Gender research
Research on gender issues is a broad field and runs through all academic areas of a university. On this page we collect projects with the aim of visibility and networking. What you see here is only the beginning. Researchers at the University of Augsburg are cordially invited to inform us about their work on the subject of gender equality, women, science, teaching and research so that we can include it here.
Please contact the Faculty women’s representative at the University of Augsburg or directly at:
Ongoing and planned research projects
Simultaneous disparities: Fatherhood and migration
Doctoral project Jelana Büchner
There is currently a pronounced research desideratum about (non-deficit-oriented) concepts of fatherhood among migrants. Accordingly, the Ph.D. project addresses this research gap. It uses biographical interviews to investigate the subjective (experience of) fatherhood and the constructions of masculinity that are closely interwoven with it. The focus is on the 'how' of the structure and the fathers' narratives. The material is evaluated with the help of the documentary method of interpretation.
»Gender Trouble« within the German health (care) system. A study of sex/gender-specific conceptions of the body from a sociology-of-knowledge perspective
This PhD project is concerned with the (standard) health care of transgender and intersex people in Germany and the extent to which this is intertwined with the knowledge(s) of bodies that do not conform with the (dually sexed/gendered) norm within medicine. The medical gaze (cf. Foucault 2016 [1963]) makes a lifelong outing necessary (again and again) in (the literal) practice. Hence, the (bio-)medical treatment and negotiation of transgender and intersex bodies is never completely finished, but a permanent (re)production of sex/gender, since the body opens up and limits the space for action (Meuser 2006: 98). Accordingly, the PhD project focusses particularly on the (production of) knowledge(s) within medicine of »incongruent« (sexed/gendered) bodies, but also on its negotiation between the various actors, the »experts of gender« (Scheunemann 2018). The aim is to explore the area of tension between the pluralisation of sex/gender concepts observable in society as a whole and the materiality of the (sexed/gendered) body in medicine.
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin
Soziologie, Gesundheitsforschung
Telefon: +49 821 598 4102
E-mail: Ann Kristin Augst M.A.
Laura Schmidt: Gender-sensitive Teaching of German as a Second Language in the Institutional Integration Context (working title)
"The division into genders seems to be in the 'nature of things' as one sometimes says, to speak of what is normal, natural, and therefore inevitable" (Bourdieu 2017, 19; translated LS). The construct of gender is not only, as Bourdieu suggests, a socially all-encompassing, seemingly natural category, which with its classifications means far-reaching consequences for everyone, but also a significant line of difference in foreign language teaching. For a long time, the issues explored in this area have been dealt with exclusively in studies of gendered learning. Only slowly foreign and second language didactics open up to deconstructivist perspectives on gender (cf. Baar 2014, p. 147 and Schmenk 2009, p. 18ff.). Teaching of German as a second language under the objective of integration is demonstrably characterized by stereotyping and a lack of tolerance for ambiguity (cf. Moghaddam 2010, p. 281), which also relates to gender and intersectional connections with other lines of difference. This reveals a relevant field of research in which the dissertation project locates itself. The research design ist based on reflexive Grounded Theory Methology (Breuer) and Qualitative Content Analysis (Kuckartz) to develop a model for gender-sensitive teaching of German as a second language, that questions any narrowing concepts of competence and places a special emphasis on the hegemonies that arise in the context of integration (courses). In doing so, the question will be addressed as to which conditions for success a DaZ lesson oriented towards integration would have to exhibit in order to be gender-sensitive.
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin
Deutsch als Zweit- und Fremdsprache
Telefon: +49 821 598-5497
The academic advisors are Prof.in Dr.in Kristina Peuschel (University of Augsburg) and Prof.in Dr.in Alisha Heinemann (University of Bremen).
- Baar, Robert (2014). Genderstudies in der Erziehungswissenschaft: Aspekte einer gendersensiblen (Grund-) Schulpädagogik. In: Astrid M. Fellner, Anne Conrad und Jennifer J* Moos (Hg.): Gender überall!? Beiträge zur interdisziplinären Geschlechterforschung. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag, S. 145–161.
- Bourdieu, Pierre (2017). Die männliche Herrschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
- Moghaddam, Roya (2010). Deutsch als Fremdsprache mit gendergerechter Didaktik? In: Ulrike Eberhardt (Hg.): Neue Impulse in der Hochschuldidaktik. Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. für Sozialwiss, S. 281–295.
- Schmenk, Barbara (2009). Geschlechtsspezifisches Fremdsprachenlernen? Zur Konstruktion geschlechtstypischer Lerner- und Lernbilder in der Fremdsprachenforschung. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.
Current and planned research projects (2017-2020)
Trans* children and adolescents in the education system: Teacher training for a supportive and inclusive approach to gender diversity
Gender is omnipresent in our society as a system of order. Conflicts with this topic usually erupt when the binary social norm is broken. Although teachers confront and reavaluate gender daily, the determination of roles as well as possible transition processes, the topic is underrepresented in teacher training programs.
In the study "Coming out - and then...?", schools and classrooms for non-cisgender and/or non-heterosexual students are shown to be ambivalent places where more than half of the respondents stated that they had experienced discrimination from fellow students and/or teachers. In addition, about 50% of respondents reported that discrimination was sometimes or often tolerated by teachers. Klocke et al. (2019) were able to work out that this non-intervention often results from insecurity associated with the topic. Therefore, it is important to provide teachers with competencies and materials on the topic, among other things, to reduce discrimination within the school and thus fulfill the educational mandate on an equal footing.
Another important issue is the support of possible transition processes. If an outing occurs at school, this can present the school community with new challenges, as the hidden binary system of order is revealed and no longer functions in certain situations, such as when it comes to sports lessons, room assignments on class trips, or toilets. Teachers in particular then find themselves in a mediating position between school - parents - child and have to deal with colleagues who put the brakes on and act in legal gray areas. To offer support to these teachers and to reduce discrimination in everyday school life, it is the aim of my master's thesis to design a corresponding teacher training. On the one hand, this training will impart basic knowledge about trans*-specific topics and gender diversity, and on the other hand, it will explore and work through fields of action in the school context in a solution-oriented way using practical examples.
Controlling von Gleichstellungspolitik als Organisationsentwicklung der Hochschule: die Gender Balanced Scorecard
Macha, Hildegard und Struthmann, Sandra. (2011). Controlling von Gleichstellungspolitik als Organisationsentwicklung der Hochschule: die Gender Balanced Scorecard. GENDER - Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, 3(1), 126-135.
Das Tradieren von Genderstereotypen - Sprache und Medien
Hilke Elsen: Das Tradieren von Genderstereotypen - Sprache und Medien *
Passing on gender stereotypes - language and media interculture journal 17/30 (2018)
Justice for Janitors? Marktbürgerschaft, Freizügigkeit und EU-Migrantinnen im Arbeitskampf. Einblicke in ein aktivistisches Forschungsprojekt
Lisa Riedner (2015): Justice for Janitors? Marktbürgerschaft, Freizügigkeit und EU-Migrantinnen im Arbeitskampf. Einblicke in ein aktivistisches Forschungsprojekt.
In: movements. Journal für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung 1 (2).
Gender and health
Volume 1 (2018) of the publication series Health Research.Interdisciplinary Perspectives (G.IP).
The connection between gender and health is a current topic in health research. Experts from medicine, biology, ethics, law, public health, sociology, communication science, psychology and nursing science reflect on the latest research findings.
Editorial team of the volume
Prof. Dr. Ulrich M. Gassner
Dr. Julia von Hayek
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Manzei (responsible)
Prof. Dr. Florian Steger
with the collaboration of Ann Kristin Augst, M.A.