Page 20 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 20
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
emerged from the women’s movement and challenged traditional notions
of knowledge and knowing. Early feminist critiques of the academic field
“focused specially on the dominance of ‘male’ experience and the system-
ic exclusion of women as both subjects and objects of knowledge” (Kohli
& Burbules, 2013, p. 4). Yet in Slovenia an important parallel structural
change was in course: 1) in the process of the disintegration of Yugoslavia,
Slovenia had decided on independence; 2) it changed its political system
from a socialist-self-management one to a liberal democracy and 3) decided
on a market economy. It must be stressed that women, as Gaber puts it, “in
time following independence, shared the common belief that with democ-
racy, with political pluralism, with the competition of ideologies and polit-
ical parties, the time had arrived to understand the struggle for new rights”
(Gaber, 2015, p. 27). We witnessed important shifts and changes in our so-
ciety, our social space was filled with “numerous opportunities, while on
the other hand, brought an equal number of traps” (ibid.).
All of these shifts led to important changes in the positioning of
women in society generally and in academia too. Women’s initiatives were
influential enough to push through entities such as Parlamentarna komisi-
ja za žensko politiko (Parliamentary Commission for Women’s Policy,
1991) and Urad za žensko politiko (Office for Women’s Policy, 1992) and
to implement new laws and policies. The White Paper on Education (Bela
knjiga o vzgoji in izobraževanju) (Krek, 1995) highlighted gender equali-
ty as one of the main objectives of education; the amount of gender-relat-
ed research (gender inequalities, gender stereotypes) has increased. When
we consider higher education and gender equality today, we must men-
tion two documents that frame gender equality issues in higher educa-
tion and research: The Higher Education Act (ZVis), which covers organ-
isational and financial aspects of higher education in Slovenia, and the
Resolution on the National Programme for Higher Education (2011–2020)
(NPVŠ11-20). The latter is a strategic document that defines the develop-
ment of higher education and emphasises the quality, excellence, diversi-
ty, accessibility, internationalisation and funding of higher education as
key objectives. Yet, it does not explicitly address gender issues, and objec-
tives and measures relating to gender equality are not specified. It is right
to say that this is document which is coming to an end and has yet to find
a successor.
While one can assert that some progress has been made in the last
decades, we can agree with Antić Gaber (2017, p. 12) that “overall, no fun-
damental changes have taken place”. Gender question is still largely off
the radar for policymakers and even more worrying for academia leader-
ship in the country.
18
emerged from the women’s movement and challenged traditional notions
of knowledge and knowing. Early feminist critiques of the academic field
“focused specially on the dominance of ‘male’ experience and the system-
ic exclusion of women as both subjects and objects of knowledge” (Kohli
& Burbules, 2013, p. 4). Yet in Slovenia an important parallel structural
change was in course: 1) in the process of the disintegration of Yugoslavia,
Slovenia had decided on independence; 2) it changed its political system
from a socialist-self-management one to a liberal democracy and 3) decided
on a market economy. It must be stressed that women, as Gaber puts it, “in
time following independence, shared the common belief that with democ-
racy, with political pluralism, with the competition of ideologies and polit-
ical parties, the time had arrived to understand the struggle for new rights”
(Gaber, 2015, p. 27). We witnessed important shifts and changes in our so-
ciety, our social space was filled with “numerous opportunities, while on
the other hand, brought an equal number of traps” (ibid.).
All of these shifts led to important changes in the positioning of
women in society generally and in academia too. Women’s initiatives were
influential enough to push through entities such as Parlamentarna komisi-
ja za žensko politiko (Parliamentary Commission for Women’s Policy,
1991) and Urad za žensko politiko (Office for Women’s Policy, 1992) and
to implement new laws and policies. The White Paper on Education (Bela
knjiga o vzgoji in izobraževanju) (Krek, 1995) highlighted gender equali-
ty as one of the main objectives of education; the amount of gender-relat-
ed research (gender inequalities, gender stereotypes) has increased. When
we consider higher education and gender equality today, we must men-
tion two documents that frame gender equality issues in higher educa-
tion and research: The Higher Education Act (ZVis), which covers organ-
isational and financial aspects of higher education in Slovenia, and the
Resolution on the National Programme for Higher Education (2011–2020)
(NPVŠ11-20). The latter is a strategic document that defines the develop-
ment of higher education and emphasises the quality, excellence, diversi-
ty, accessibility, internationalisation and funding of higher education as
key objectives. Yet, it does not explicitly address gender issues, and objec-
tives and measures relating to gender equality are not specified. It is right
to say that this is document which is coming to an end and has yet to find
a successor.
While one can assert that some progress has been made in the last
decades, we can agree with Antić Gaber (2017, p. 12) that “overall, no fun-
damental changes have taken place”. Gender question is still largely off
the radar for policymakers and even more worrying for academia leader-
ship in the country.
18
