It seems to be an obvious fact that scientific findings are also of great importance beyond the university and research. But how exactly does science communication, the transfer of knowledge into different areas of society, actually work? Who speaks for whom and whose opinion is taken seriously? In order to thoroughly examine these questions, the Margherita von Brentano Center organized the course "Gender Politics in Science Communication" for the Master Gender, Intersectionality & Politics at the FU Berlin in the summer semester 2023. In the seminar, we worked with students to identify the gender-political power relations that prevail in science and how science communication by and for gender studies can and should look in this context.

As part of the seminar, in addition to a theoretical approach to science communication from a gender theory perspective, we as students also looked at how we perceive the way gender studies are dealt with. In doing so, we realized that gender perspectives are not only deeply rooted in civil society activism, but also thrive on interdisciplinary debates. This not only means that gender studies should be a focus everywhere, but also that gender studies can only develop further through interdisciplinary research. We do not view the category of gender in isolation; rather, we see the need to integrate other categories (such as class or race) in an intersectional way and to analyze and criticize these as embedded in power structures.

In the practical part of the seminar, the aim was to develop a concept and an associated implementation proposal for the #4GenderStudies day of action, which represents an innovative strategy for science communication. As the aim of the #4GenderStudies day of action is to highlight the relevance of gender studies in general, we believe that it is particularly important to highlight a student perspective and the wishes of students for the relevance of gender studies in general. The fact that students want Gender Studies to have a stronger presence and be firmly anchored in the structures makes the subject all the more necessary. Furthermore, as students at Freie Universität, we would like our project to contribute to the interdisciplinary discussion of gender studies issues in all subject areas.

In the early "OpenMic" event of the MvBZ, various professors were asked to what extent gender studies is important in their departments. We would like to continue the project and ask the students of these departments about this as well. Even though we are of course also of the opinion that gender studies as such is important, there must also be opportunities, space and openness for the topics within the degree programs in order to guarantee the possibility for discussion.

We would like to present the method and results of these surveys / interviews below, as well as the interviews and evaluations transparently.This is followed by a discussion of the results and a productive outlook based on the results.

→ Click here for the method and the results of the surveys / interviews