Gender Institute 4th anniversary

The fourth anniversary of the ANU Gender Institute was celebrated with a public lecture from distinguished Professor Sally Engle Merry (NYU), a panel discussion, book launch and the annual prize presentations for excellence in gender research.

Professor Engle Merry spoke on:

“Erasing Women’s Differences? Global Essentialisms and Intersectionality in Gender Research and Policy”

The talk examined ongoing tensions between claims to women’s rights as a group and recognition of the vast diversity of women’s lives across class, race, nation, religion and culture.

A recording of the public lecture is available for download below.

Following the public lecture, a panel discussed the importance of recognising the diversity and complexity of women’s experiences in global movements to redress violence and inequality. The panellists were:

Sally Moyle, Principal Sector Specialist for Gender, DFAT
Margaret Jolly, Professor/ ARC Laureate Fellow School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific
Bina d’Costa, Peace, Conflict and War Studies Program, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

Fiona Jenkins, Sally Engle Merry and Panel

From left: Bina d’Costa, Sally Engle Merry, Fiona Jenkins, Sally Moyle and Margaret Jolly

The panel discussion also featured a public Q&A, facilitated by Fiona Jenkins, convener of the ANU Gender Institute.

The event was well-attended by approximately 160 people, who enjoyed light refreshments following the public lecture in the John Curtin School of Medical Research foyer.

2014 Prizes for Excellence in Gender Research

The annual Gender Institute prizes for excellence in gender research in 2014 were announced. The Prizes were presented by ANU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Young AO.

Honours thesis:

Bianca Hennessy, Melanesian Women’s Groups: Representations of Agency, Asia-Pacific Studies (Honours), supervised by Dr Katerina Teaiwa

Masters thesis:

Elizabeth Cowan, Non-tradition aspirations versus gendered expectations: Young women’s journeys towards empowerment in modern Timor-Leste, Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (Gender specialisation), supervised by Dr Patrick Kilby

PhD thesis:

Mei-Ling Ellerman, Subordination at Work: Chinese Female Domestic Workers’ Struggles between Silence and Critical Consciousness, Department of Political and Social Change, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, supervised by Dr Tamara Jacka who accepted the award in Mei-Ling's absence.

Prizes were not awarded for the journal article category for 2014.

Book Launches

Following the prize ceremony, Professor Sally Engle Merry introduced and launched three books by distinguished ANU Gender Institute members:

From left: Christine Stewart, Sally Engle Merry, Hilary Charlesworth, Margaret Jolly, Hyaewoel Choi, Emma Larking

Christine Stewart Name, Shame and Blame, ANU Press 2014
Hyaeweol Choi and Margaret Jolly (eds) Divine Domesticities: Christian Paradoxes in Asia and the Pacific, ANU Press 2014
Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds) Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism, Cambridge UP 2015