• 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 aim of the project "Gender Mainstreaming at the Department of Social Work and Health" was to attract more male students to study social work and to increase the gender competence of all students. The first step was to analyse the paths taken by male and female students into the degree programme and their motivation to study in an intersectional analysis. To this end, existing studies were researched by student assistants in the first step, followed by a survey of students in the second step.

Another component of the project was the Future Day "New Paths for Boys" at the Department of Social Work and Health, which was held in co-operation with the organisers of Girls Day at the Department of Technology. The aim of the Future Day was to inform boys about study and career opportunities in the social and health fields, while at the same time sensitising the student mentors and participating lecturers at the department to the topic.

Boys' Day 2009

On 23 April 2009, a Boys' Day was held at the Faculty of Social Work and Health at the FH OOW in Emden. A group of eight mentors - male students from the Social Work and Social Management degree programmes - supervised 39 boys from general education schools on Boys' Day. The aim was to familiarise the boys with studying and possible fields of work in the social sector.

To prepare for their work, the mentors attended a preparatory seminar and a one-day training event organised by a speaker from the field of boys' work. Central components of the students' professionalisation were practical and theoretical knowledge of boys' work, methods of educational work and the training of gender skills. In addition, the mentors were supported in designing the programme and organising and running Boys' Day.

Programme items on Boys' Day included, for example, a visit to the regular "Youth Work" seminar, watching and discussing videos with men in social appointments and discussing questions such as "what does social mean?" and "what does a social worker/social manager do?".

In the summer semester of 2009, 70.19% of students at the Department of Social Work and Health in Emden were women, while men were underrepresented at 29.81%. In the process of gender mainstreaming, Boys' Day is an opportunity to support boys in their career orientation. Boys' Day was a joint event organised by the co-operation network and the university's Equal Opportunities Office.