Lean in and freeze your eggs: The gendered nature of work in the 21st century

SE Lean in and freeze your eggs: The gendered nature of work in the 21st century.

taught in English summer term 2019 & 2020 at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Content

In recent years successful business leaders suggested that all it takes for women to pursue a career is to “Lean in” (Sheryl Sandberg) and make it work. Moreover, businesses offer their female employees the chance to freeze their eggs, so that they could pursue family plans later on in their life. All of this suggests that there is an issue in balancing career, family life and gender norm expectations. The course Lean in and freeze your eggs: the gendered nature of work in the 21^st century critically examines these norm expectations from an intersectional perspective. Looking at the nexus of gender, body, mind and work students will discuss to what extent the «ideal worker» still follows a normative masculine understanding.

As many studies have shown, the workplace is hallmarked by inequality regimes. Age, dis_ability, social class, ethnic background, and gender are just some of the social markers that potentially influence a person’s career trajectory, their perceived fitness for a job, as well as their general well-being. The course, therefore, examines the co-construction of job-gender-body-mind. It hereby critically examines the post-feminist narrative of “leaning in” and its manifold limits from an intersectional perspective.

Methods

Classes will be a mixture of individual and group exercise. Students will be asked to choose three texts from the syllabus. They should choose one, they like to present during class, and two which they like to summarize prior to class. The presentation as well as the summaries should comprise the key aspects of the chosen texts as well as some critical reflections. The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes. The summaries should comprise 500-700 words and at least three points which the student would like to discuss in class (including a brief argument for each of these three discussion points).

Students are, furthermore, required to write an online-learning journal within a week of each session. The learning journal entries comprises of at least 400 words, reflecting the insights of each session. Students will be provided with some guiding questions for preparation of the texts and the learning journal.

Practice Project

taught in German at WU in 2019W and 2020S

Content: Students work on problems which are presented by practitioners. Thereby, they apply all their knowledge accumulated in the courses of the SBWL Diversity Management and previous classes.

Method: key responsibility to recruit practitioners and coach students, students present their progress reports regularly.

 

Diversity Management in Practice

taught in English at WU Vienna in 2019S & 2020S

Co-teaching with experts from practice.

Key responsibilities: introduction, support and grading

Further information following the link.

 

Strategic Diversity Management

taught in German at WU Vienna in 2019S, 2019W

Co-teaching, focuss on Measuring Diversity, Diversity Culture and Resistance.

Further information following the link.

 

Introduction to HR, Leadership and Organisation

taught in German at WU Vienna in 2019S and 2020S.

co-teaching, key responsibility: seminar part for deepening the comprehension of lectures and literature.

Further information following the link

 

Gender & Diversity in International Context

Seminaristische Übung: Gender & Diversity in the International Context

taught in english, winter term 2018, Freie-Universität Berlin

Social categories such as "gender", "social class", "ethnicity" or "religion" play a major role in organizations and societies. They are based on a historically and culturally produced order and are associated with stereotyping and hierarchization. It is important to understand these socio-cultural classification processes and their effects in order to gain knowledge about discrimination processes and to reduce discrimination. This course considers the concepts of gender and diversity and the tensions between them, especially in international contexts. The reflection on one's own values, modes of action and communication styles as well as reflection on the Eurocentric perspective forms the basis for discussion skills, team skills, moderation skills and leadership skills in intercultural and international contexts. It is a prerequisite for professional activities in companies and organizations worldwide. In an awareness training, the students are sensitized to dealing with stereotyping and ascribed social differences. They learn to reflect personal attitudes and values. In particular, they learn to recognize and reflect on racist judgements. They can also reflect upon the perspective from which they speak in international contexts and thus learn how to deal professionally with diversity in complex situations in international contexts.

 

Introduction to Gender Studies

PS Einführung in Theorien und Methoden der Gender Studies

taught in German, winter term 2018, at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

 

Diversity in Engineering

Seminar: Vielfalt in der Technik (Diversity in Engineering)

taught in German at the Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg (summer term 2016) and at the Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt (winter term 2016/17)
elective seminar for undergraduates and postgraduates

 

Basics of Organisation

Lecture & Tutorial: VU Grundlagen der Organisation (Basics of Organisation)

taught in German at TU Wien (every term from 2012 until 2016, at least one class a term)
compulsory class for bachelor students in business informatics and and industrial engineering as well as for master students in medical computer science

Gender and diversity in team work at MINOA PhD school

This workshop addresses issues of what makes a great team and potential benefits of working in an inclusive team. To this end, participants will learn about implicit associations and how those might – sometimes unwittingly – impact themselves or colleagues. Personal experiences of the participants will be related to empirical evidence.

The aims of the workshop are:
    •    to gain insights in how gender and diversity might impact collaborations and career trajectories;
    •    to strengthen communication skills and collaboration;
    •    to initiate a reflexive process towards inclusive practices.

Topics:
    •    Gender Diversity & Intersectionality in STEM
    •    Implicit Associations in STEM
    •    How does gender and intersectionality influence collaborations?

    •    Inclusion – what’s the benefit and how to achieve it?

Methods: Reflexive excercises, self-evaluation, Bingo, Group discussions, group work.

facilitated during the 1st MINOA PhD school, Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization meets Data Science, Hotel Hermitage ISCHIA, Italy
June 25-28, 2019 http://www.iasi.cnr.it/minoa/speakers/

Classism

in German: Klassismus - die subtile Wirkung der sozialen Herkunft (Classism - the subtile effects of social background)
2 day workshop together with Andrea Patek, comissioned by the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Women* at the University of Vienna, in winter term 2013 and summer term 2015.

Tutor Trainings

several continous education courses to train students becoming tutors on group dynamic, counseling, project planing, commissioned by the Tutoriumsprojekt of the Austrian Student Union

Workshop on Scientific Work

commissioned by the Austrian Student Union, part of the "Frauen_Ideen_Fabrik", April 2015

selected talks

• Günther, Elisabeth Anna. 2020. Gender & Digitalisierung. ExpertInnen-Talk über künftige Herausforderungen im Rahmen von "Wien: Genderfit seit 15 Jahren!" Wien, 01.07.2020
• Günther, Elisabeth Anna (2019): Vielfältig zum Ziel. Zweck von und Ideen zur Förderung der Diversität in Unternehmen. ESF Jahrestagung 2019, Wien, 05.12.2019.
• (K)ein Ausschluss zwischen den Zeilen: die Wirkung von impliziten Bias in der Lehre. ((No) Exclusion between the lines: Effects of Implicit Bias in Teaching.)
  invited talk as part of an event organised by the Committee on Equal Treatment at TU Wien (linked announcement in German), Wien 15.11.2018
• Der ideale Student. Intersektionale Dynamiken in der Universitären MINT-Lehre. (The Ideal Student. Intersectional Dynamics in Teaching STEM at University.) talk at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt 12.11.2018
• Der ideale Student. Intersektionelle Ungleichheiten durch MINT-Lehre an der Universität. (The Ideal Student. Intersectional Inequalities through Teaching STEM at University) talk to the Working Group Gender and Diversity Management at the Austrian Ministry for Science, Research and Economy, Wien, 19.12.2017.
• Count on (big) data? Some thoughts about data analytics. Talk at the Employer Brand Management conference 2017, London, 12.12.2017.
• Der ideale Student. Warum Geschlecht im Studium an der TU Wien eine Rolle spielt. Talk as part of the 'Monat der freien Bildung' ("month of free education"), 17.05.2016
• The ideal student. Intersectionality in STEM education.  Talk at the Gender Hotspot meeting of the multidisciplinary research group Gender and Power in Politics and Management, Radboud University, 19.03.2015.
• Discussant on Gender and Regional Norm Diffusion: Debunking Eurocentrism. Granddeur, organized by the multidisciplinary research group Gender and Power in Politics and Management, Radboud University, 12.03.2015.

panel discussions

• Hochschulpolitischen Gesprächen der Österreichische Gesellschaft für Geschlechterforschung (Higher Education Policy Talks by the Austrian Association of Gender Studies)
  panelist on the topic "The (ambivalent) State of Gender Studies in Austria"