Welcome!
Essen College of Gender Research
Constitutional conditions - Inequalities - Differences
Neither male nor female experience taken alone can deliver a comprehensive picture of social reality. For more than 15 years, the Essen College of Gender Research (EKfG) has therefore been examining the gender relationship and analysing diversities and commonalities. It considers biological features and their medical consequences, everyday reality, opportunities for social participation, and access to material and immaterial resources. Norms, values and rights are likewise included in the analysis in order to arrive at concrete findings for social practice.
The structure of the College with its current 43 members from 7 different faculties guarantees a high degree of interdisciplinarity with wide-ranging opportunities for cooperation, both in research and in promoting young researchers. One of the unique characteristics of the EKfG is its cooperation with members of the Faculty of Medicine under a single roof.
Recent News & Highlights
19.03.2024 | Public talk & book launch Upcoming events with visiting Professor Sylvia Walby
The EKfG is looking forward to welcoming Anneliese Maier Research Awardee Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE FBA FAcSS once again in person as its guest at the UDE in April 2024. As part of her visit, the EKfG is organising two public events in cooperation with the Women's & Gender Research Network NRW's Coordination & Research Office (KoFo) and a book launch in cooperation with KoFo and the Interdisciplinary Center for Integration and Migration Research (InZentIM).
Theorizing Violence and Gender - Public Talk, Essen, 15.04.2024, 16:30-18:00
Trafficking Chains. Modern Slavery in Society by Sylvia Walby and Karen Shire - Book Launch, Duisburg, 17.04.2024, 16:30-18:00
Please register beforehand.
02.01.2024 | Call for Participation Master Class "Violence in varieties of gender regimes" Centering around theoretical debates on the role of violence i
Centering around theoretical debates on the role of violence in varieties of gender regimes, the Essener Kolleg für Geschlechterforschung (EKfG) and the Koordinations- und Forschungsstelle des Netzwerks Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW are organizing and hosting a Master Class on “Violence in varieties of gender regimes – theoretical and empirical approaches” with Anneliese Maier Research Awardee Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE on April 16th, 2024.
28.11.2023 | New publication Saving the Modern Woman: Politics of Gender during Egypt’s Transitional Period
In her article "Saving the Modern Woman: Politics of Gender during Egypt’s Transitional Period" , published 2023 in the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, EKfG member Dr. Liina Mustonen discusses how specific gendered practices and ideas about female bodies were instrumentalized in the struggle for political authority during Egypt’s transitional period between 2011 and 2013. Based on an analysis of visual images and discourses, the article provides a contemporary example of the use of “modern” gendered subjecthood in creating hierarchies between women.
13.09.2023 | Event invitation Gender, Climate, Movement
Co-organised by the EKfG, the hybrid annual conference 2023 of RINGS „Gender, Climate, Movement: Feminist research and activism meet climate change and mobility" will take place from 18-20 October 2023 at the Zentrum für Geschlechterstudien/Gender Studies at University Paderborn. The English-language conference brings together international contributions that deal with intersectional gender perspectives, climate and mobility in science and activism not only symbolically and metaphorically, but also with a commitment to material, structural change in the world. Please register in advance.
11.09.2023 | Event invitation Towards a caring economy
The Fall Webinar Series 2023 "Shaping provisioning systems for social-ecological transformation" starts on October 13th by bringing together the Netzwerk Vorsorgendes Wirtschaften and the Foundational Economy. EKfG Managing Director Dr. Maren A. Jochimsen will be among the discussants about the relevance of care in addressing the ecological crisis. The aim is to stir a discussion on how (unpaid) care work builds the invisible basis of our current societies and how an engagement with feminist research on care can strengthen foundational economy approaches towards a social-ecological transformation.
15.08.2023 | Recording online! The Future of Gender Regimes
The future of gender regimes edited by Heidi Gottfried, Sylvia Walby and Karen Shire – special issue of Women’s Studies International Forum explores gender inequalities from a macro-perspective through cross-national analyses, discussing how to conceptualize gendered macro-level ideas and track changing gender relations. It introduces new gender regime varieties in regions including North Africa, Turkey, Japan, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Germany, fostering interdisciplinary discussions and highlighting the complexities of evolving gender inequalities. The webinar launching the special issue took place on 15 September 2023. The recording of the event is now online!
28.06.2023 | New publication Special Issue on the future of gender regimes
Following the workshop Gender Regimes 2 supported by the Anneliese Maier Research Award to Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE in Berlin in April 2022, a special issue on the future of gender regimes, published in the Women's Studies International Forum, is in progress. An impression of the special issue's content is given by pre-published articles, including "Social-democratic imaginaries of transformations in conservative gender regimes." by Prof. Dr. Karen Shire, former EKfG director and the article "The ambivalent trajectory of the German gender regime: Are female breadwinner families an indicator of a shift towards a public gender regime? " by EKfG board member Prof. Dr. Ute Klammer.
05.04.2023 | Now online! About Prof. Sylvia Walby
Professor Sylvia Walby, Department of Criminology and Law in Royal Holloway, University of London, holds the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Anneliese Maier Research Award (2018-2025) with the Essen College of Gender Research and the Institute of Sociology of the University of Duisburg-Essen as host institutions. Read more about her career, publications, research projects and activities now via the EKfG research website!
24.10.2022 | Webinar Invitation Violence and Society: Symposium with ISA Presidents
The International Sociological Association TG11 Violence and Society, co-coordinated by Prof. Sylvia Walby, Anneliese Maier Research Awardee at EKfG, is holding a virtual Violence and Society Symposium on November 15, 2022 (14.00-15.30 London GMT). The speakers are the current and recent ISA Presidents who have each addressed violence and society in their research: Sari Hanafi, Margaret Abraham, and Michel Wievorka. The symposium will bring together their expertise in response to interest across sociologists globally to hear each present their research on this topic and discuss the issues involved. This event will continue to generate international dialogue on violence and society.
13.10.2022 | UDE research magazine Prof. Dr. Ute Klammer in portrait
Prof. Dr. Ute Klammer, long-time EKfG board member, is profiled in the 1st issue of the new UDE research magazine. The interview with Katrin Koster paints an impressive picture of the IAQ Executive Director's biography, research and career. Klammer's research focuses on socially relevant questions such as flexibility and security on the labour market, work and family, old-age poverty, gender pay gap. The gender perspective is always an important analytical tool in these matters. In 2019, Klammer was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for her multiple contributions to scientific policy advice, especially in the field of gender equality and the further development of old-age provision.
04.10.2022 | Event invitation Inaugural UA Ruhr Networking Conference for At-Risk Researchers
Acknowledging the current geopolitical situation, the conference is especially geared towards at-risk researchers affected by the war in Ukraine. The event provides information about fellowships, research funding options and career development available to at-risk academics at UA Ruhr. There will also be opportunities to participate in research workshops and to engage in a variety of networking activities. EKfG-Member Prof. Karen Shire, Vice Rector at UDE for University Culture, Diversity and International Affairs, will be one of the first panelists to speak at the networking conference at RUB on 18-19 October 2022.
02.08.2022 | Academic distinction for EKfG Scholar in Residence Professor Sylvia Walby OBE elected as UK Fellow to the British Academy
The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies has welcomed to its Fellowship a record number of female academics in recognition of their achievements in the humanities and social sciences.
Among the 52 Fellows elected from 24 universities is Anneliese Maier Research Awardee Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE. The renowned sociologist is one of 29 (56%) women elected in 2022 - the highest proportion of women ever elected. EKfG congratulates Sylvia Walby warmly and looks forward to upcoming cooperations.
30.06.2022 | Conference report published Feminist and Social Theory in Times of Crisis – Master Class with Sylvia Walby
Centering around the theoretical approach of Anneliese‐Maier‐Research Awardee Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE, the EKfG and the Koordinations‐ und Forschungsstelle des Netzwerks Frauen‐ und Geschlechterforschung NRW organized a Master Class on „Feminist and Social Theory in Times of Crisis“ in Essen on April 19th, 2022. Twelve PhD students and postdocs had the opportunity to engage in an interdisciplinary exchange with the sociologist on current approaches to social and feminist theory. Details of the Master Class can be found in the conference report in the jubilee issue no. 50 of the journal Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW.
05.05.2022 | Anneliese Maier Research Award Gender Regimes Workshop 2
The second annual workshop on gender regimes, supported by the Humboldt Foundation Anneliese Maier Research Award to Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE, was held at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on 20-23 April 2022. A group of 22 international scholars from the U.S., UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany discussed trajectories of changes in gender regimes: what these changes are empirically, how they compare over time and place, and how they should be conceptualised and theorised in gender regime theory. The workshop built upon the work published in Social Politics in 2020. It offered a distinctive macro level perspective on changes in gender relations and led to lively and fruitful exchanges and resulted in a highly promising exchange. A joint publication is in planning.
25.08.2021 | online conference 11th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education
The aim of the 11th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education, held online during September 15-17, 2021, is to promote a gender-sensitive culture in our academic and R&I systems in light of the global challenges ahead of us. The contributions received will strengthen the well-established debates on gender equality in higher education and research as well as encourage mainstreaming the gender perspective in new domains such as national and regional funding agencies and the innovation sector. EKfG Managing Director Dr. Maren A. Jochimsen, EKfG Board members Eva Wegrzyn and Lara Altenstädter, as well as EKfG member Judith Hendricks will be among the contributers.
12.08.2021 | Call for Papers Violence against Women: Historical and Comparative Perspectives
Bringing together sociologists and historians, the joint Workshop of the Humboldt Foundation Anneliese Maier Award and the German Historical Institute London (GHIL), explores the relations between gender regimes and gendered violence in different settings. It looks at Britain and Germany in the 20th and 21st centuries in a global context and encourages comparative studies of gender violence, especially outside of armed conflict. Applicants are asked to submit papers by 1 October, 2021. The conference, organized by Christina von Hodenberg and Jane Freeland (GHIL), Sylvia Walby (Violence & Society Centre, City University of London) and EKfG Scientific Director
22.10.2020 | Report Launch and Webinar The Cost of Trafficking in Human Beings
A webinar on 29 October 2020 will highlight key findings from a new report on the Cost of Trafficking in Human Beings led by the Violence and Society Centre, City, University of London just published by the European Commission. The event will make the case for why a gender disaggregated approach that takes account of longer term harms is key to understanding the full costs associated with trafficking.
With contributions by the report authors, led by Anneliese Maier Research Awardee Prof. Sylvia Walby, a public Q&A, and discussion; chaired by EKfG Director Prof. Karen Shire.
20.10.2020 | Japan Zoominar at UC San Diego Women in Japan: Similar Challenges, Different Solutions
Although Japanese women face similar workplace challenges as women everywhere, they have to find different ways to change their work settings and remove obstacles of social expectations and subconscious bias. In a Zoominar, sheduled on Wednesday 01:30 a.m. CET, Karen Shire, Director of the Center for Gender Research at UDE in Germany, and Saki Tomita, Manager at TEPCO Ventures in Tokyo will discuss what is changing, how Japan compares, and what working women in Japan do to “lean in” and change their work environments.
15.10.2020 | Recording of Webinar now online Varieties of Gender Regimes edited by Anneliese Maier Research Prize Awardee Sylvia Walby, and Karen Shire
The seven open access contributions, published in Social Politics, Volume 27, Issue 3, Fall 2020, advance theorizing of gender-based inequalities in macro-historical and world-regional
perspectives.
The authors discussed their contributions
in a Webinar on September 24, 2020.
Past News & Highlights
Events in Englisch Language
Essen College of Gender Research works primarily in German language. Below you can find a selection of events of EKfG or its partner universities (in the framework of University Alliance Ruhr) that are held in English or are bilingual. In order to see all events of the EKfG, turn to the German version of the page.
EKfG Interdisciplinary Research Seminars
Within the interdisciplinary, german-english EKfG Research Seminars, the Essen College for Gender Studies invites the current holder* of the Marie Jahoda Guest Professorship for International Gender Studies at the Ruhr-University-Bochum as well as international cooperation partners of the members of the EKfG in a small circle.
Job offers & Co.
The office of the Essen College for Gender Studies forwards job advertisements with references to gender studies to interested parties.
For more information contact us
Essen College of Gender Research | Universitätsstr. 12 | R12 S06 H01 | 45117 Essen | Phone: +49 (0)201/183-4552 | ekfg@uni-due.de