WOMEN IN POLITICS: NEW APPROACHES TO THE POLITICAL

Mission:

“WOMEN IN POLITICS: NEW APPROACHES TO THE POLITICAL” is an educational feminist journal. The mission of the journal is to raise gender awareness among political actors and promote equality of opportunity for women and other marginalized groups in Belarus and beyond. The journal contributes to an anti-oppressive body of teaching materials on women’s, gender, sexuality and anti-violence issues. “Women in Politics” approaches current political issues in Belarus and post-Soviet states from a feminist perspective. The journal offers critical analysis of current events in Belarusian society and the post-Soviet countries. It focuses on why there are problems with women’s participation in political and public life in Belarus. It gives a voice to emerging and young scholars who work with the category of gender in politics and international relations, anthropology, sociology, literary criticism, linguistics, nationalism and cultural studies.

Goals:

The journal targets political and social activists. It also speaks to a generation of emerging scholars interested in political, social and cultural concerns related to women’s participation in political movements in Belarus and to gender studies more broadly.

Diversity and gender equality education is crucial for present day Belarus. There are very few courses in the Belarusian university curriculum that address gender issues, especially the intersection of politics and gender. Women’s and gender issues are represented even less in the high school curriculum. Consequently, there is a strong need to introduce basic concepts and theories of gender to Belarusian society and young people in particular. Many Belarusians are heteronormative and homophobic, therefore it is necessary to educate and encourage young women to enter the public sphere and political life, but more importantly to explain that in Belarus women can have the life they want. The project aims to have a lasting impact by achieving the following:

• The journal helps raise a new generation of Belarusian and Eastern European social and political activists who are aware of and stand for gender diversity and equal opportunity;
• The journal promotes democratic values. Its presence in post-Soviet media space contributes to gradual changes in the perception and acceptance of human rights;
• The journal makes a case for a feminist agenda in politics, creates a space for discussion on democracy and a friendly environment for women to express their political and social agenda;
• We contribute to the enhancement of social solidarity in general and women’s solidarity in particular;
• Materials published in our journal facilitate changes in the university and secondary/high school teaching curricula as well as in the general public attitude towards gender issues;
• Our readers are challenged to reflect on their own social and political agency and communicate their knowledge about gender equality and equal opportunity to their activist peers, co-workers and family members.

More information about the project:

The journal offers a series of thematically organized issues in order to be more accessible to the general public, activist training programs, and self-education initiatives. Currently we are working on the following themed issues: gender and citizenship, the politics of emotions, the politics of knowledge and public education, social and economic equality, gender in media policies, gender and nationalism, capitalism, body image, and women in disaster studies.

The journal is published in the Belarusian and Russian languages; however many contributions are submitted in Russian which is an Eastern European lingua franca. The issues discussed in the journal are applicable beyond Belarus to a broader post-Soviet context. We collaborate with Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian activists and researchers.

The journal “WOMEN IN POLITICS: NEW APPROACHES TO THE POLITICAL” emerged as part of a project on the inclusion of women in politics. The project is supported by the International Centre for Gender Initiatives “ADLIGA: Women for Full Citizenship”. “ADLIGA” is a women’s non-profit organization which struggles for gender equality and equity, and fights against social deprivation and other kinds of injustice.

The publication of the journal dedicated to the complex dynamics of politics and gender is crucial for Belarus. At present, there is a substantial lack of periodical publications that openly discuss the issues related to gender, power, politics and culture in the former Soviet countries. Therefore, the journal “WOMEN IN POLITICS: NEW APPROACHES TO THE POLITICAL” comes into Belarusian and post-Soviet public space at the right time.

We hope that the broadest audience will find this publication interesting and inspiring.

Evgenia Ivanova and Alexander Pershái,

The Editors