Like all other areas of intellectual activity, science depends on historical circumstances, ideological beliefs and prevailing norms. Dominant discourses, valuations and perceptions related to gender differences in a certain society and culture influence scientific studies and scientific practice. The creation of conditions for gender equality in scientific work is a key component of the internal democratisation of science. The analysis has identified and articulated the reasons that it is useful for science if more people and more different perspectives are involved in the scientific community. It turns out that scientific research becomes more objective when unquestioned prejudices and biased evaluations are put in the spotlight. The same is true for the covert political and economic pressures on scientists. While analysing systemic/structural, epistemic and methodological problems in actual mainstream considerations of the status and opportunities of women in science, we are actually asking and examining where the obstacles are that do not allow women to participate fully in the work of scientific communities. We are also asking how we should fight gender inequalities and discriminatory practices in science and we find out that this is indeed very difficult. Namely, fighting against prejudice in science is something entirely different than, for instance, in politics or economics. In science we encounter the belief that there is no bias or prejudice, only scientific theories developed by science itself. The illustrated data are usually hidden from public view and criticism because they are understood as a matter of course. It is about covert forms of discrimination in science, which are reflected in the covert value assumptions about the role of women in science, in criteria for scientific work and scientific promotion, in the importance of respective scientific disciplines, in excellence in science. By questioning gender equality in science, we are reaching deeper than simply into the organisation of scientific and research activities, scientific and academic institutions. We begin to tackle many blind spots in the established views on science. The absence of reflection on equal opportunities in science brings at least two dangers with it. The first is the risk that many social and individual investments in human capital are lost if a large part of these investments do not materialise in a productive way. The other danger is a decline in the efforts for the equality of men and women in all spheres of life, which is one of the important goals of modern democracies and the development of societies. The above-mentioned problematics and the thematic topoi are tackled in the present monograph. A special attention in the monograph is paid to analysing the impact of the current financial and economic crisis – in particular, the disproportionate austerity measures in the field of higher education and research activities – on the disproportionately larger share of women employed in precarious occupations.
C.01 Editorial board of a foreign/international collection of papers/book
COBISS.SI-ID: 1550733The chapter aims to asses the evolving social situation of women in Southeastern Europe, former Yugoslavia and Slovenia after 1991, with particular emphasis on legislation, the representation of women in political and administrative office, other measures of equality (and inequalitity) between women and men such as health care and reproductive rights and discrimination of sexual minorities. While socialism was an obviously flawed system the authors showed that the change to a free- market system and democracy brought its own challenges. There is a limited understanding of democracy which can be seen in the state's attitude to women and sexual minirities, especially in the areas of family legislation, labour and reproductive rights.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 33354077The main focus of the article is on the use of derogatory discourse and discrediting in order to present poor people as ethically questionable and therefore not deserving support by the state. Social benefits recipients are assumed to be passive and to lack initiative and motivation. These characteristics are believed to be part of their personal makeup but also a result of the “generosity” of the welfare state that allegedly supports or even creates such behaviour. Welfare fraud and moral judgment of the poor is becoming a prevailing speech that leads to a behaviour conditionality. The main research question that is explored in the article concerns the consequences of focusing social policy on frauds and fraudsters. To show how the welfare state has been turned into a punitive state, the case of Slovenia is used and changes in its social legislation that stipulate the level and scope of social rights.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 4200037In the framework of the European project “Governance of Educational Trajectories in Europe” (GOETE) we have carried out a number of empirical researches on how educational trajectories and transitions of children and young people evolve. Who takes educational decisions that affect their present and later lives? This research was undertaken in 8 countries: France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and the UK. Apart from questionnaires and interviews with different actors involved in young people’s education, one part of data collection was asking students in their last year of compulsory education to write essays on their journeys through school education, the opportunities that have opened or closed for them, their experiences of the school, their feelings about the meaning of education for their lives, and their hopes and concerns for the future. This book wants to present the views of young people, less by writing about them but rather by providing a frame for their own voices to tell us what they think about their education and their lives in general. The essays capture a fascinating cross section of experiences that are highly personal but which also share many concerns relating to the process of growing up in contemporary Europe. Another reason why it is so important to give young people a voice – especially when thinking about educational reforms – is that many professionals working in the field of education do not get in contact with young people. Educational decisions are made without asking young people themselves for their needs and if they are asked many of them do not believe that responding can make a difference or they feel overburdened. Often, this results in suggestions that comply with dominant social and policy assumptions. Another reason why it is so important to give young people a voice – especially when thinking about reforms in education – is that many professionals working in the field of education do not get in contact with young people. Educational decisions are made about young people without asking them for their needs and if they are asked many of them do not believe that responding can make a difference. Often, this results in suggestions that comply with dominant social and policy assumptions.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 32702557This chapter builds on data collected in research on the everyday lives of gay men and lesbians in Slovenia, focusing on the families of origin and family relations. It pays special attention to the process of coming out and its consequences for further relationships among family members. It concentrates on the process of negotiating new family relations after coming out. The authors introduce the concepts of transparent closet and family closet to describe a situation in which family members are informed about a child's homosexuality but refuse to accept the consequences of their child's coming out. All of this holds important consequences for gay men and lesbians and their family members.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 56547682