Dahmen, Jennifer | Germany

Jennifer Dahmen

Jennifer Dahmen holds a social science degree, specialised in feminist science and technology studies. She was senior researcher at the University of Wuppertal at the Department of Social and Educational Sciences, the Department of Educational Science and the Centre for Continuing Education, and has long-time experience in managing third-party funded research projects and researching gender (in)equalities in academia:

  • 2003-2005 WomEng (5th Framework Programme (FP) of the European Commission (EC aimed on identifying and comparing the personal, educational and socio-cultural factors that influence women’s and men’s choices towards engineering at key stages in their lives, and their success or lack of persistence.
  • 2005-2007 PROMETEA (6th FP of the EC), where the focus shifted on getting a better understanding of gender issues in engineering and technology research settings, in order to propose effective measures and recommendations to empower women engineers careers in academic and industrial research in Europe.
  • 2008-2009 MOTIVATION (7th FP of the EC) allowed to investigate different socialization arenas of young people concerning their influence on STEM images, like teachers and schools, media, and peers. It aimed on identifying factors, which influence young people’s images of science and technology under gender perspective.
  • 2013-2016 useITsmartly (Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, EC) aimed at capacity building towards behavioural changes in the way youths use technology by developing innovative solutions for smart IT use and ideas on how to reach young people with this topic.
  • 2013-2017 GenderTime (7th FP of the EC), which wanted to identify and implement the best systematic approaches to increase the participation and career advancement of women researchers in selected institutions where self-tailored gender equality action plans were implemented.

Between 2010 and 2013 Jennifer was responsible for the scientific coordination of the annual Summer University for Girls in STEM organized by the gender equality office at the University of Wuppertal, which aims on informing girls about possible study and career options in STEM related fields.

Her latest research in GenderTime encouraged her to take a deeper look on the still remaining open and subtle (gender) inequalities and various intersectional injustices for people working in science and research or academia in general, which is going to be the focus of her work during the fellowship at the IAS-STS.

 

Projekt at IAS-STS: Social Gender Justice in Science and Research

In the last 20 years a lot of efforts were undertaken to create gender equal work places at universities and research institutions, while in some academic areas a numeric equality was reached, the open and subtle structures, which support and even foster unjust organisations remain or are being perpetuated by influencing actors. Connecting the term „social justice“ with gender equality puts an intersectional view on the topic of social justice in science and research:  The background assumption is that even once gender equality is reached in the science system itself would still remain social unjust because of multiple discourses like for instance precarious working conditions not only for third-party funded researchers, the downgrading of certain subjects compared to other self-declared prestigious ones, or constructed parameters for defining scientific excellence etc. (see Dahmen/Thaler 2017).

Which concepts and results from science and gender research can support the creation of a social just work environment for researchers and scientists on one hand and how, on the other hand, can these outcomes help to understand the situation of people affected by inequalities and injustices in the science system? Does organisational structural change offer chances for paradigm shifts and if so, how can it be successful pushed forward?

Dahmen, Jennifer; Thaler, Anita: “Damit kannst du keinen Blumentopf gewinnen!“ – Soziale Geschlechter-gerechtigkeit in Wissenschaft und Forschung (“That’s nothing to write home about!” Social gender justice in science and research). In: Dahmen, Jennifer; Thaler, Anita (Ed., 2017, to be published). Soziale Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Wissenschaft und Forschung (Social gender justice in science and research). Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen.

 

Selected Publications

Dahmen, Jennifer (2010): “’Engineering is a men’s business!’ – Identities of Women in Engineering”. In: Godfroy-Genin, Anne-Sophie (Ed.). Women in Engineering and Technology Research, Proceedings of the PROMETEA international conference, October 26-27 2007. Zürich: Lit Verlag.

Achterberg, Susanne; Dahmen, Jennifer (2017). Bis hierhin und nicht weiter? Die Grenzen der Geschlechtergleichstellung in der Hochschulpraxis (This far and no further? Limitations of gender equality at universities). In: Dahmen, Jennifer; Thaler, Anita (ed.). Soziale Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Wissenschaft und Forschung (Social gender justice in science and research). Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen.

Dahmen, Jennifer; Thaler, Anita (Ed., 2017). Soziale Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Wissenschaft und Forschung (Social gender justice in science and research). Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen.

Dahmen, Jennifer; Peterson, Helen (2017, to be published). Trying to do the impossible. Monitoring Gender Equality Action Plans in Seven European Institutions. In: Anne-Sophie Godfroy (ed.). Proceedings of the final conference of the GenderTime project. Paris.

Dahmen, Jennifer; Peterson, Helen (2017). Monitoring Handbook. Experiences and Tools from a Gender Equality Change project. Downloadable at www.gendertime.org.