So will your thesis have a gender perspective?

Uhm....

The G question, always throws me... 'where is the gender analysis in that?' ... ah... uhm.... yes of course, not problem, its just....

So it happened again tonight at the PhD roundtable, we were discussing someone's work about gender and and the 1913 lockout, interesting stuff says I - in a 'has nothing to do with what I am doing', sort of a way.

The reading was an article providing a framework for taking a gender analysis to history, not the easiest read, but ploughed through it happily enough, and if I am honest did not think about it too much.  Grand stuff, job done.

Until... so, Anna, how do you think this reading is relevant to your work?

Don't get me wrong, I am a 'feminist' (see earlier blog),  in fact I would say I am pretty clear about the gender equality case, and what it means in my life and in society more generally.  I am after all a working mother, loads of gender stuff going on there.  But could I honestly say I deeply connect with the women's movement? Probably not, though I am not sure why.  Maybe a movement of 50% of the population, is just to diverse to feel a deep sense of connection to the entire thing?  Bits of it absolutely - violence against women, abortion, childcare, employment discrimination, sharing care work - all subjects I would get out on the streets for (and likely bore the pants of an unsuspecting relative after a few drinks).  And yet still, somehow the whole gender thing, just does not seem to crop up instinctively for me.

So, what does all this have to do with my thesis... probably needs more than the back of an envelope response but here is a start:

1. Gender informs different NGOs in different ways  - generalised women's organisations, specific issue based orgs that disproportionatley affect women, and others who do (or at least should) integrate a women's persective in their work.
2. Who does the advocacy and on whose behalf - why is the CEO of the Irish Nurses Organisation a man? Does it matter?
3. If the 'targets' of advocacy are by definition more mainstream, how does gender play out - often women are accused of being 'screechy' in the media, not a charge you are likley to hear against men.
4. Another interesting though from today's roundtables: the 'Us and I' conflict. Women talk about 'the movement' or 'we', men tend to talk more about 'I did' - this was a historical take but does resonate with NGO activism today.

Just thoughts, but this is likely to play out, and I should probably get my head around it (at last?!) ... not least in the the case studies I select.

"the subordination of women pre-dates capitalism and continues under socialism"
"We can write the history of that process only if we recognise that 'man' and 'women' are at once empty and overflowing categories"
(Joan W. Scott, 1986)

Reading

Well its taken a bit longer than I anticipated, but beginning to feel like I am getting into the reading on participatory democracy. Some if it is very tough going, some of it really exciting.  The problem is now I don't know where to stop, the more I read the broader it gets. How important is the earlier theoretical stuff, should I concentrate on more recent writing?  How much do I need to know before I start to structure something? And all the while, the more I read the more it feels like I am forgetting.

Every time I go to the library I discover another immobile pile of books, each online search reveals more articles.  It always was going to be a very broad area of reading, I guess I thought I could keep it narrow, just participatory democracy says I.

With a pile of books to one side, a stash of photocopying on the shelf above me, and a drop box folder full of unread journal articles, do I keep going or stop, take stock of where I am and have a go at describing how I might write about this literature?

Recently, I lot of people have started asking 'how is the PhD going?'.... Slow, says I, but it is going.

Challenge?

Reading about democracy at the moment and came across this:

The first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.

- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Communist Manifesto

It cannot all be about participation in the sense of consultation, participation has to mean being the decision-makers not just influencing the decision-makers. Is there a risk with the focus on civil society and NGOs that the response to the democratic deficit becomes about one elite talking to another elite, rather than any substantial shift in power. Then again, how is such a shift imaginable if the conditions do not become more conducive, and maybe that where the NGOs come in?

The last three months reading have focused on participatory democracy, there are 42 references in my Zotero folder, and I have moments of beginning to think the reading is forming into something  - just fleeting senses mind you that disappear rather rapidly!  At a guess I would say I am half way to being able to write something.  That's just a stab in the dark mind you.

42 reference in 3 months that does not seem particularly speedy.

Summer time, and the living is?

I think perhaps I and every other Phd student I have met to date, has/had fantastic plans for increased summer productivity.  Well at least for me, despite the cooperative and miserable weather, the results have been disappointing.

That's not to say I have not done a bit.  I dealt with my doctoral panel, and have got a reasonable start on my literature review on participatory democracy, however I don't have a deep sense of satisfaction that that nut has been cracked... far from it.  And I do feel a bit disappointed with myself.

So what went wrong? What happened to the long endless summer days, filled with books, journal articles, and my yellow highlighter (albeit a virtual one)?

Well first, I got to May and the end of the course work and assignments, and I was really really tired.  It was a long slog between January and May, and we ended up travelling a good bit in June, so I took a very legitimate break.

July and August?  Not too sure, a few things going on there:

1. Fell into the perennial trap of assuming these months would be blissfully long with loads of spare time, shockingly they were just as short as any other month.
2. Monday is my core PhD day, and this may sound a bit lame, but there are a lot of bank holidays over the summer!
3. We had a bunch of visitors - not really the done thing to slope off with the books when you are supposed to be entertaining.
4. A very long Danish murder mystery series called 'The Killing' - 20 episodes... enough said!
5. I was still tired.

The last week has been much better though, think I just had to reconcile myself with more realistic expectations.

Still planning on getting that draft lit review on democracy done for October though, and looking forward to getting back into the swing of term.

The living is not easy, but it is interesting, varied and satisfying... next year though I might just remind myself that there are 30 days in June, 31 in July and 31 in August.  It is the summer, not a parallel  temporal reality.

There is a big shadow where there is much light

Interesting take on the rush to transparency and openness in government and politics, by Ivan Krastev.

Guest Blog

Wrote a guest blog for Dochas on the arguments for global equality using material prepared for a class presentation.

Feels a bit inadequate, its a summary really, and I am not sure that each of the arguments is really for an equality based response to global injustice.

Though I am very interested in the comments, one so far, I wonder if there will be others?

Sorry I am late... I had a meeting with my doctoral panel!

I quite like the sound of that, sounds serious!

I have a doctoral panel. Four people who are charged with offering me feedback, support and constructive criticism.  Feels like a bit of a luxury to be honest, I can't remember ever having four people read something I have written and offer me thoughtful and considered feedback. I was quite excited going in, nervous in fact.  Me facing four experienced academics! I even dressed up.

Unfortunately my panel was one the the last of a full day of panel meetings, and interested and all as they may be, I think most of them were legitimately exhausted.

Still though I did get some useful feedback, particularly in terms of some of the questions which were asked.  Particularly questions about how I intend to deal with criticisms of NGOs from those who question their contribution to democratic inclusiveness from a left wing (rather than the more predictable right wing) perspective.  Criticisms I am very aware of, having faced them, but nonetheless will offer a challenge, particularly if I make any attempt to characterize the organisations I look at, which I suspect I will need to.

I did have a couple of questions myself, but we did not get that far.  Being the second last panel of the day, they were under a bit of pressure to make up the time that had been lost.

So, while perhaps not quite the experience I was hoping for, still an interesting opportunity.  I think next time I will pick a much earlier time slot, and have very specific points that I wish to discuss (unless of course I have good reason to seek a less rigorous process!).

I am very happy with who is on the panel though, and I think this could prove a useful resource over the next few years.