On gender equality in Polish democracy

Maria Ossowska was a feminist and democrat. In her opinion, democracy meant equality of rights. Prejudice towards women not only prevented the development of democratic society, but wasere also a fundamental intellectual error. Her scholarly contribution in the field of democracy was complemented by engagement in public issues. How is this idea of equality - especially “being privileged or underprivileged” on the grounds of gender - implemented in contemporary, democratic Poland

Krista Bonello & Lena Wånggren (2023) : Working Conditions in a Marketised University System. Generation Precarity [book review]

Full bibliographic record: Krista Bonello & Lena Wånggren (2023). Working Conditions in a Marketised University System. Generation Precarity. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. ISBN: 978-3-031-42657-5Academia has undergone a shift towards a market- and competition-based governing system that is resetting its standards and values. This phenomenon, known as neoliberal and performative academia (Pereira, 2017; Vatansever, 2020), academic and epistemic capitalism (Fochler, 2016) or careless academia (Lynch, 2010), has intensified corporate culture at universities, imposing high expectations on academics in terms of their productivity and eroding their agency, autonomy and subjectivity. The book ‘Working Conditions in a Marketised University System. Generation Precarity’ builds on this volume of research on neoliberal academia, but its novelty lies in its primary focus on the personal experiences of precariously employed post-PhD academics in the UK. Their voices are brought together to discuss how precarious working conditions are intertwined with the stages of academic and research careers. This topic is presented over the course of seven chapters (including introduction and conclusion). [excerpt]peer-reviewe

Mapping activities, networks and needs of GE-practitioners

The successful implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs)1 in research organisations remains a difficult challenge. Problems typically stem from a lack of practitioners’ respective "know how" but are also related to scattered efforts at inter - and intra-organisational levels. The Horizon 2020 project ACT2 aims at overcoming these struggles in implementing GEPs by promoting institutional change through the advancement of Communities of Practice (CoPs). For this purpose, ACT in a first step carried out a Community Survey to map actors - practitioners and experts - who are engaged in the advancement of gender equality (GE) objectives at Research Performing (RPOs) and Research Funding Organisations (RFOs) across Europe. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of key results on GE implementation activities based on survey responses, as well as the experienced struggles and needs for improvement.Furthermore, first results of the conducted Social Network Analysis (SNA) are presented, showing some of the most central and well-connected regions but also gaps in the existing network of cooperation regarding GE

(In)visible learners or school as a space for negotiating integration? : challenges of working with migrant children through the lens of teachers

Poland has been becoming a migrant country over the past years, experiencing recently increased visibility of migrant children at schools. At the same time, the issue of their support and integration remains on the margin of educational policy and depends on the activity of local authorities and, above all, of school head-teachers and teachers. Drawing on the qualitative study carried out in 2020 within the project CHILD-UP Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation (Horizon 2020) in schools in Kraków and South-East Poland (where one of the centres for foreigners is located), this article comprises a discussion on the extent to which Polish schools are ready to accept migrant (including refugee) children, to enhance their agency and support integration processes. Therefore, it raises a question whether schools are able to effectively support migrant children linguistically as well as help them enter into peer groups in the course of their educational activities

Communities of practice and gender equality : fostering structural change in research and academia in Central and Eastern Europe

This chapter examines to what extent Communities of Practice (CoP) can facilitate conditions for effective gender equality interventions in research and academia in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the experience of the Community of Practice for Gender Equality in Central and Eastern Europe, this chapter particularly reflects upon the needs and expectations that have been voiced by the CoP members. It also examines the usefulness of CoP as a mechanism fostering the necessary conditions for advancing gender equality, including the agency of change actors and the engagement of organisational stakeholders, building up gender know-how, access to practical tools for designing evidence-based interventions, managing resistance, and framing gender equality within wider concepts and human and financial resources