Page 19 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 19
n. perger, m. mencin, v. tašner. ■ teaching feminism ...
problematic. Namely, gender balance statistics cover numerable inequities,
such as conditions to get and keep a job, gaps between the poor and the
rich etc. Further, gender mainstreaming politics primarily reinforce the
positions and opportunities of middle-class women to enter the spheres
of power and occupy hierarchical positions formerly held by men. It ap-
pears as though the EU’s aims are principally focused on a set of narrow
economic goals – gender equity seems more a means than a goal in itself. 5
This suspicion is further strengthened when we consider the EU’s neutral
stance on women’s reproductive rights and abortion. All of these factors
form the impression that feminist politics and, consequently (if feminist
teaching is considered a practice that fosters feminist politics/movement),
feminist teaching and learning about feminism are superfluous: as if they
were needless and irrelevant because feminist aims have been realised or
even exceeded, or – if they are not yet achieved – the nation state and su-
pranational institutions will provide them.
The dark side of this neoliberal image of the new brave world where
people are equal or can be equal if only they wish and work hard enough is
the ascent of extreme right-wing political movements and parties. Their na-
tionalistic ideology and stance on the biological reproduction of the nation
is closely linked to gender, sex dichotomies and hierarchies. They overtly
oppose gender equality referring to biology and naturalness of gender consti-
tution, gender differences, patriarchy and heterosexuality, while strengthen-
ing common-sense beliefs in the naturalness of the social order based on
gender inequality. Meanwhile, optimistic and well-intentioned neoliber-
als act as if they do not care about it or do not even notice it.
All of these difficulties that affect power relations in the academy
and evoke resistance against feminist knowledge occur in Slovenia as well
and we discuss them in the following two sections.
Gender and/in Higher Education (HE) in Slovenia
Courses and programmes based on feminist social epistemology (gender
sociology, gender anthropology, women’s studies, gender studies (WGS),
gay and lesbian studies, feminist theory etc.) were introduced at Slovenian
universities in the early 1990s, somewhat later than in Anglo-Saxon and
the Nordic countries. Nevertheless, Slovenia was the first of the former
Yugoslav republics to make WGS part of its institutionalised university
studies. They were officially introduced in the form of a programme and/or
a course in the mentioned period but, even before that, individual female
professors – mainly from the social sciences and humanities – gave lectures
on feminist issues (Antić Gaber, 2017). Those courses and programmes
5 E.g. see the European Commission’s Strategy for Equality Between Women and Men 2010–2015.
17
problematic. Namely, gender balance statistics cover numerable inequities,
such as conditions to get and keep a job, gaps between the poor and the
rich etc. Further, gender mainstreaming politics primarily reinforce the
positions and opportunities of middle-class women to enter the spheres
of power and occupy hierarchical positions formerly held by men. It ap-
pears as though the EU’s aims are principally focused on a set of narrow
economic goals – gender equity seems more a means than a goal in itself. 5
This suspicion is further strengthened when we consider the EU’s neutral
stance on women’s reproductive rights and abortion. All of these factors
form the impression that feminist politics and, consequently (if feminist
teaching is considered a practice that fosters feminist politics/movement),
feminist teaching and learning about feminism are superfluous: as if they
were needless and irrelevant because feminist aims have been realised or
even exceeded, or – if they are not yet achieved – the nation state and su-
pranational institutions will provide them.
The dark side of this neoliberal image of the new brave world where
people are equal or can be equal if only they wish and work hard enough is
the ascent of extreme right-wing political movements and parties. Their na-
tionalistic ideology and stance on the biological reproduction of the nation
is closely linked to gender, sex dichotomies and hierarchies. They overtly
oppose gender equality referring to biology and naturalness of gender consti-
tution, gender differences, patriarchy and heterosexuality, while strengthen-
ing common-sense beliefs in the naturalness of the social order based on
gender inequality. Meanwhile, optimistic and well-intentioned neoliber-
als act as if they do not care about it or do not even notice it.
All of these difficulties that affect power relations in the academy
and evoke resistance against feminist knowledge occur in Slovenia as well
and we discuss them in the following two sections.
Gender and/in Higher Education (HE) in Slovenia
Courses and programmes based on feminist social epistemology (gender
sociology, gender anthropology, women’s studies, gender studies (WGS),
gay and lesbian studies, feminist theory etc.) were introduced at Slovenian
universities in the early 1990s, somewhat later than in Anglo-Saxon and
the Nordic countries. Nevertheless, Slovenia was the first of the former
Yugoslav republics to make WGS part of its institutionalised university
studies. They were officially introduced in the form of a programme and/or
a course in the mentioned period but, even before that, individual female
professors – mainly from the social sciences and humanities – gave lectures
on feminist issues (Antić Gaber, 2017). Those courses and programmes
5 E.g. see the European Commission’s Strategy for Equality Between Women and Men 2010–2015.
17
