How to Write a Case Study in Women and Gender: Complete Guide

Among dozens of different assignments that you need to complete during your college years, case studies are always the most interesting. Depending on the topic, they can be about people or processes, events of institutions. In any case, a traditional case study presents a story hidden behind the result and shows the ways to success. And among the huge number of possible directions for a case study, a topic related to women and gender studies is of a great interest.

How to Write a Case Study in Women and Gender Studies: Choose the Topic

There is hardly a topic you cannot talk about. Your choice is never limited by law or some ‘inconvenient’ directions. If your supervisor gave you only a few general ideas and you don’t know much about the direction that you could move in, we suggest you have a closer look at the topics below. Who knows, there is a high chance that one of these topics will lead your case study to an A-grade:

• The List of Women That Were Erased from History for Good.
• Countries with Gender Imbalances and the Reasons for Gender Inequalities.
• Stereotypes Related to Gender Roles and Their Place in Modern Society.
• The Stumbling Blocks of Intergender Relationships.
• Global Laws That Discriminate Genders.
• The Process of Developing of Gender Studies.
• Sexual Revolution and Its Stages.
• The Real Number of Genders in the 21st Century.
• The Notion of Sexism and Its Place in the Modern World.
• The Well-known #MeToo Movement and the Results That It Led To.
• What Gender-related Issues Take Place in Modern Families?
• Sexual Education for Boys and Girls: Should There Be Any Differences?
• The Comparison of Top Three Notions: Gender, Sex, Leadership.
• Gender-related Sexual Harassment.
• Beauty Standards for Every Gender.
• Who Are Stronger: Male or Female Bosses?
• Gender Roles in Literature of the Last Century and Our Days.
• Passion Behind Feminist Movement.
• Non-verbal Communication Typical for Males and Females.
• Why Do Women Fight for Their Rights and Men Don’t?
• What’s the Price of Sex?
• Gender-based Violence and Prostitution.
• Is There a Notion of Cognitive Difference Between Genders?
• Paternity and Maternity Leaves. Are They Equal?
• The Reasons Behind Joining Childfree Movement.

How to Write a Case Study in Women and Gender Studies: Start Researching

Prior to writing a single word, you need to take four steps:

1. Write a plan
2. Gather information
3. Analyze information
4. Disseminate results

Let’s start by setting a plan.

• Start with brainstorming the topic you are planning to disclose. Take into account different types of cases and choose the one that you feel may be really unique. Ask yourself about people who could be potential sources of information. Ask yourself about documents and other published data that could be potential sources of information.
• Once the people are identified, make a list of those who should be interviewed. Mind that the surveyed should differ by nationality, job place, family origin, living conditions.

Then you need to proceed to develop instruments for your case study.

• Instruments are nothing else but certain protocols that help to conduct an interview. In other words, you need to create a set of simple instructions or rules that ensure the smoothness of the interview and, eventually, the reliability of your findings.
• You can create your own instructions for the protocol of the interview but there is a set of must-have instructions. Write down what you need to say when arranging an interview and when starting it. Decide if you will take notes, use the tape or both. Choose what to say at the end. What shall you do after the interview: decode the notes or listen to the tape? In-between, you need to develop a set of questions supported by fact and clear explanations why these questions are of such great importance.
• Keep in mind that if you are planning to work with people of different origins and nationalities, you need to translate the questions into local languages.

Gather information and analyze it.

• Make sure you have already collected all the needed documents.
• Set up interviews to collect more information. But before interviewing anybody you need to get the documented oral or written consent of all respondents.
• At the very start of your interview, you need to re-explain the purpose of the survey once again.
• Once another consent is received, gather the information.
• Look through all documents and notes. Analyze them and properly arrange them.

Finally, you need to write a case study in women and gender studies. Now we shall proceed to the very process of putting words in paper in the most brilliant way.

How to Write a Case Study in Women and Gender Studies: The Narrative Arc

What is the rule of creating the best case study? It is as simple as that: you need to start storytelling. Let your case study have all the elements of the true storytelling that you can see in the picture above.

Structure your case study in women and gender studies by introducing the protagonist of the whole story and shedding light on the problems he/she is trying to solve. In the so-called Act I, you run between 300 words the most introducing the problem and the hero.

In Act II, you present the solution of the issue providing a very short explanation of the things that drove the main character to look for answers. This part is not as short as the previous one. It can be as long as three complete paragraphs. It can include benefit-driven quotes.

Now let’s combine the two acts and provide a vivid example of what should be written in all the paragraphs of the case study.

The Problem
The message of the section must be clear from its name — the problem. When reading the first paragraph of your case study in women and gender studies, readers have a clear idea of the situation and its main problem. Usually, with case studies, the problem is stated very explicitly. But no one prevents you from going a different way: you can start your problem part by writing well-known and suitable quotes. There is the third option — writing a question.

Below, you can check out how all three variants work in the problem statement:

• The childfree movement is encouraging people to think better whether parenting is what they really need rather than just going with the flow under the title “Others have children, so we should have them too”.
• According to Emma Palmer who is a 2018 Childfree Women of the Year, “My decision to be childfree had a major influence not on the world but my reproductive choice”.
• Has this world stopped wanting children?

Each of the three variants sets a special tone for the whole case study. The tone of the first variant is mild. It grabs attention and is set to convey a smooth talk. The second one is rather tough, shocking and a bit aggressive. The third option is nothing but thought-provoking, yet all the thoughts are then provided in the case study itself.

The Background
So after the problem statement, all the reader’s attention is yours. Give the background to hold this attention for a bit longer.

What is the background? This is the information that you have discovered from various publications and while conducting an interview. Many students believe that background information includes only facts. But it also needs to present figures, graphs, photos, charts, and tables from authoritative sources and people to point out the great importance and usefulness of the problem.

If in the previous part you have started with a quote, you can go with the quote here too. But remember that this section should not include your personal opinion. Below, there is a short extract from the background section as an example:

‘In the 1950s, being childfree was considered to be very unusual. Being childfree in 2020 is quite the norm. When has that changed? According to the National Center of Health and Statistics, the percentage of US females defining themselves as childfree rose to 5% in the 1990s.’

But remember that apart from providing rough statistics, you are also expected to give readers the information that will help them make their own conclusion:
‘Looking at all that statistics, you cannot define who are childfree by choice and who have been wanting to have kids for years but didn’t make it’.

If you want your case study to look and feel good, you don’t need to try to impose on readers what they need to think (according to you).

The Solution
In this part of your case study in women and gender studies, you are supposed to lead a reader to a solution. As long as there’s more than just one solution to the problem, yours may not coincide with those of readers’.

Unlike with the previous part, in this section, you can present your own opinions and solutions. But they should be presented relying on facts:

‘After taking into consideration ______, ______, and _______, we suggest the following solution: ______. This solution will help _____ and _____. It will bring_____ to the whole another level. In future, _________ will probably alter their outlook.’

As you see, it is a must to present some of the key elements that led you to the solution. And finally, talk on the goal of the solution. Will it eliminate the problem or only make it less intensive?

What is really essential in delivering the essence of the case study it’s telling the whole story with the problem that must be fixed. You firstly focus on the proof and background, then smoothly proceed to the decision (maybe even more than one), analyze the choice and expect readers to share it at least partially. Only in this case, the case study is more than just entertaining but also educational.

Sometimes, supervisors also ask to provide the list of literature you used and even notes from the interview.

Things seem to be pretty clear, aren’t they? They really are. However, there are a few more steps that separate you from creating a clean copy. And all these steps are the parts of the proofreading section.

How to Write a Case Study in Women and Gender Studies: The Final Stage

The proofreading stage is not less important than the entire case study. It cannot be completed within an hour or on your own. What you need is a pen and a sheet of paper, a steady internet connection, and a friend in need.

A pen and paper are for writing down all of the mistakes you tend to make in all writing assignments: common grammar or spelling mistakes, confused words, etc. The internet is for finding reliable checking tools that help you correct mistakes, avoid passive constructions or making sentences too long.

And even though these tools are very useful, they aren’t 100% effective. They are just machines that work under a single algorithm. Any aberration — and they just cannot ‘see’ it.

A friend in need can be your family member or any of your buddies with experience in writing a case study in women and gender studies. The second opinion can be very useful, especially when you have a hard time finding own mistakes in own texts.

Now you can create a clean copy and hand it in. There is a chance that this type of college assignment will become one of your favorite ones. And it is easy to understand why — everything from researching to drafting is not just a writing routine, but an interesting and creative process.

References:

• Herreid, C. (2018). Case Study: Exercises in Style: Is There a Best Way to Write a Case Study? Journal of College Science Teaching, 048(02).
• Radley, A. and Chamberlain, K. (2011). The Study of the Case: Conceptualising Case Study Research. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 22(5), pp.390–399.
• Thomas, G. (2016). How to do your case study. Los Angeles ; London: Sage.