Given that politics is traditionally seen as a male area, commissioning women writers is never easy for Soundings. One solution has been an attempt to redefine politics such that its agenda becomes more women-centred. However, explains Sally Davison, moves to equality usually involve the need for a redistribution of resources and can cause conflict.
The benefits of greater dialogue between female and male authors are not limited to the treatment of gender as a topic per se, writes Magdalena Malinska. Which is why the Polish quarterly Res Publica Nowa is increasingly publishing articles co-authored by female and male authors.
There can be no doubt that cultural journals need to take gender into account in the context of their daily activities. But, write Marc-Olivier Padis and Alice Béja, associated procedures should also be adapted to the journal’s size and mode of functioning.
Hiring staff and selecting contributors is dependent on quality, qualifications and specialist skills but not gender, writes Dialogi editor-in-chief Emica Antoncic. Gender-oriented quotas are therefore not an option and would not deal with the root causes of inequality anyway.
Merkur have confronted the predominance of male contributors to the journal with an issue produced exclusively by women. That this had little lasting impact may rest upon the essay genre itself, together with gender-specific time economies and even expectations concerning quality.
Genero focuses on feminist theory, which means that a majority of those working on the journal are women. However, the publication is committed to publishing quality articles written by authors of both genders, writes deputy editor-in-chief Katarina Loncarevic.
As a journal of feminist history, one principle of L’Homme since its foundation has been to support historians in the field in as many ways as possible. Articles reflect the strength of German-speaking scholars, as well as the diversity of related topics throughout Europe.
The periodical translation of news into words and the associated analysis that constitutes the print medium, writes Victor Tsilonis, is no longer enough. It cannot attract a wider audience. The answer: humorous, issue-specific poster, social media and video campaigns.
Saskia Sassen compares the impact of two kinds of socio-technical formations on the public sphere: electronic capitalist elites concentrated in global cities and globally networked, local social activist movements. Both have the power to transform existing political and economic systems.
In Belarus, the digital dissident generation born in 2006 came of age during the political and economic crisis of 2011, writes Iryna Vidanava. However, bridging the gap between virtual and real-life activism remains one of the most serious challenges facing Belarus’ democratic movement.
A European constitution that covers no more than a few sides of paper and clearly sets out the values that we share: concisely and for the people. This, writes Res Publica Nowa editor Wojciech Przybylski, is what is required if the EU’s disintegration is to be averted.
We can only understand the Gezi Park resistance movement through the micropolitics of desire, argues Ali Akay. It drew not only the Turkish youth and elders but the whole world into a transversal resistance: from New York to Cologne, from Izmir to Adana and Antalya, and from Ankara to Bursa.
Until fairly recently, meat-eating wasn’t an issue at all. You didn’t think about meat, you just ingested it. Nowadays, writes Finnish critic Antti Nylén, it’s hard to imagine a more extreme phenomenon than modern meat consumption. So how can meat-eating still be possible?
The debate in the United States over the place of women in the professional world has intensified lately, reopening the “mommy wars” of the 1980s that pitted housewives against working women. Time to question the focus on work and career, and reappraise the value of family life?
Plenty of women are working as correspondents and reporters, but relatively few as opinion writers and editors. And while the gender gap in print is insidious, in broadcast media it’s glaringly obvious, writes Dawn Foster. Meanwhile, the gentrification of the media continues apace.