Postgraduate Taught

This course is aimed both at people working in related fields (for example, professionals working in the fields of law, social services, health, human resource management, or human rights advocacy), and anyone else interested in further study in this area. The course is taught in blocks of study, enabling those in employment to study on a part-time basis. Course content combines analysis of current law with a critical exploration of the structures, potential, and limits of law and legal reform.

An important sub-text to the course is human rights, both as a legal regime with specific application to gender and sexuality issues, and as a political sphere within which issues relating to gender and sexuality are negotiated. The course includes discussions of domestic, European, and international developments.

Postgraduate students will find a range of support structures, including: research training; accessible staff supervisors; a new law library; a postgraduate study room; and access to IT and legal research tools.

The School of Law is highly rated for teaching and research (see our website for details). Approximately half the staff are members of the School’s Gender, Sexuality and Law Group. This Group is an internationally recognised research unit, and is the recipient of both internal and external funding.

Together with the universities of Kent and Westminster, Keele School of Law was a member of the Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality between 2004 and 2009. The purpose of the Centre, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, was to pioneer and facilitate work that analyses, investigates, and deepens understanding of the relationship between gender, sexuality, and legal studies. Since 2009 Keele School of Law has been the home of the Centre for Law Gender and Sexuality Postgraduate and Early Career Academic Network of Scholars (Centre LGS PECANS).

This Masters degree programme aims to provide a practical and theoretical understanding of law and its relevance to issues around gender and sexuality. Whilst these are the principal areas of study, the course will engage with dynamics of class, race, ethnicity, and disability. The course aims to develop not only subject-specific knowledge and skills, but also transferable skills. In terms of the latter, particular attention is paid to research and analytical skills.

The course also aims to provide a foundation for pursuing further study at doctoral level.

The course is open to all graduates with a first or second-class (2.1 or 2.2) honours degree or equivalent. International students whose first language is not English must have IELTS 6.5 or equivalent.

The course involves both a taught and a research component. The teaching occurs in four three-day modules, between September and April. This structure has proved very successful at Keele in other postgraduate contexts, and particularly benefits part-time students who appreciate ‘time out’ in an accessible academic environment but within the attractive Staffordshire countryside.

The LLM requires 180 credits, made up of four 30-credit modules (120 credits) and a 60-credit dissertation. Students choosing to complete their studies after acquiring 120 credits on taught modules may be awarded the PG Diploma. The awards may be achieved either full-time or through a more flexible part-time programme. If taken fulltime, the course can be completed within one year, with submission of the Masters dissertation by the end of September. Students taking the course part-time may have up to four years to complete the four taught modules, with submission of the dissertation by September of the year after the fourth module, completing the whole programme in between two and five years. Any student wishing to study one or two modules should contact the School.

Course Modules

The four modules are outlined below, with illustrations of course content:

Module 1: Understanding Gender, Sexuality and Law

This module introduces students to key debates in socio-legal studies through a critical consideration of the relationship between gender, sexuality and law. Drawing on a wide-ranging literature across feminist, lesbian and gay, queer, transgender, masculinity, equality, and social justice perspectives, the module explains the different approaches to gender, sexuality and law (GSL).

Module 2: Health and Embodiment

This module focuses on law and ethics in health care policy and provision. It engages with a number of diverse issues in the area of health and embodiment, such as abortion, genital cutting (circumcision); the regulation of reproduction and engineering hybrid embryos; and transsex pregnancy. Practical issues of law and ethics in a health care context are paramount and are considered through viewing the body as a site at which ideas of gender and sexuality are inscribed and constituted.

Module 3: Rights to Equality

This module introduces students to the concept of ‘equality’ and a diverse set of theoretical frameworks in which the concept can be located. It will distinguish formal from substantive inequality and identify different ways in which substantive equality might be realized. For the purposes of the module the concept of equality will be explored primarily in contexts of gender, sexuality and race.

Module 4: Family Relations

The family and work are key sites for thinking about gender and sexuality. This module explores questions of regulation, social control, and alternative family structures within the context of contemporary work practices and the welfare state. Thus, students will consider issues such as: the relationship between care-taking labour within the family and paid work outside of it; the legal recognition of gay and lesbian families; protections for and care of vulnerable adults and children; public care decision-making; welfare reform; and the ‘Big Society’.

A 5000 word essay, providing a critical analysis of current law and theories of gender and sexuality relating to family, work and the state.  There will be essay guidance and feedback from the module leader and an opportunity to submit an abstract, bibliography and headings to the module leader for feedback prior to submission.