: Choosing Priorities, Making a Difference
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Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto, California, United States.
Ratings and Reviews
This is a very informative course, with issues that I think everyone should learn about. It is important to know about these things, and also learn about the ways that we can try and change them in the future. It is quite heavy on readings so you need to be prepared for that and have the time to do them if you want to get the most out of this great course.
Beautifully done! I loved every part of it. I think I have learned a lot in the past 10 weeks. Thank you very much for this opportunity
A very interesting course. Very enlightening.
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I am actually impressed by how this course is designed to be an intensive introduction to those beginners who wish to enter the gate of knowledge towards the international health and human rights issues of women worldwide! The way it is designed, tailored, customized to suit every student from every corner in the world is spectacular! I am still in week three, yet, I am impressed by how great everything related to this learning opportunity is for me and I do recommend it to everyone around who works in development and women's areas. Thanks big for everybody, institution, portal that made it successful as it is!