"Gender in Crisis" Workshop
Description
Between 3-5 July 2024, the international workshop “Gender in Crisis” will take place at Utrecht University. There is currently a strong sense that society is in the age of crises, with phrases like “permacrisis” and “polycrisis” entering the public lexicon and imaginary to describe the sense of ongoing and unending state of emergency, as well as the extended and overlapping challenges of the Anthropocene. These include climate change, soaring cost of living, wars, and pandemics to name just a few of the global and contextual factors that communities worldwide are faced with. Against the backdrop of these intense and sustained crises, gender and sexual equality is increasingly threatened by polarised views around gendered identities, LGBTQI+ rights, and reproductive freedom among others. Bringing together 45 scholars, activists, and practitioners from the Global North and Global South, this workshop aims to delve deeper into the gendered dimension of said crises – e.g., the intersection of gender and climate change, or gender and conflict – as well as discuss, explore, investigate, and theorise their causes, impacts, influences and trajectories.
Guiding Principles
The international workshop Gender in Crisis is inspired by the three principles of decoloniality, horizontality, and inter-/transdisciplinarity, which are reflected in the overall setup of the event:
- Decoloniality: this workshop strives to decenter Eurocentric hierarchies of knowledge by fostering non-hierarchical conversations, collaborations, and exchange across the Global North/Global South divide through a hybrid format and a travel grants programme.
- Horizontality: the workshop aims to foster more equal power relations in knowledge creation and challenge overt hierarchies around who can speak and what counts as knowledge by privileging non-hierarchical settings like panels, pitch-your-problem sessions, and discussions that foster opportunities for intellectual critical exchanges where all are treated equally regardless of affiliation or seniority.
- Inter-/transdisciplinarity: this workshop wants to leverage the strengths of multiple disciplines and engage with stakeholders like activists and practitioners to generate innovative solutions that can have a broader societal impact in relation to the multiple crises that society is currently faced with. To this aim, we have opted for multi-themed sessions that depart from traditional disciplinary boundaries for they can encourage inter- and transdisciplinary dialogue, foster a culture of social and scientific innovation, and enhance the transferability of knowledge across disciplines.
The international workshop Gender in Crisis is realised in collaboration with Play:Disrupt, a UK-based organization specializing in play-based approaches to foster social participation, engagement, and empowerment. Playful interactions can help connect strangers in a shared experience by breaking down personal barriers and interrogating systems of privilege. Together with Play:Disrupt, we have designed play-based activities throughout the workshop that stimulate creativity, foster collaboration, and promote inclusivity among participants.
Lastly, this international seminar Gender in Crisis has received financial support from Institutions for Open Societies at Utrecht University (funding for seminars, public events, and small conferences), Cardiff University, and the Global South Colloquium Fund. The workshop is hosted as part of the annual programme of the In/Equality platform
Programme
Wednesday 3 July
| 9:00 - 10:00 | Opening and Welcome | |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | Session 1 – Methods, hegemony and gender (1)
"Digital Space and Feminist Politics in Iran; Archival Methodologies of Sound " "Dr Mahsa Alami Fariman Dr Ahmadreza Hakiminejad" - IP Taking (up) space: the short-let lives of lesbian separatists at Lansdowne Drive – Maddy Routon – IP The power of gendered pedagogies, cultural mediations and geographies. Or “On Being Human as Praxis”* (working title) - Elpida Karaba – OL | |
| 11:00 - 11:15 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:15 - 12:15 | Session 2 - Parenting/Mothering Practices "Navigating Motherhood Across Borders" Gendered Experiences of Healthcare Work Amongst Birth Mothers in Intercountry Child Adoption - Surangika Jayaranthe - IP Navigating the Labyrinth: first-time mothers of premature Babies and the un-sustainability of urban spaces - Silvia Gullino - OL | |
| 12:15 - 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 - 13:15 | Quick intro into online platforms | |
| 13:15 - 13:45 | Session 3 - Mobility, Immobility, and the City Redefining mobility: An ethnographic study of women’s experiences of daily travel in Kathmandu - Shreya Singh Title: Mobility of care in the framework of ELABORATOR Horizon 2020 project - URBANA (Eva Grigoriadou, Pinelopi Alexiou, Loulia Leventopoulou) Safe mobility: gender and everyday transportation in Hyderabad – Aila Bandagi | |
| 14:15 - 15:15 | Panel 1 – Gendered mobility in South Asia | Panel 2 - Third World Quarterly Special Issue (first session) Masculinities, Mobility and Gender Relations in Urban India and South Africa - Shannon Philip Practices of Care and Circuits of Solidarity in a Stigmatized Urban Community: Touch, Skin, and the Moving Body - Julian Brigstocke (Corresponding author) Motherhood and (im)mobility: exploring walking, driving and standing still in London and Johannesburg - Margot Rubin and Silvia Gullino Gendering transient citizenship: rural women, returnees and the politics of aspirational (im)mobility in a post-pandemic Addis Ababa Elizabeth Dessie (by proxy) Sexual harassment in public transport in Ahmedabad (India). Cartographies from her lens. Victor Cano-Ciborro, (corresponding author) |
| 15:15 - 15:30 | Coffee/ Tea Break | |
| 15:30 - 16:30 | Session 4 – Gender and climate change (Session 1) Incentive or Constraint: Gendered Metaphors in Chinese -Climate Communication - Shiyao Chen OL Identifying planning problems in gender & and climate adaptation planning in cities – Bea Quintos – OL | |
| 16:30 - 17:30 | Session 5 – Planning and Gender (Session 1) African Women's Rights and Wellbeing in the Context of Urbanization: Challenges and Opportunities. The Case of Caledonia Informal Settlement in Zimbabwe - Lynthia White, Natasha Malunga and Christine Chivandire - IP Safety and Security of Women-led urbanism in cities in developing country - Professor Dr. Kasphia Nahrin - IP Mitigating the Politics of Inclusive Sustainability – Through a Feminist Lens on Built Environment - Srestha Chatterjee – OL | |
| 19:00 | DynamiQ Choir (Janskerkhof 2-3, room 019) | |
Thursday 4 July
| 9:00 -10:00 | Session – 6 Labour/Labouring Bodies Urban redevelopment and its gendered implication: the case of Central Kumasi, Ghana - Philipa B Akuoko - IP The state and unpaid labour - Marguerite van den Berg; Josien Arts – IP Women, Work and the Burden of Development: Glimpses from Global South -Dr. Anju Helen Bara Department of Political Studies – OL | |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | Session 7 – Violence and reproductive politics (1) Reproductive Politics: Metaverse Space, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence - Xinyi Zhu (Ernestina) Understanding the changing spatiality of abortion in the Netherlands: A discursive approach – Elisa Fiore and Brechtje Polman – IP Navigating the City: An Analysis of Sexual and Reproductive Health Accessibility among Women Refugees in Athens. – Vaskili Zacharia – IP The presentation is called reproductive politics in the city - Tess Czerski - IP | |
| 11:00 - 11:15 | Coffee/Tea Break | |
| 11:15 - 12:15 | Session 8 – Feminism discourse in practice Unveiling the Nexus: Urbanization, Crises, and Gender-Responsive Built Environment - Suraiya Yasmin Gender and Public Space: A Critical Reflection of 25 Years of Planning Practice in Vienna/Austria Sonja Gruber, Susanne Staller Heide Studer, – IP Unveiling the Feminist Discourse in Manchester: Insights from a Socialist-Feminist Immigrant - Laya Hooshyari - OL | |
| 12:15 - 13:15 | Lunch | |
| 13:15 - 14:15 | Session 9 – Session 8 – Methods, hegemony and gender (2) Living in the shadow of the Reference Man: autoethnographic study on the impact of the "coded gaze" on the shaping of our cities.)- By Ola Gwozdz The Politics of Transformation: Improvement, Gender and Transitional Housing in Cape Town, South Africa - Priti Mohandas -IP An intersectional approach to institutional social networks in disaster contexts. Evidence from a household survey in Mexico City's 2017 disaster - Dr Mara Torres Pinedo - IP | |
| 14:15 - 15:15 | Panel 3 – Discussion about the Feminism and the City? Magazine Online Ksenia Chmutina (Loughborough University) Belen Desmaison (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
| Panel 4 Third World Quarterly Special Issue The Latin American mobility shift and the mobility experience in São Paulo, Brazil: Paula Freire Santoro and Priscila Izar An analysis of mobility within care policies in Bogotá and Be-lo Horizonte - Natalia Villamizar Duarte, and Ana Marcela Ardila Feminizing the imagination of Mobility – Can Feminist Cities create inclusive mobilities? Srestha Chatterjee What affects gendered urban mobility in the global south cities? A case study of women workers’ everyday mobility in Kochi, India - Fathima Zehba M. P. (corresponding author) Hyderabad is the Safest city: politics of gendered safety transportation - Aila Bandagi The Gendered Activity Spaces of Older People: Care Activities and Everyday Mobility in the Urban Fringes of Santiago de Chile: Constanza Abarza, and Giovanni Vecchio |
| 15:15 - 15:30 | Coffee/Tea Break | |
| 15:30 - 16:30 | Panel 5 - Queering Feminist Geography: an experiment and experience | |
| 16:30 - 17:30 | Pitch a Problem - 3-minute engagements of a "problem" and some help finding solutions | |
Friday 5 July
| 9:00 -10:00 | Session 10 –Refugees/migrants Navigating Integration: The Challenges Faced by Muslim Women Refugees from the Global South in Host Cities By Reem Elnady IP Adjustment strategies among migratory female-youth head porters in Accra, Ghana - Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu IP Adjustment strategies among migratory female-youth head porters in Accra, Ghana - Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu IP |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | Session 11 – Gender and climate change (2) "Gender and Climate Change in Africa: Unlocking African women lived experiences, best practises, and Natural Capital endowment." - Caroline Dimingu & Milca Mudewairi - OL Phasing Out Coal without Feminism? Gender and Intersectionality in the Czech Climate Movement and in the Framing of Climate Politics - Michaela Pixová – IP (In)visible stories of climate and women in Pakistan – Granza Baloch – IP From Too Little to Too Much: the 'last true nomads' of Africa or the 'climate refugees' of today? – Mia Barnard - IP |
| 11:00 - 11:15 | Coffee/Tea Break |
| 11:15 - 12:15 | Session 12 – Mobility, Immobility and the city (2) One size fits all? Gender-insensitivity of urban mobility planning - Anna Nikolaeva – IP Gendered Mobility in the Caribbean. The Case of Public Transport in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica - Renelle Sarjeant IP Riding the Pink Bus: Free Public Transport and a ‘Gendered Crisis’ of Employment in Urban India – 'S. Shakthi' - IP |
| 12:15 - 13:15 | Lunch |
| 13:15 - 14:15 | Session 13 – Planning and gender Session (2) Teen Girls and Urban Spaces - Silvia Gullino – OL Aging and Gender: An Intersectional Lens for Inclusive City Building Practices in the Global North and Global South - Jenna Dutton - IP Gender and Diversity in Crisis Preparedness'' - Roswitha Hofmann |
| 14:15 - 15:15 | Session 14 – Violence and reproductive politics (2) The State has failed us: How three Buenos Aires women are dealing with the Milei presidency - Katherine Pickering, Cardiff University – OL Men’s unwanted sexual experiences: caring in/through moments of crises - Carl Bonner-Thompson*, Kirsty McGregor – IP Gender and Slow Violence in the City - Hanna A. Ruszczyk - IP |
| 15:15 - 15:30 | Coffee/Tea Break |
| 15:30 - 16:30 | Wrap-up Activity and Discussion of What is Next |
| 16:30 - 17:30 | End |
Important Information
Date: 3-5 July
Location: Janskerkhof 15a, rooms 001, 003 and 004
Registration: here