Addressing Inequalities research fellow Dr Anna Clover shares som highlights from our recent IWD programme of events.

International Women’s Day has been a recognised date of reflection, action and solidarity for women since the 1900’s. Born from the industrial worker’s movement, issues of gender inequality, female emancipation and worker’s rights continue to inform our personal and working lives. In consideration of such cross-cutting issues, this 2023 IWD the UofG Gender and Sexualities Interdisciplinary Network brought together staff and students from across various schools and departments. In addition, we also welcomed representatives from the charity Migrant Voice, and its recently formed Women’s Group. Meeting at the Halliday Room, School of Law, the afternoon provided speakers and guests the opportunity to discuss and explore a variety of shared issues, that bridged the academic and personal.

We started the event with a presentation given by Marzanna Antoniak and Alice Bradley from Migrant Voice. Marzanna gave an overview of the charity’s focus, which seeks to unite migrant groups across Glasgow, particularly those facing marginalisation and discrimination. The charity strives to centre the voices of migrant individuals; pushing back against xenophobic rhetoric and providing alternative perspectives from migrant people themselves. The recently formed Women’s Group continues these aims, providing space for women of various nationalities to explore shared experiences of being female migrants to the UK. Most recently, they hosted a day of dancing and cultural exchange, where guests shared dances from Scotland, Armenia, Ukraine, Iran, Kurdistan, Greece and Romania to the enjoyment of all. Migrant Voice welcomes UofG collaborations on projects that are relevant to their work around media, training, multicultural events, art, heritage and campaigning, and about migrant women more generally.

We were also lucky enough to be joined by Madeleine Beveridge, Mary Ryan and Sarah Weakly, who all provided information regarding upcoming funding and grants, with a particular focus on issues of gender and women’s rights.

Mary Ryan, Glasgow Centre for International Development (GCID) Research Manager shared information about the Women and Girls in Education theme GCID Small Grants call. For more information regarding this grant, you can contact Mary at: mary.ryan@glasgow.ac.uk  

Madeleine Beveridge, CoSS Interdisciplinary Research Manager presented information about the UKRI Cross Research Council Responsive Mode Pilot Scheme. You can contact Madeleine at: madeleine.beveridge@glasgow.ac.uk

Sarah Weakley, CoSS KE and Impact lead informed us about the ESRC Impact Accelerator. You can contact Sarah at: sarah.weakley@glasgow.ac.uk

Maud Bracke also shared information about the CIVIS Gender group, which has an upcoming lecture series. The lectures will be hosted by each of the participating universities and will highlight work being undertaken relating to gender and sexualities. A flyer with detailed information is included in G&SIRN Teams file created for this event (UoG log in required).

We were also joined by Kait Laughlin, who is the newly appointed CoSS Knowledge Exchange Lead (Communities). Kait’s role centres on building fruitful collaborations between academic staff members and community organisations. She is available to offer support and advice to researchers working, or considering working, with community organisations generally - principally for those within CoSS, but also for those working on relevant interdisciplinary research with CoSS colleagues. Reminding us that the personal is political, Kait also shared some fascinating personal connections to IWD from her longstanding involvement with Glasgow based women’s activism. This included a photo of the 1985 IWD edition of 'Hen's Own,' the newsletter of the then Glasgow Women's Liberation Centre, where she was a Collective member at the time. For those of you interested in this brilliant piece of Glaswegian feminist history, a PDF of the cover is provided in the event file here (UoG credentials required). You can contact Kait at kait.laughlin@glasgow.ac.uk.

Continuing the themes of collaboration, solidarity and the personal as political, Dr Jenny Morrison led a collaborative session exploring feminist pedagogy in the classroom and the role of strike action within feminism. This discussion was shaped by four critical reflections, shared with us by Prof Srabani Maitra, Dr Leyla de Amicis, Annalisa Muscolo and Dr Nicole Smith. Our speakers opened space to discuss the meaning of feminist pedagogy in our teaching practices, and how to absorb and enact feminist ideals within our professional and personal lives. The challenges of navigating institutional hierarchies, atomisation and enforced competitiveness were particularly addressed as challenges to feminist pedagogies. The complex effects of industrial strike action were also considered in relationship to wider power dynamics within the academy, particularly regarding its effects on the workloads of precariously employed staff members. The pandemic and current strike action prompted reflections regarding the power of pausing in our daily lives, and the revolutionary potential of rest.

The GSIN welcomes new members to its mailing list, which brings together academics from across the UofG engaging in research relating to gender and sexualities broadly construed. To join our mailing list, please click here using your UofG credentials. For further details please contact Dr Ana Cannilla at ana.cannilla@glasgow.ac.uk. We look forward to welcoming you to our next events.

The Gender and Sexualities Interdiscipinary Network was conceived and is currently led by Dr Ana Cannilla, lecturer in public law, as part of her leadership role in Addressing Inequalities.

First published: 22 March 2023

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