8 March marks International Women's Day - a day to celebrate the achievements of women. In our Sociology department, led by Professor Catherine Donovan, we have much to celebrate!
Our department is committed to advancing gender equality and gender equity in society. We recognise that every person has different circumstances in life, and as such, each person requires different levels of resources and opportunities to enjoy equality.
While we have much to celebrate in terms of the achievements of women globally, we are also aware of significant gender inequalities that persist. Through our pedagogical practice and research, we will continue to ask questions, seek answers, engage in dialogue, and push boundaries so that we are closer to a world that is more equal, inclusive, and just.
Read on to discover how we reflect this commitment through our teaching and research and take a look at our Women in Research staff profiles to see what is being conducted by women across different disciplines across the university.
In our undergraduate and postgraduate modules, we examine the impacts of colonization, capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and xenophobia on the lives of women.
We draw upon the work of feminist and decolonial scholars to interrogate the structural causes of inequality, discrimination, and marginalisation.
Using an intersectional lens, we reflect on the political, social, and economic conditions needed to achieve gender equity and social justice. We trouble gendered expectations in society that keep women subordinate.
Most of our researchers in our Violence and Abuse research area are women committed to ending violence and abuse in society. This includes permanent senior academics such as Professor Nicole Westmarland, a leading expert on domestic violence interventions and postgraduate research students such as Ayrushi Dutt who explores understandings of honour in forced marriages in British South Asian Communities.
Our other research area: Communities and Social Justice, includes staff such as Dr Alison Jobe who examines sex work, trafficking, asylum, and migration and Dr Sui Ting Kong who examines violence against women in political and personal spaces using participatory action research.
Recently, UN Women commissioned Dr Alice Nah to write their 2022 Recommendations on the Protection of Women Human Rights Defenders in Migration Contexts.
/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/departments-/sociology/SASS_Landscape_1.jpg)