Queering and diversifying gender in equality work at European higher education institutions

AutorIn
Mense, Lisa; Sera, Stephanie; Vader, Sarah

Jahr
2019

in
Gender (2019), Heft 1, S. 78–91.

Typ der Publikation
Journal

Schlagworte
Queer, Gender, Gleichstellung, Hochschule, Antidiskriminierung, EU

Abstract
Against the background of recent changes to EU legislation to meet the demands and needs of LGBTIQ* communities, the authors seek to situate a queered and diversified un-derstanding of gender firmly at the centre of the gender equality discourse in higher edu-cation (HE). Based on case examples, the le-gal and discursive status quo in German and Dutch HE institutions as well as actors’ mo-tivations, challenges and opportunities are examined through a queer lens. The results highlight how differently EU legislation is transposed into national law. They also show that change is currently driven by highly mo-tivated individual actors, be they students, gender equality and diversity officers, or in-dividual institutions. We argue that queer ing and diversifying should be understood and used as modes to reflect on and ana lyse the processes that lead to heteronormative un-derstandings of gender in HE and to develop strategies that take the complexities of gen-dered identities and discrimination into ac-count.