The Gender and Diversity BA programme and the central equality team at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences have responded to the current crisis with a joint statement published on the programme’s website. The publication also addresses the global scrutiny of gender studies, which is currently linked to Covid-19.
Prof. Dr Eva Maria Hinterhuber, Professor of Sociology specialising in gender studies, discusses intersectional challenges relating to COVID-19 from the perspective of gender and diversity studies
Could you give us an overview of the current challenges from a gender and diversity perspective in the era of COVID-19?
In recent weeks, the relationship between gender and diversity in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has become a topic of discussion in politics, society and the media. For example, as a result of social distancing measures, there has been a rise in domestic violence. The gender-specific challenges of juggling working from home and home schooling are being discussed. The poor working conditions and unfair pay faced by female-dominated occupational groups – such as supermarket cashiers, care workers for the elderly and nurses – are coming under the spotlight. Delivery services, which are male-dominated, are also provided under poor working conditions and for low pay, with employees in these roles often having a migrant background as well. It is emphasised that people in these professions – now recognised as systemically vital – hold society together, as is particularly evident in times of crisis; at the same time, there is criticism that they nevertheless find themselves in the lower and lowest pay brackets.
The closure of food banks following the ban on public gatherings, in turn, affects the poorest sections of the population. People in precarious employment are particularly hard hit by the economic fallout. This is all the more true for people in particularly vulnerable situations, such as those in refugee camps.
Are there also challenges in the international context?
Reports from abroad have indicated that, due to structural discrimination within the US healthcare system, people of colour account for a disproportionately high number of deaths attributable to COVID-19. There have also been reports of attacks on transgender people in the context of lockdown regulations in countries such as Panama, where men and women are allowed to leave the house on alternate days.
For the healthcare systems of poor countries, the pandemic poses an even greater challenge – a circumstance that can also be viewed in the context of colonial social and exploitative structures, the effects of which are still felt today.
What role do Gender and Diversity Studies play in the COVID-19 pandemic?
Exploring the interplay between different categories of inequality and contributing ideas on how to overcome their negative effects lies at the heart of transdisciplinary Gender and Diversity Studies.
The aim is to move closer to equal opportunities for participation for all. The relevance of the discipline’s approaches in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly demonstrated by the issues mentioned. Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences recognised the relevance of the discipline from the outset and is the first university of applied sciences to offer the Bachelor’s degree programme in ‘Gender and Diversity’ with a strong practical focus.
Anti-democratic attacks on Gender and Diversity Studies
In the past, there have been repeated anti-democratic attacks on Gender and Diversity Studies. What can you tell us about the acceptance of this academic discipline?
Gender and Diversity Studies have been the target of anti-democratic attacks not just since the coronavirus crisis. However, crises are known to give rise to arguments and statements that portray emancipatory, feminist or progressive discourses as ‘luxury problems’. In the context of the coronavirus, as early as mid-March, Cicero writer Alexander Kissler promoted the narrative that the natural sciences at German universities were being dominated by political science and gender studies. By placing the latter disciplines in quotation marks, the journalist denies their scientific validity. The AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag also employs this selective juxtaposition of pharmacy and gender studies with regard to their supposed benefits, coupled with the assertion that gender studies professorships could ‘all be scrapped’ – and linked to the demand to cease their state funding.
The association ‘Deutsche Sprache’, which regularly makes its presence felt through criticism of gender studies and gender-neutral language, recently attracted public attention with a Facebook post that was widely picked up by the media. According to the post, billions of euros – supposedly available in Germany for research into gender and ‘gender politics’ – are now lacking in hospitals and in scientific research (including virology and pharmacy). This was taken up, for example, by Josef Kraus’s article ‘Forget Corona – Study Gender’ on the Tichys Einblick platform; the ‘Gender and Diversity’ degree programme at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences is specifically mentioned here.
Not only is this line of argument based on grotesquely inaccurate claims and fabricates connections that do not exist – it also follows a specific, all-too-familiar pattern: By focusing on a distorted image of the discipline that one has oneself created, it becomes possible to sidestep the truly important questions that might shake the very foundations of one’s own convictions (questions regarding the social and structural revaluation of care work, fair pay for the occupational groups mentioned above, the orientation of the healthcare system towards the common good rather than financial profit, and much more).
The need for a comprehensive academic perspective in times of the COVID-19 crisis
Does the lack of scientific acceptance concern gender studies alone?
Firstly, singling out gender studies for attack obscures the fact that it is a scientific discipline and is embedded within a broad, interdisciplinary and methodologically rigorous field of research. Gender studies is an interdisciplinary subject that brings together theories and methods from a wide range of disciplines such as sociology, history, biology, political science, economics, medicine, etc., and is consequently linked to the methodological approaches of these various disciplines.
This means that gender studies must always adhere to the established practices of the various disciplines. Criticism of gender studies – or the denial of its scientific validity – consequently extends to a critique of the relevant disciplines, their theoretical and methodological foundations, and the entire scientific system. Thus, the attack on gender studies represents a general scepticism towards the social sciences and academia in general, which ultimately categorises research findings as ‘desirable’ or ‘undesirable’ and equates them with ideological convictions.
Where do you see a specific need for action when considering Gender and Diversity Studies in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Against the backdrop of a societal crisis of unprecedented and global proportions, a comprehensive perspective is required within the sciences – one that is not confined to the natural or health sciences, but which examines society and communal life as a whole. The priority, therefore, is to defend Gender and Diversity Studies and to demand a critical engagement with them – if we are not to leave the field to right-wing populists, who regularly distinguish themselves by their blanket denigration of Gender Studies. The example of the EU Member State Hungary clearly illustrates where things can lead if such attacks go unchallenged: by banning gender studies, Hungary is not only undermining academia as such, but also eroding the ideals of liberal democracy, such as equality, tolerance and minority rights. As the Executive Board of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences has emphasised, drawing on Giovanni Boccaccio, we must resolutely oppose the ‘poisoning of social life and human relationships’ and the ‘barbarisation of civilised conduct’.
