Gendered inequality, exploitation and violence takes both new and old forms in contemporary times. Three researchers and activists talk about the feminist theories that they draw on in their research.

Sian Norris will talk the insights that socialist feminism brings to her research on reproductive labour and exploitation. Egle Cesnulyte will discuss how sex work positive feminism influence her research on women’s agency and political economy. Jennifer Thomson will consider the co-optation of feminism through the critiques that feminist scholars, such as Nancy Fraser, have raised against neoliberalism.

Convenors:

• Fran Amery, University of Bath
• Jutta Weldes, University of Bristol

Speakers:

• Sian Norris is a writer and journalist focusing on women's and minority rights. She is the Chief European and Social Affairs reporter at Byline Times. Her book on the far right's war on reproductive rights will be published by Verso in spring 2023. Her reporting has appeared in the Guardian, the i, openDemocracy, the New Statesman and elsewhere.
• Egle Cesnulyte is a senior lecturer in Politics and International Development at the University of Bristol.
• Dr Jennifer Thomson is a senior lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Bath.

About the webinar series

Feminist perspectives have inspired a diverse range of theoretical and methodological innovations in social research over decades. Different forms of feminism have generated new disciplines and sub-disciplines, from women’s studies, masculinities studies and queer studies to feminist security studies and eco-feminism, many of which have emerged from debates and challenges between feminists.

Feminists have led the way in developing philosophical insights, methodological innovations and analytical tools for researching complex social problems, revealing not only their gendered dimensions but multiple intersecting forms of oppression, inequality and dominance underlying and generating them. Feminist thought has historically evolved within the crucible of social movements and has from time to time been challenged, bifurcated, reshaped and reinvigorated within these movements.

Meanwhile feminist perspectives continue to inspire activists and contemporary social movements such as the International Women’s Strike, the #MeToo movement, secondary school students’ exposure of rape culture in their schools, the global anti-street harassment movement and women’s environmental movements (to name just a very few).

Through a series of 3-4 webinars, we will explore the rich potential of Feminist Perspectives to inform the conceptualisation and design of research in the social sciences. Over the course of three webinars, we will invite established academics, activists, early career and doctoral researchers to talk about why they are feminists, the forms of feminism that have inspired their work and, crucially, how feminist analytical perspectives have been productive in the conceptualisation, design and conduct of their research.

The webinar series aims to stimulate dialogue between researchers at various stages of their careers and with different degrees of knowledge and commitment to feminist perspectives. While particularly aimed at doctoral researchers, it is open to academics and non-academics from across different disciplines within and beyond the five institutions that make up the South West Doctoral Training Partnership.