For this paper, you have two options:  you may write a standard research paper, or you may design an activism project.

Option 1:  Research Paper
         Your second paper may be a research paper (approx. 6-8 pages) in which you consider a topic of your choice in terms of its global ramifications for women.  Some broad topic areas that you might wish to explore include, but certainly are not limited to, the following:  education, health and medicine, reproduction and motherhood, politics and government, religion, language, sexuality, employment, and domestic and/or sexual violence.  (Please note that this list is by no means exhaustive; don’t feel that you must choose a topic from this list.)
         Please choose a topic that interests you, and work to limit your project to a manageable scope and focus.  In asking you to consider the “global ramifications” of your topic, I’m not asking you to survey, for example, what the status of women’s education is all around the world.  That’s clearly too much to do for a project this short; instead, you might want to do a tightly focused analysis of women’s educational opportunities in a particular country or global region.  Your research project is an opportunity for you to explore an idea in depth; we have spent much of the semester sampling a variety of topics, and your research paper is a chance for you to go much deeper in your examination and analysis.  I don’t want you to spread yourself too thin in this assignment, so be sure to define the parameters of your project.  In addition, while this assignment offers you the chance to delve into a topic, the end result of your research—your paper—shouldn’t simply be a regurgitation of facts and data.  Instead, be sure that your paper offers adequate analysis of the issues at stake.
         Once you have decided on your topic, you’ll need to locate 6-10 sources to aid your research.  Be selective in your sources; look for scholarly, reputable sources in journals and books.  Feel free to meet with me at any point in the process to discuss paper topics or sources.

Option 2:  Activism paper
         We’ve spent the semester discussing a number of problems for women around the world; for your second paper, you may choose to design an activism project (approx. 6-8 pages) which could address one of these issues.  As with the research paper, you may choose any globally-inflected topic, but you need to be careful not to spread yourself too thin; you may start with a fairly large problem in mind, but as you work out your plan of action, you will need to fine-tune your focus so that you’re actually able to create an activism project that is feasible.
         Use Charlotte Bunch’s four-stage model of feminist theory as the guiding principle for this paper.  You may, in fact, divide the paper into four sections—description, analysis, vision, and strategy—and discuss each category separately.  You will define/describe the problem you’ve identified (using relevant research or textbook material to support your points), analyze it, articulate your vision for what you’d like as a solution, and then map out a workable strategy.  Somewhere in the paper you also need to explain who would implement this activism project—Vanderbilt students?  A church group?  A grassroots group in another country?  A union?  Ideally, all the parts of your essay will work together, so that, for instance, your analysis of the problem will inform your vision of change, and your vision, of course, will come to fruition in your proposed strategy to achieve change.
         While this is not a research paper, you of course can’t design an activism project without knowledge of the problem, so read at least 4 scholarly sources which discuss the issue you’ll be addressing.
 

Papers should be typed, double-spaced, and stapled.  Use a 1-inch margin, number your pages, and remember to give your paper a title (but you don’t need a title page).  Be sure to spell-check and proofread your paper before turning it in.  Please use a works cited page and parenthetical citations keyed to your works cited.  Papers are due by December 5.  If you would like to discuss your papers with me or if you are having problems, call or e-mail me, or come by my office.