GaP 101 -Gender & Politics 101
FREE EMAIL COURSE · 6 EMAILS · 6 WEEKS
Politics has always
been gendered.
Now you know why.
A free, six-week email course on gender, power, and political participation across South Asia written for the curious, the committed, and everyone in between.
One email every week
5-minutes read
No prior knowledge needed
Get the first email now, it's free, always.
27.5%
Women in national parliaments worldwide
~15%
Average share of women in South Asian parliaments
+0.3pp
Change in global representation in the last year same as the year before
6 weeks to understand why this is happening and what changes it
THE COURSE
Six emails. One big picture.
Each email arrives after _____ and takes about five minutes to read.
Module 00
WELCOME EMAIL - WEEK I
What to expect from GaP 101
Why this course exists, who it's for, what you'll learn across six weeks and how to get the most out of it.
Module 01
WEEK II
Gender & politics 101 - Where do we begin?
Intersectionality, representational intersectionality, and eight key terms you'll use throughout the course. Plus: a global data snapshot of where women stand as voters, candidates, and representatives right now.
Module 02
WEEK III
Women's representation in politics & progress and pushback
How far we've come since 1995 and how far we haven't. Affirmative action, gender quotas, proportional representation, and a case study from Nepal on what happens when the system works and when it doesn't.
Module 03
WEEK IV
South Asia: The historical journey
From the suffragette movement to today: the women who shaped political participation in the region. Sophia Duleep Singh, Begum Rokeya, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and the long, unfinished road to representation.
Module 04
WEEK V
The challenges and how women are navigating them
Caste, labour, campaign funding, voter stereotyping. And the women who are moving through all of it with perspectives drawn from CGAP's Worth Asking interview series.
Module 05
WEEK VI
The way forward and your role in it
What gender diversity in politics actually produces. What you can do at an individual level. And where to go deeper with CGAP's published research, reading lists, and recommended cinema.
WHO IT'S FOR
You don't need a political science degree
GaP 101 is written for people who are curious, engaged, and want to understand the world they're already part of.
Students & Researchers
Building a foundation in gender and political studies, or adding South Asian context to existing work.
Civil Society Professionals
Working in advocacy, development, or policy and wanting sharper language and stronger frameworks.
Curious Learners
Following current events, asking hard questions, and wanting to understand more than headlines give you.
ABOUT CGAP
Built by the people researching this every day.
Centre for Gender & Politics (CGAP) is a volunteer-led think tank based in India that contributes to a high-quality scholarship on the intersection of gender, politics and South Asia. GaP 101 brings our work like Beyond Victims, Worth Asking, and our regional research into one accessible course.
Beyond Victims Series
An annual series where we curate stories of women’s political leadership across all South Asian countries.
Worth Asking Series
An annual series where we interview politicians about politics as a career choice for women and the role of men’s allyship.
Research
We produce high-quality research at the intersection of gender and politics in the South Asian context
READY?
Six emails, One sharper
understanding of
South Asian politics.
Join the first cohort of GaP 101 and help shape how we improve it for the next one.