Even today, a western and gendered social science: Persistent geographic and gender biases in undergraduate ir teaching

Abstract

A perennial critique of international relations is that the field focuses disproportionately on the United States and Europe and contains a gender bias in terms of ignoring issues of particular concern to women. The field is also infamous for how difficult it is for female scholars to publish and have their publications cited. This study evaluates these claims of bias in the area of undergraduate international relations teaching by analyzing an original dataset of 48 introduction to international relations syllabi from ten countries. The study analyzes the authors of required readings and the theories and empirical topics taught, and finds that the geographic and gender biases are both firmly in place. The first finding is that courses assign readings predominantly from US-resident, US-trained, male authors, even those courses taught outside the United States and those taught by female faculty. A second finding is that assigned readings focus overwhelmingly on the United States more than any other country or region, and only 1 percent of readings focus specifically on gender-related issues.