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Girls in class ;

UK Girl Studies Network

About

The UK Girl Studies Network is a group of scholars and practitioners working in the UK with an interest in the rights, lives, identities and experiences of girls, children and gender-variant youth more broadly.

Definition: the Network defines “UK girl studies broadly”, and welcomes anyone either based at a UK institution or interested in UK girls and girlhood.

For more information, including how to join the Network, email Hannah Walters.

Aims

The Network is a space to:

  • Raise the profile of the sociological/social scientific study of girls and girlhood in UK academia and beyond.
  • Foster community and solidarity among those interested in UK girl studies.
  • Create opportunities for collaboration between members on projects related to UK girl studies.
  • Support the generation of girl studies-based outputs, academic or otherwise.
  • Create a productive space within the UK for girl studies as a field, and work to counteract some of the ways girl studies can feel marginal or disparate within the academy.

Scope

Though primarily sociological/social scientific in scope, the Network welcomes any members (both academics and practitioners) interested in girl studies and girls’ rights from any disciplines or perspectives, so long as they are grounded in an ethos of social justice and intersectional gender equality.

Alongside scholarly exchange, the Network is a space dedicated to solidarity, community-building, fun, activism and creativity. 

People

Hannah Walters

Hannah Walters

Lecturer in Education Policy

The UK Girl Studies Network is an intersectional trans-inclusive feminist space for researchers, scholars and practitioners working in areas relevant to the lives, experiences and identities of girls, children and gender-variant youth more broadly.

For the purposes of the Network, ‘girl’ is defined as anyone aged under 18 who identifies as a girl, and ‘youth’ is defined as ages 15-24 (in line with UN definitions).

The Network is underpinned by a feminist ethos encompassing gender and its myriad intersections of oppression and privilege, including but not limited to class, race and ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, citizenship and (non-)belongingness to a nation state.

The UK Girl Studies Network recognises:

  • The rights and personhood of all women, girls, and trans and non-binary people.
  • That there exist longstanding and ongoing structural inequalities and economic disparities between Global North and Global South countries and universities, and we are committed to contributing to the dismantling of these inequalities through collaboration and solidarity with international partners. Anyone with an interest in UK girl studies is welcome to be involved with the Network, and we hope the Network will facilitate space of scholarly exchange and collaboration.
  • The importance of feminist solidarity in academic spaces (and beyond) and the power and possibilities of feminist networks.
  • That in spite of the ongoing and entrenched inequalities in UK HE, universities can also be transformative spaces of pride, solidarity and collective change, which the Network will aim to harness in its work.
  • As these conversations are continually growing and evolving, and in recognition of the fact that the discipline is not static and is ever changing, we are committed to (re-)learning in line with conversations around equality and intersectionality.