The significant absence of expert women’s voices from media debates and academic events related to the EU Referendum has been widely reported. Roberta Guerrina, Toni Haastrup, Katharine Wright share a list of women EU experts and argue there are in fact many women voices on these issues and they are not difficult to find. More work needs to be done by political institutions, campaigns, and the media to engage women experts and their contributions in a mature and meaningful way

Guerrina, Roberta

Haastrup, Toni

Katharine, Wright

The significant absence of expert women?s voices from media debates and academic events related to the EU Referendum has been widely reported. Roberta Guerrina, Toni Haastrup, Katharine Wright share a list of women EU experts and argue there are in fact many women voices on these issues and they are not difficult to find. More work needs to be done by political institutions, campaigns, and the media to engage women experts and their contributions in a mature and meaningful way

The University of Manchester - Institutional Repository

Is it really that difficult to find women to talk about the EU Referendum?

Kent Academic Repository

Kent Academic RepositoryFull text document (pdf)Copyright & reuseContent in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated allcontent is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of researchThe version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.EnquiriesFor any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: researchsupport@kent.ac.ukIf you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.htmlCitation for published versionHaastrup, Toni and Guerrina, Roberta and Katharine, Wright  (2016) Is it really that hard to findwomen to talk about the EU?   .   Blog.DOILink to record in KARhttp://kar.kent.ac.uk/56319/Document VersionUNSPECIFIEDIs it really that difficult to find women to talk about the EU?  Roberta Guerrina, Toni Haastrup, Katharine Wright  It is now approximately six weeks from the date when the British electorate will vote in the EU Referendum. This has been billed as the vote of a generation, the opportunity to settle the ŝƐƐƵĞĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞh< ?ƐƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶŝŶƚŚĞhŽŶĐĞĂŶĚĨŽƌĂůů ?It was therefore unsurprising that when one of us tuned into ZĂĚŝŽ ? ?s PM programme on 12 May that this was the theme under discussion. We were however taken aback to hear correspondent, Chris Mason trailing a report by his colleague Eleanor Garnier on the difficulty of finding women to participate in discussions around the various social, economic and political issues entangled in this debate. In the end PM did not go into further discussion on the issue, which was somewhat disappointing, as the myth ĂďŽƵƚǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐĞŶŐĂŐĞŵĞŶƚǁŝƚŚĂŶĚŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐĞŽĨƉŽůŝƚŝĐƐƚŚĂƚactually needs addressing.  Even before the beginning of the official campaign, debates about the EU have been dominated by male voices. Within and outside academic circles, this has become a discussion point and, as further evidenced by the PM programme, a story in and of itself. Since the possibility of a referendum became a reality, we have heard time and time again, that there just arĞŶ ?ƚǁŽŵĞŶĞǆƉĞƌƚƐto contribute on the issues. On the few occasions we hear from women, they are being asked about so-ĐĂůůĞĚǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐŝƐƐƵĞƐ ?As women who work on the EU, we have been particularly frustrated by the way our contribution to our discipline and what is perhaps the most important debate for a generation has been relegated to the gender silo. This is not to say that gender and equality issues are not important (they are!) but women commentators can contribute to a full spectrum of issues, from economics, to security and immigration. Limiting space and opportunities for ǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐĞŶŐĂŐĞŵĞŶƚŝŶŽŶĞŽĨƚŚĞŵŽƐƚimportant debates in a generation ultimately sends a subtle, but damaging message, politics  ?ƉĂƌƚŝĐƵůĂƌůǇhƉŽůŝƚŝĐƐ ? ŝƐŶŽƚǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐ ? The crystallisation of gender binaries in ǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐĞŶŐĂŐĞŵĞŶƚǁŝƚŚƉŽůŝƚŝĐƐĂŶĚƉĂƚŚǁĂǇƐƚŽƉŽůŝƚĐĂůƉĂƌƚŝĐŝƉĂƚŝŽŶŵĂǇǁĞůůďĞŽŶĞŽĨthe most pernicious outcomes of the current debate.   We are frustrated by the significant absence of expert women ?ƐǀŽŝĐes from media debates, but also from academic events within our own networks. The problem is demonstrated by the volume of submissions of all male panels to the excellent Tumblr set up by Saara Sarma and the twitter account @EUPanelWatch ƚŽŶĂŵĞĂŶĚƐŚĂŵĞ ‘ŵĂŶĞůƐ ?ĂŶĚĚƌĂǁĂƚƚĞŶƚŝŽŶƚŽthe issue.  tĞĂƌĞƚŝƌĞĚŽĨĐŽŶƐƚĂŶƚůǇĂƐŬŝŶŐ ? ‘ǁŚĞƌĞĂƌĞƚŚĞǁŽŵĞŶ ? ?ŶĚŽĨĐŽƵƌƐĞthere are women! In fact, there are many of them and they are not difficult to find. Indeed, when the issue of the lack of women experts on the EU referendum debate came up a couple of weeks ago, we took it upon ourselves to compile a list of women from our professional and personal networks who we knew were capable of speaking to a lot of the issues under discussion. Most of these women are fellow social scientists from Universities and Civil Society organisations from across Europe. Beyond these, we also drew from the Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies Experts on Europe, a publically available resource. There are lots of women on there too. Given the expertise available within our professional associations such as Political Studies Association, but also initiatives like dŚĞ tŽŵĞŶ ?Ɛ ZŽŽŵ and #WomenKnowStuff, there is no excuse! It is disappointing that this conversation is still on-going. We find claims ƚŚĂƚƐƵŐŐĞƐƚƚŚĂƚƚŚĞƌĞĂƌĞŶ ?ƚǁŽŵĞŶĞǆƉĞƌƚƐŽƌƚŚĂƚƚŚĞǇĂƌĞĚŝĨĨŝĐƵůt ƚŽĨŝŶĚŝŶĚŝĐĂƚŝǀĞŽĨĂǁŝĚĞƌƐŽĐŝĂůĂŶĚƉŽůŝƚŝĐĂůĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚƚŚĂƚĐŽŶƚŝŶƵĞƐƚŽƌĞůĂƚĞǁŽŵĞŶ ?Ɛpolitical participation to the area of social politics.   ZĂƚŚĞƌ ? ƚŚĞ ĂďƐĞŶĐĞ ŽĨ ǁŽŵĞŶ ?s voices from the EU referendum debate speaks to two interrelated issues. Firstly, it raises the question about who is considered and expert and what expertise is valued. Secondly, it also highlights the vertical segregation of the academy, whereby only 20% of professors at UK universities are women. tŽŵĞŶ ?ƐĂďƐĞŶĐĞĨƌŽŵƚŚĞŚŝŐŚĞƐƚ ůĞǀĞůƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĂĐĂĚĞŵǇ ĐŽŶƚƌŝďƵƚĞƐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŝŶǀŝƐŝďŝůŝƚǇ ŽĨ ǁŽŵĞŶ ?Ɛ knowledge and contributions to the gendered production of knowledge. At Ă ƐǇŵďŽůŝĐ ůĞǀĞů ? ǁŽŵĞŶ ?Ɛabsence form expert panels and the wider debate reifies the position of elite men at the heart of the profession and their contribution to the production of knowledge of political institutions and processes. At a substantive level, the invisibility of women and gender issues in the debate highlights the implicit bias of political discourse and marginality of social justice in the debate.   There are examples of good practice that should be highlighted. For example, the Department of Politics at the University of Surrey held a gender balanced EU Referendum Question Time event. Ensuring gender balance is important not only because the range of views that can be aired in a discussion or debate, but at a symbolic level because it sends a message that EU politics is relevant to women. The Britain Thinks (2016) survey for the Fawcett Society ŚŝŐŚůŝŐŚƚƐĂĐŽŶƚŝŶƵĞĚŐĞŶĚĞƌŐĂƉŝŶǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐƉĞƌĐĞŝǀed knowledge about the EU and their subsequent ĞŶŐĂŐĞŵĞŶƚŝŶƚŚĞĚĞďĂƚĞ ?ǆĐůƵĚŝŶŐǁŽŵĞŶ ?ƐǀŽŝĐĞƐĨƌŽŵƚŚĞĚĞďĂƚĞ ?ĞŝƚŚĞƌĂƚthe level of the official campaigns, or in the context of expert opinions only serves to reinforce these assumptions. Considering that ǁŽŵĞŶŚĂǀĞďĞĞŶŝĚĞŶƚŝĨŝĞĚĂƐƚŚĞ ?ƐǁŝŶŐǀŽƚĞƌƐ ? in this referendum, it is striking more is not done by political institutions, including the campaigns themselves, and the media to engage this demographic group in a mature and meaningful way.    EU Referendum Question Time event, 11th May 2016, hosted by the Department of Politics, University of Surrey. Panellists (from left to right) Dr Laura Chappell (Surrey), Dr Susan Milner (Bath), Dr Paul Levine (Surrey), Dr Roberta Guerrina (Surrey), Dr Luke Mason (Surrey), Dr Simon Usherwood (Surrey). Photo by Katharine Wright     

Is it really that hard to find women to talk about the EU?

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Is it really that hard to find women to talk about the EU?

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