So what did we do?
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The aim of the workshop, which was funded by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Umeå University and the Wallenberg foundation, was to explore gender structures in Sweden and the Seychelles from a cross-cultural perspective. During the workshop, many new insights were made. With speakers from such a range of disciplines and contexts, but with common focus on gender issues, this was hardly surprising.
Morning sessions - general gender issues
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Afternoon sessions - gender in education issues
So what did we learn and where do we go from here?One of the greatest insights were the number of features in common we recognised in our respective social environments. For example, when Mahrookh pointed to the "glass ceiling" tendencies in the Seychelles, many nodded in recognition. Women hold plenty of responsible positions and more than 40% of the parliament is represented by women, but when you start looking at the absolute top positions, women seem to be underrepresented, in spite of them being over-represented in all lower levels.
Further, gender structures in schools seemed to be disturbingly similar. Women are greatly over-represented in the primary school sector, girls outperform boys, masculine stereotypes hinder boys from realising their full potential, and though these issues are acknowledged, there are few concrete actions to change things. The day was, however, maybe a step in the right direction. There were plenty of brain-storm projects emerging. For example, we saw great potentials for comparative studies of Swedish and Seychellois proverbs, something which the Seychelles Creole Institute could help out with. We also came up with the project idea titled "Moving on from the Cane", which would address contexts such as the Seychelles, where corporal punishment has been forbidden, but where new alternative models for maintaining a good study environment are still to be developed. There were plenty more seeds sown and what they grow into remains to be seen. We from the C-RAVE team, who organised this, were however more than satisfied and we have been given plenty food for thought for future activities. It was also another example of how our Linnaeus-Palme exchange scheme is enriching our learning environments. Thank you all! Note also that the seminar was also attended by Kirk Sullivan, Anki Edlund, Hanna Söderlund and Satish Patel, who all contributed greatly to the discussions. |