Page 62 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 62
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
everyday discriminatory praxes. Some of them have exhibited the wish to
visit or engage in feminist NGOs.
The only obstacle has been ignorance as regards obtaining knowl-
edge on deconstruing the persistence of gender mainstreaming in the in-
terpretation of the gender/sex division. On the other hand, there has been
a rewarding recognition of the alienation of women’s bodies, whereby
the reactions to this recognition were suitably diversified. In all debates,
I have cooperated in a just manner, revealing myself in the role of a wom-
an with certain demonstrated and discussed knowledges, skills and ex-
periences, performing a certain role, and not in an a priori authority of a
teacher. A teacher position has been humanised by the individualisation
procedure and the decomposition of unjust privileges.
The description of the digital flexibility of web lectures and semi-
nars has promoted the invention of less conventional and coded commu-
nication and praxis, and the situational introduction of actual socio-po-
litical topics not inscribed in the curriculum. One of these outer topics
was “gender relations in the anti-Covid-19 regime”. Some already public-
ly known observations have been thematised, e.g. the accelerated occur-
rence of domestic gender-based violence, and new burdens of women re-
lated to elementary schooling at home (Finley, 2020, para 3). In the class
for Gender-specific Socialisation, one student considered the curious oc-
currence – a non-sensible anti-Covid-19 measure determining the open-
ing hours for the supermarkets. During the first pandemic wave, pregnant
women were supposed to go to shop in the same time window in the ear-
ly hours as retired and handicapped persons, while it was known that old-
er people who got infected experienced severe Covid-19 symptoms (NIJZ
– National Institute for Public Health, May 27, 2020).
The university, like other institutions during an autocratisation
trend, is experiencing “executive aggrandizement” in that “elected execu-
tives weaken checks on executive power one by one, undertaking a series
of institutional changes that hamper the power of opposition forces to
challenge executive preferences” (Bermeo, 2016, p. 10). Yet, one might re-
alise that the marginalized idea of democratization inspired a new uncon-
ventional consolidation of some teachers and students that has occurred
in the anti-Covid-19 regime as well as the new comradeship and friend-
ly support amongst the groups of teachers. At least I have had such an ex-
perience with some of my feminist colleagues, and there are reports from
other countries, too (Dirik, 2020, para 7). These new phenomena of mi-
cro-democratisations and solidarity have intentionally or unintentionally
been ignored in Slovenia, not thematised in public or professional circles.
60
everyday discriminatory praxes. Some of them have exhibited the wish to
visit or engage in feminist NGOs.
The only obstacle has been ignorance as regards obtaining knowl-
edge on deconstruing the persistence of gender mainstreaming in the in-
terpretation of the gender/sex division. On the other hand, there has been
a rewarding recognition of the alienation of women’s bodies, whereby
the reactions to this recognition were suitably diversified. In all debates,
I have cooperated in a just manner, revealing myself in the role of a wom-
an with certain demonstrated and discussed knowledges, skills and ex-
periences, performing a certain role, and not in an a priori authority of a
teacher. A teacher position has been humanised by the individualisation
procedure and the decomposition of unjust privileges.
The description of the digital flexibility of web lectures and semi-
nars has promoted the invention of less conventional and coded commu-
nication and praxis, and the situational introduction of actual socio-po-
litical topics not inscribed in the curriculum. One of these outer topics
was “gender relations in the anti-Covid-19 regime”. Some already public-
ly known observations have been thematised, e.g. the accelerated occur-
rence of domestic gender-based violence, and new burdens of women re-
lated to elementary schooling at home (Finley, 2020, para 3). In the class
for Gender-specific Socialisation, one student considered the curious oc-
currence – a non-sensible anti-Covid-19 measure determining the open-
ing hours for the supermarkets. During the first pandemic wave, pregnant
women were supposed to go to shop in the same time window in the ear-
ly hours as retired and handicapped persons, while it was known that old-
er people who got infected experienced severe Covid-19 symptoms (NIJZ
– National Institute for Public Health, May 27, 2020).
The university, like other institutions during an autocratisation
trend, is experiencing “executive aggrandizement” in that “elected execu-
tives weaken checks on executive power one by one, undertaking a series
of institutional changes that hamper the power of opposition forces to
challenge executive preferences” (Bermeo, 2016, p. 10). Yet, one might re-
alise that the marginalized idea of democratization inspired a new uncon-
ventional consolidation of some teachers and students that has occurred
in the anti-Covid-19 regime as well as the new comradeship and friend-
ly support amongst the groups of teachers. At least I have had such an ex-
perience with some of my feminist colleagues, and there are reports from
other countries, too (Dirik, 2020, para 7). These new phenomena of mi-
cro-democratisations and solidarity have intentionally or unintentionally
been ignored in Slovenia, not thematised in public or professional circles.
60
