This course explores the social construction of gender categories both historically and in the present as socially, historically, and culturally contingent concepts. We will examine how major societal institutions, including the family, education, religion, medicine, economy, polity, and the global system are structured to eliminate, maintain or reproduce gendered inequalities across the globe. Attention is given to the intersections of socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity and social class in social systems of power and privilege. Of central importance is how gender figures in the relationship between Economic North and Economic South countries. We will elucidate how gender norms vary by culture and exert profound influence on the daily, lived experiences of women and men. The course will be informed by recent scholarship on feminism, masculinities, and globalization.