EVENT FOR FEMALE STAFF AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

women in philosophy

 

All female faculty members are invited to attend an online event for female staff and graduate students taking place in 8th week, on Wednesday, 10th March, from 4 to 5.30pm. The event will begin with a presentation by our guest speaker, Helen Beebee, followed by Q and A. Following that, there will be a general discussion of issues concerning women in philosophy.

This will be an opportunity to discuss such issues as: what universities can do to accommodate graduate students and early career researchers who want to have children; how best to address the gender imbalance in faculty and graduate student bodies; whether equality and diversity workshops are useful; and any other issues attendees wish to raise.

 

You can find the schedule and a link to the Teams meeting below. 

 

4pm – 4.45pm: Helen Beebee, Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy, The University of Manchester

In Defence of Different Voices (with Anne-Marie McCallion)

Louise Antony draws a now well-known distinction between two explanatory models for researching and addressing the issue of women’s underrepresentation in philosophy – the ‘Different Voices’ (DV) and ‘Perfect Storm’ (PS) models – and argues that, in view of PS’s considerably higher social value, DV should be abandoned. We argue that Antony misunderstands the feminist framework that she takes to underpin DV, and we reconceptualise DV in a way that aligns with a proper understanding of the metaphilosophical framework that underpins it. On the basis of that reconceptualisation – together with the rejection of her claim that DV posits ‘cognitive’ differences between women and men – we argue that Antony’s negative assessment of DV’s social value is mistaken. And, we argue, this conclusion does not depend on endorsing the relevant feminist metaphilosophical framework. Whatever our metaphilosophical commitments, then, we should all agree that DV research should be actively pursued rather than abandoned.

You can find the full paper in the Symposion open access special issue on diversity in philosophy: http://symposion.acadiasi.ro

4.45pm -5.30pm: General discussion of issues concerning women in philosophy.

 

Click here to join the meeting