Claudia Lohrenscheit

Societies in Transition - Challenges to Women's and Gender Studies

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (University of Oldenburg) organised the second international conference on Women's and Gender Studies.

Today, women's and gender studies programmes exist in numerous countries in the South and North, each with different traditions, focuses and orientations. Bringing representatives of these programmes from universities, research institutions and NGOs into a communication process, networking them with each other and exploring possibilities for co-operation were the ambitious goals of the international conference on Women's and Gender Studies from 28 June to 1 July 2001 at the University of Oldenburg. The conference (like the first one eight years earlier in 1993 - "International Perspectives of Women's Studies") was organised mainly by Heike Fleßner and Lydia Potts, both members of the newly founded Oldenburg Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (ZFG: www.uni-oldenburg.de/zfg); they were supported and funded by the Ministry of Science of Lower Saxony, among others.

The invited speakers and participants from Hungary, Poland, Great Britain, Germany, India, Jordan, Nepal, South Africa, New Zealand, Yemen and Turkey presented and discussed contributions from the internal perspective of their respective programmes: their objectives, practices, content and curricula as well as their teaching and learning methods. However, the selection of countries is not a representative selection in this context; rather, it is based on existing contacts and co-operations and the successful attempt to reflect the diversity and complexity of women's and gender studies programmes worldwide and to make the various experiences accessible. The two objectives of networking and co-operation were pursued under two main questions:

• What is the social significance and influence of women's and gender studies in different countries and regions of the world?
• How can new forms of international cooperation and networking in women's and gender studies research and academic teaching be developed and justified?

Parallel to these questions, a further focus or question emerged in the course of the discussion process, which was discussed several times 'subliminally': How can the theory and practice of Women's and Gender Studies be effectively combined and networked? What relationship characterises them - are they the 'two sides of the same coin' or a dualism to be accepted that can only be partially overcome? In addition to the aforementioned 'classic gap' between theory and practice, this question should also be seen as an indicator of the unequal preconditions and conditions of women's and gender studies in the North and South as well as their different links to existing social and women's movements. This approach at the interface between theory and practice, and thus also at the unequal conditions in the context of which women's and gender studies take place, is one of the great achievements of this conference. The integration of different experiences was already ensured in the run-up to the conference: in addition to scientific-theoretical contributions on the development of women's and gender studies in a global context, the concrete experiences of women in the fight against poverty and discrimination formed an important focus of the programme.

Thematically, the programme was divided into four regional focal points with a focus on India and Nepal, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. As it is not possible to provide a detailed overview of the content in a conference report, two contributions from the theory and practice of Women's and Gender Studies are briefly presented here as examples (the documentation of the contributions and results of the conference is expected to be published in autumn 2002).

Samiera Zafar: "Does the Policy and Legislative Framework Address the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women at Work and Girl Learners at Public Schools in South Africa?"

Samiera Zafar, a teacher, Masters in Education and researcher from South Africa, has been working for several years on the policy and practice of anti-discrimination approaches in the school environment. She is currently employed at the Centre for Education Policy Development, Evaluation and Management, an independent research institute in Johannesburg, Gauteng, following a period of study and practice in London.

In her conference presentation, Zafar will focus on the question of whether current policy and legislation in South Africa adequately addresses the situation of working women and girls (learners) in the context of the HIV/AIDS catastrophe. The transformation of South African society and politics has been taking place at all levels and in all spheres of society since the official end of apartheid with the first free elections in 1994. However, this development is accompanied, among other things, by the revelation of the catastrophic extent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: out of 40 million South Africans, more than 4.4 million people are infected with the virus (according to a study by Statistics South Africa in 1999); 22.4% of these are women and, in particular, girls between the ages of 15 and 25. Current data suggest an even higher infection rate. According to this, one in nine South Africans carries the virus in their blood; around 70,000 infected newborns are born every year and around 800,000 children have been orphaned by the pandemic (cf. FR of 4 September 2001). Zafar sees the high infection rates of girls and women and the population as a whole as a serious obstacle to development and transformation. Without necessary and effective strategies to combat and educate people about the causes of HIV/AIDS, South Africa's political and socio-economic development would be jeopardised, for example by the collapse of family structures and the resulting strain on the social and welfare system or by the effects on the country's economy and the economically active population in general. In her presentation, Zafar analyses the relevant national documents against the background of the AIDS pandemic and its consequences for girls and women (e.g. 'The National HIV/AIDS Plan, South Africa; The National Policy for HIV/AIDS at Schools (Department of Education). The relevance of the gender perspective and the need to directly address sexual violence against girls and women in campaigns and programmes to combat HIV/AIDS is justified by the high rape rates alone: according to (estimated) data from the NGO Rape Crisis Centre, a woman is raped every 23 seconds in South Africa; many girls and women are infected with the virus in this way. Against this background, the government's previous programmes are not sufficient, says Zafar, to clarify the connection between sexual violence and HIV/AIDS and to take appropriate measures, e.g. in the context of school education. The important role and social function of Women's and Gender Studies also becomes clear here: in the fight against gender inequality, it must challenge all areas of society through teaching and research, co-operation with civil society actors and international networking.

Gabriel Griffin: "Co-option or Transformation? Women and Gender Studies Worldwide

Gabriel Griffin was Professor of Women's Studies and Dean of the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University and Professor of English at Kingston University. Since 1 September 2001 she has held the professorship of Gender Studies at the University of Hull. In addition, she is currently coordinating a European Union project with partners in nine European countries on the subject of "Women's Studies Training and Women's Employment in Europe".

"How global is Sisterhood?" - With this question, based on the similar book title by Robin Morgan (1984), Griffin examines the organisational and content-related establishment and institutionalisation of women's and gender studies on a global level. In an international comparison of the actors and focal points, it becomes clear that "sisterhood" is primarily constructed as a global negative: Women are connected worldwide through experiences of oppression, discrimination and suffering. However, depending on the power-political and socio-economic conditions of a country and the respective position in the international community of states, the global structures and mechanisms of patriarchy and capitalism manifest themselves with sometimes extremely different consequences. Overall, Griffin (with Audre Lorde) sees the real success of women's and gender studies in the fact that today more students than ever are learning about feminism, gender and women's studies at universities and research institutions worldwide. Today, gender is a central analytical tool and key category in science, politics and the practice of social, socio-political and economic institutions and organisations. However, this positive development should not obscure the fact that it has not yet been possible to transform the academic system as a whole; for example, there are hardly any internationally established 'full' chairs for women's and gender studies at universities. Another problem is the dominance of the gender discourse. With the global gender issue - also taken up by the rhetoric of international organisations (such as the IMF and World Bank) - central terms/concepts such as feminism and patriarchy are disappearing from the discourse. Gender, according to Griffin, seems to be more acceptable and manageable as a neutral category. Furthermore, this development runs parallel to a general depoliticisation of this area. Women's and gender studies are separating themselves (especially in the North) from social movements and initiatives at the grassroots level, while the NGO sector is becoming increasingly professionalised. Rather than political campaigns and initiatives, they now often offer services - in co-operation with and dependence on state and international institutions. It is precisely from this that Griffin derives the future challenges of women's and gender studies, the conditions of which she describes as excellent for the future.

The Way Forward - Looking ahead

Some of the participants were attending this year's conference for the second time in Oldenburg. They were already participants in the IFU - International Women's University, which had also stopped off in Oldenburg as part of EXPO 2000. The organisers of the international conference were able to build on some of the contacts and successes of the IFU, but also went beyond this: existing cooperation structures were strengthened and new ideas and perspectives for future international cooperation in this field were developed. However, this conference also confirmed that "being a woman alone cannot be a programme". Even if international conditions set by global patriarchy and capitalism force women worldwide into similar structures and conditions, the concrete experience and practical handling of this situation varies greatly from region to region. The communication of these different experiences and the international networking of active women in universities, research institutions and NGOs enable new learning horizons and mutual learning processes, which can become the basis for joint projects. However, ideas for such joint initiatives could only be discussed at this conference. The concrete planning and organisation of the network and future cooperation will be the central task of the evaluation and follow-up of the conference. Possible topics of common interest are, for example, cooperation in the area of "women and violence - violence against women" or "women and work". However, it also became clear that although there are various financial opportunities for women's research within the framework of European Union research funding, for example, these are hardly accessible to organisations and institutions from the South in any other way than through partners from the North. This systematic ignoring of the Southern perspective characterises Eurocentric or North-centric science funding - not only in the field of women's and gender studies. A consistent approach to this policy is also one of the tasks of international women's and gender studies and the international science community in general: "The Struggle Continues".

Literature

Fleßner, Heike; Kriszio, Marianne; Potts, Lydia (eds.): Women's Studies in International Comparison. Pfaffenweiler 1994

Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (ed.): International Conference. Societies in Transition - Challenges to Women's and Gender Studies. 28 June - 1 July 2001. University of Oldenburg (Conference programme with summaries of the papers and information on the speakers at: www.uni-oldenburg.de/zfg

Zafar, Samiera: Does the Policy and Legislative Framework Address the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women at Work and Girl Learners at Public Schools in South Africa? (as yet unpublished manuscript, see above)

Griffin, Gabriel: Co-option or Transformation? Women and Gender Studies Worldwide. (as yet unpublished manuscript, see above)

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