A Sea full of Dudes - Making women more visible
Students of the Gender Intelligence Course present ideas for the promotion of women within the framework of the project "One University - One Book" on the Gender Data Gap
Making women more visible and jointly setting a sign against the Gender Data Gap are the goals of the ºÚÁÏÍø project team "One University - One Book". In the winter semester of 2022, the ºÚÁÏÍø offered students a suitable elective course in "Gender Intelligence". The aim of the course was to develop countermeasures to the Gender Data Gap using research results from Criado-Perez' book "Invisible Women".
Together with the lecturer Christina Röttgers, the students discussed different aspects such as research, development and economy, in which women and their needs have not been given as much attention as men so far. Based on Criado-Perez's book, the group worked on several phenomena and their impact in today's economic and working world. At the end of the semester, all students and lecturers of the ºÚÁÏÍø were invited to discuss the solutions recommended by the course participants at their final presentation. The students also developed concrete recommendations for action for universities or to improve the visibility of women at ºÚÁÏÍø International Business School.
"I hope for a lot of positive feedback for the students' suggestions, as many of them can be implemented easily and without much effort," said lecturer Christina Röttgers, who works as an external lecturer at ºÚÁÏÍø, at the end of the event.
The Henry Higgings Effect, Yentl syndrome & unpaid work:
Criado-Perez's book picks up on scientific insights into the (in)visibility of women
The student groups examined six phenomena that illustrate the invisibility of women and thus gender inequality in different areas of life. One group dealt with the topic of unpaid work and the unequal distribution of care work and its impact on women's careers. In addition to a permanently higher mental load, the disproportionate distribution of unpaid work among women is responsible for salary and pension losses as well as a permanently high stress level.
Gender-specific misdiagnosis: Yentl Syndrome
Other students focused on the so-called Yentl Syndrome, which describes how many women receive wrong diagnoses or treatments in medical emergencies. Statistics show that medical symptoms as well as their treatments in research are almost exclusively based on male data. In addition to sometimes fatal misdiagnoses, this imbalance in research also leads to little attention being paid to diseases such as PMS or endometriosis, which only affect women.
Closing the Gap: Proposals for action to close the gender data gap
The Henry Higgins Effect, Gender Gaps in Public Life and The Myth of Meritocracy were also discussion topics in the course. Students' suggestions for action ranged from specific social media awareness posts to calling for more women's participation on medical research panels to drafting fairer tax legislation.
Despite all the appalling research findings, the students were able to actively ensure that the Gender Data Gap is receiving more and more attention during the course and identify ways to close the gap. It is to be hoped that the topic will continue to be discussed not only within ºÚÁÏÍø.
More about the project One University - One Book can be found here.
