Kristina Hackmann

The international conference, attended by around 120 national and international participants and speakers from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, India, Jordan, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, Hungary and Yemen, was organised by the newly established Centre for Interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies (ZFG) at CvO University of Oldenburg. The starting point for planning the conference was the observation that women’s and gender studies are now established as academic programmes in numerous countries. However, both the conditions under which this has been achieved and the content, curricula, methods and objectives vary considerably. International co-operation and communication between degree programmes, students, academics, activists and experts – a form of ‘global networking’ that requires the systematic incorporation of non-Western perspectives at all levels of research, teaching and curriculum development. Against this backdrop, the speakers presented insights into their study programmes: content and curricula, teaching methods and objectives. Furthermore, discussions centred on the influence of social developments and transitions on the programmes, what new forms of international networking and co-operation might look like, and how they could be realised.

The opening lecture by Gabriele Griffin (Kingston University, UK) provided a thoughtful overview of the history and current state of Women’s and Gender Studies worldwide. She argued that there was a correlation between the type of institution (NGOs, universities, mixed-funding institutions) in which Women’s Studies were taught and the nature of the programmes they offered: Whilst many programmes in the northern and western hemispheres were subject to a kind of ‘cultural turn’, many institutions in southern and eastern countries tended to pursue the aim of training and further educating a new administrative and professional class, so that it could act as ‘catalysts for change’. According to Griffin, these differences and their implications raise questions regarding the problems and opportunities of the institutionalisation of Women’s Studies, particularly in terms of co-optation versus transformation, and academisation versus activism. In conclusion, Griffin assessed the global prospects for the field as excellent, now that ‘gender’ had become a key category of international politics. The field of Women’s Studies enables women to become active and effective in contexts where the image of women is still portrayed as a ‘sisterhood’ (as, for example, by the World Bank), characterised by disadvantage and a profound lack of influence.

The speakers then presented a range of programmes and approaches, both academic and non-academic, and provided information on the situation of women in their respective countries and regions. In her contribution, Anne Phillips (London School of Economics & Political Science, UK) argued that ‘gender neutrality’ should not be equated with ‘gender equality’, as this equating carries the risk that economic equality would disappear from the Charter as a social objective. Instead, gender studies should continue to focus on the distribution of income and wealth as central issues.

In the course of the discussions at the conference, it became clear that the divide highlighted by Griffin between the different approaches in the various regions of the world is not easily bridged. Whilst theoretical approaches from the north-western academic world are, to a large extent, certainly well known in the south-eastern world, they are scarcely regarded as useful for their own programmes; conversely, north-western experts’ knowledge of theoretical discussions and practical conditions in other regions is far more limited. Understanding of these differences must therefore first be based on a clear articulation of one’s own positions before dialogues and opportunities for co-operation can be established. Opportunities were identified in the joint examination of methodological and epistemological approaches, in the development of joint course programmes and teaching, in collaborative research projects, and in systematic exchange programmes for students and academics, particularly early-career researchers.

The development of cooperation clearly requires time and continuity; the Oldenburg conference has laid an excellent foundation for this. Following last year’s successful field trip week as part of the International Women’s University, Oldenburg has once again succeeded in creating a stimulating and friendly atmosphere for work and communication, which has already been able to build on existing continuities whilst also forging new ones: For instance, the contacts with the speakers from Nepal and India were, amongst other things, the result of last year’s field trip week; the advisor Sheila Meintjes from South Africa (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) was, at the time of the conference, holding the International Visiting Professorship in Women’s and Gender Studies at the ZFG in Oldenburg; Puspa Ghimire-Niraula (Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu) extended her stay in Oldenburg as a visiting scholar and gave lectures at the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen on the topic ‘Globalisation and its Impact on Women’s Work – Focus on Nepal’; the Oldenburg Centre for Interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies signed cooperation agreements with Aden University in Yemen and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal; Cooperation agreements with the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan, the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, were drawn up.

Two follow-up conferences are planned: a conference on ‘Globalisation, Women’s Work, Sustainability’ in October 2003, organised jointly with CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, and a conference on ‘Women’s Perceptions of Themselves and How They Are Perceived by Others’ in Amman.

Kristina Hackmann, born in 1971, studied to become a teacher (German, Politics, General Studies, Educational and Social Sciences) at the University of Bremen and Middlesex University, London, specialising in learning workshop research, progressive education, sex education and work with girls. Student research assistant on the study ‘Self-perception, sexual knowledge and body image among 9–13-year-old girls and boys’ (Petra Milhoffer). Currently finalising her doctoral thesis ‘Female Adolescence and the Engagement with Binary Gender and the Norm of Heterosexuality’ (Karin Flaake, CvO University of Oldenburg). Current research interests: qualitative social research, gender studies, adolescence research, higher education pedagogy. Publications include: 1999: ‘Modern Girls + Black Outs = Girlpower: Readings on adolescent girls’ discussions about gender and the norm of heterosexuality’, www.skk.uit.no/WW99/papers/Hackmann_Kristina.pdf [30/09/01]

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