• history
• Main topics
• End of projects

In 2004, gender researchers from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oldenburg (ZFG) and the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven (FH OOW) began to establish a scientific co-operation.

The focus was on the development of a "Cooperation Network for Gender Research in the North-West Region". To coordinate the co-operation projects, a half-time position of a research assistant was created, who was based at the ZFG until June 2006 and then worked at the FH OOW, Wilhelmshaven site, until March 2010. The co-operation network was managed by a six-member steering group, which included Prof. Dr Heike Fleßner, Prof. Dr Irene Pieper-Seier, Prof. Dr Karin Flaake and, after her retirement, JP Dr Smilla Ebeling from the ZFG, as well as Professors Dr Renate Kosuch, Dr Karin Luckey and Dr Ulrike Schleier from the FH OOW.

On 2 February 2006, the joint work was institutionally secured by a cooperation agreement between the two universities. Following the decision of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) to divide the FH OOW in September 2009, the Presidential Board of the FH OOW cancelled the cooperation agreement with the University of Oldenburg and the cooperation network was dissolved.

The many years of productive collaboration in the cooperation network have resulted in the following main areas of work and topics, among others:

• Gender in university teaching

• Conditions of changing masculinity and male socialisation

• Regional knowledge transfer and knowledge pooling projects in the field of gender studies

The following joint projects were launched and successfully implemented:

Gender Days

In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, cross-university Gender Days were organised at the University of Oldenburg and the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven (FH OOW). A variety of events (symposium, exhibitions, courses, lectures) were organised at the universities of applied sciences and at the CvO University of Oldenburg. The aim of the Gender Days was to provide knowledge about gender-specific content in scientific disciplines and teaching methods for university lecturers and to inform them about the importance of gender-specific subject and cross-sectional issues in teaching.

Almost all departments of the FH OOW and the CvO University were involved. At the University of Applied Sciences, tandem courses were predominantly held, i.e. a lecturer invited a guest speaker to give a guest lecture on a gender aspect in a regular course. At the university, the events in which the respective lecturers addressed the results and questions of gender research in their courses predominated.

On the one hand, the Gender Days opened up the opportunity to introduce gender issues into degree programmes in which they have so far been little addressed, and on the other hand, they reflected the diversity of existing offers.

Boys' Work Forum

Founded in June 2006, the Oldenburg FORUM Boys' Work took place four times a year at the University of Oldenburg. A permanent group of interested people from the university, educational practice, the city of Oldenburg, the trade union and other institutions in the region have come together. The forum discusses and works on the topic of working with boys from different perspectives. All participants took the opportunity to contribute their concerns to the forum. In February 2007, Dr Michael Herschelmann from the Oldenburg Child Protection Centre took over the coordination of the forum.

Specialist days on gender and schools

In 2006, 2007 and 2008, the ZFG, the Weser-Ems District Association of the Trade Union for Education and Science and the co-operation network for gender research in the North-West region held a conference on gender and schools in Oldenburg:

1st Oldenburg Symposium Gender and School. Gender relations in theory and school practice, 7 March 2006

2nd Oldenburg Symposium on Ethnic Diversities, Gender and School. Gender relations in theory and school practice, 6 March 2007

3rd Oldenburg Symposium Gender Mainstreaming and School - Impulses for Theory and Practice of Gender Relations. 04 March 2008.

The curriculum of the women's degree programme in Industrial Engineering and Management (Bachelor of Engineering, 7th semester, of which the first three semesters are mono-educational) was redesigned with the aim of explicitly including key qualifications in the curriculum by the Women's Studies Curriculum Working Group. The seminars on key qualifications were coupled with specialised seminars wherever possible. The inclusion of key competences in the curriculum is planned in three forms: explicitly as a separate module, docked to a subject module, implicitly in subject modules. These are also to be incorporated into the co-educational degree programme via the women's studies programme. According to the new curriculum design, social, methodological and personal skills will be more firmly anchored in the curriculum. Within the "Organisation and Leadership" module, two credit points are allocated to the aspect of "Intercultural Competence and Gender Competence".

The aimof the project ‘Gender Mainstreaming in the DepartmentofSocial Work and Health’was to attract more male students to study social work and to enhance the gender competence of all students. The initial aim was to explore the pathways taken by male and female students into higher education, as well as their motivation to study, through an intersectional analysis. To this end, student assistants first conducted research into existing studies, followed by a survey of students.

Another component of the project was the ‘Future Day: New Pathways for Boys’ at the Department of Social Work and Health, which was organised in co-operation with the organisers of Girls’ Day at the Department of Engineering. The ‘Future Day’ aimed, on the one hand, to inform boys about study and career opportunities in the social and health sectors, whilst at the same time raising awareness of the topic amongst student mentors and participating lecturers at the Department.

Boys’ Day 2009

On 23 April 2009, a Boys’ Day was held at the OOW University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Social Work and Health at the Emden campus. A group of eight mentors – male students on the Social Work and Social Management degree programmes – looked after 39 boys from general education schools on Boys’ Day. The aim was to give the boys an insight into university study and potential career paths in the social sector.

To prepare for their role, the mentors attended a preparatory seminar as well as a one-day training session led by a speaker with practical experience in working with boys. Key components of the students’ professional development included practical and theoretical knowledge of working with boys, methods of educational work and training in gender-related skills. In addition, the mentors were supported in designing the programme, organising and running Boys’ Day.

Activities on Boys’ Day included, for example, attending the regular ‘Youth Work’ seminar; videos featuring men in social professions were also watched and discussed, and questions such as ‘What does “social” mean?’ and “What does a social worker or social manager do?” were discussed.

In the Department of Social Work and Health at the Emden campus, 70.19 per cent of students in the summer semester of 2009 were women; men, at 29.81 per cent, are under-represented. As part of the gender mainstreaming process, Boys’ Day offers an opportunity to support boys in their career guidance. Boys’ Day was a joint event organised by the co-operation network and the university’s Gender Equality Office.