A Conference Report for GEA

I work as a post-graduate research associate on a research initiative focused on young men’s experiences of unemployment in the UK during a time of austerity: ‘Diaspora geographies and generations: spaces of civil engagement’. This is a collaborative research endeavour directed by Professor Linda McDowell and in collaboration with Dr. Esther Rootham. This research has particular relevance to gender and education as we look at gendered experiences of unemployed young men in the UK with specific interest in how their formal education and skills training map onto their structured experiences of precarious work and unemployment. Continue Reading

A Conference Report for GEA

Recently I had the pleasure of attending Collisions, Coalitions and Riotous Subjects:The London Riots one year on. The riots in August 2012 came just as I was preparing to begin my teacher training; I was fascinated by the reporting of the disturbance and violence as emanating from a disenfranchised, feral youth, unconnected to the society around them and wondered if I would see this in the teenagers I was about to embark on teaching. Throughout the course of the year I explored concepts of privilege and power with my pupils. Though my postgraduate research predominantly focuses on narratives of sexualities within the law and I was keen to combine my education background and current sociological perspective in order to explore further the narratives created around youth and misrule. Particularly interesting was the focus on riotous bodies and the idea of them as both dissonant and representative of specific groups or perceptions.

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Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to you to update you on recent developments with regard to the future of the Women’s Library, which is housed at London Metropolitan University.

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The Nordic Educational Research Association (NERA) is the main Nordic organisation for educational researchers and it has had a Gender and Education network for some 20 years. At this year’s NERA conference held in Copenhagen (8-10 March), the network organised paper sessions, roundtable discussions and a Gender and Education meeting which was attended by 23 delegates from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Japan.

The conference followed an active year for NERA’s Gender and Education network. They organised a symposium at AERA’s 2011 conference, updated their website and launched a network email list, which currently has 60 members. These members are predominantly based in Sweden and Iceland where NERA’s 2013 conference will take place. Further information concerning this can be found on NERA’s website. Alternatively, join NERA’s Gender and Education email list by contacting Jukka Lehtonen (jukka.p.lehtonen@helsinki.fi).

The Women’s Budget Group (WBG) has released its latest assessment of the Coalition’s economic strategy. It considers the UK’s Autumn Financial Statement which underpins the UK ‘budget’ to be announced in the spring of 2012, against the backdrop of Government policies about gender equality. It shows how the Government has ignored its own policies in presenting a gender impact analysis; and how the Government’s policies will impact adversely on women, particularly its public sector policies. Instead of promoting Plan A or even Plan B – an alternative Labour plan, it argues for Plan F – a feminist strategy that promotes equality, jobs and growth. This includes a specific focus on women and educational and family policies. The GEA could contribute more specifically to this Plan F by developing a stronger analysis in terms of schooling and education across the lifecourse. Continue Reading

Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) is one of the world’s great feminist writers and social theorists, with her novels including The Story of an African Farm and her political treatises including Woman and Labour among many other writings. She also wrote c4800+ exceptionally important letters between 1871 and 1920, a period of momentous changes in the world which her letters are concerned with, and which also brought changes regarding letter-writing and literary practices too. Schreiner’s letters – all of them, in full, detailed and easy to read transcriptions – are now available electronically world-wide. Continue Reading

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to report that, since starting the Project in May, the issue of Women and Gender Studies in schools seems to have taken root and got people talking. It wasn’t limited to the excellent feminist critic Bidisha mentioning us positively in The Guardian, either. You can find out more from my latest blog on the Huffington Post. It’s helpful to have a friendly corner of the media from which to discuss gender and schooling in a critical, independent way. Continue Reading

The labels swot, ear ’ole, boffin, keeno, geek and nerd resonate meaningfully across generations of school-goers and echo through the terrains of popular culture. Our Gender and Education viewpoint started life as a conversation about our own research into how such identities are imagined and lived. We wondered: Has ‘the rise of the nerd’ meant that being a ‘boffin’ at school has lost its stigma? Continue Reading

As a researcher, there are situations when some discussions with interviewees or colleagues start to tickle our brains and cry out for getting analysed and reanalysed. Continue Reading