Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Engagement Fellowships Pilot

I would hope to use the Public Engagement Fellowship to put some of the ideas in my forthcoming book, Sexism: A Global History, before a broader audience, and stimulate informed discussions and debates on some of their implications.

Sexism: A Global History is a 'big history' of the topic, tracing religion, science, political and economic ideas, which both looks back to pre-history and forwards to, hopefully, a sexism-free future. It argues that sexism - treating people differently according to biology - is neither the natural order of things, nor as 'whiggish' commentators assert, largely a problem of the past, now yielding to a more progressive present. Rather sexism is part of a cluster of historically flexible but always discriminatory ideas, closely related to broader views of gender and sexuality, as well as other hierarchies of class, caste and race, and possessing an extraordinary capacity for adaptation and reinvention. The book will trace these varieties of sexism through space and time, explaining why it has taken far more powerful forms in some places and periods than others, thus, I hope, helping us to think about how it might be challenged today. The book will be published by the trade arm of Bloomsbury, who have identified it as one of their top non-fiction publication of 2020/2021. Publication will be accompanied by a major international promotional tour in Britain, the US and the Commonwealth.

I would hope to use the Fellowship to engage four different audiences - media, business, government and the cultural and arts world - with four targeted conferences, bringing together academics and intellectuals in particular sectors for lectures, and panel discussions on how humanities research into sexism can help us understand and challenge sexism in all its contemporary forms. The aim is to improve understanding of sexism and the quality of debate in the media; to show how humanities research in history, philosophy, cultural studies and law can offer different and innovative perspectives on the persistence of gender gaps in employment, political participation, economic and cultural leadership; and to generate a deeper appreciation of the contextual role of culture and history in shaping sexist attitudes and practices in the global South among corporate and political policy-makers and media opinion-formers. The project is also intended to foster on-going dialogue, debate and knowledge exchange, either formally or informally between academics and policy makers in all four fields, with the hope of promoting a more informed environment for research and discussion of sexism and gender discrimination, and ultimately for more innovative policy initiatives promoting diversity, equality, cohesion and positive societal change.

The four conferences will be planned in partnership with leading figures from each sphere who will help develop the necessary institutional links and networks. Each conference will be held at a high-profile venue with an invited as well as elective audience. I hope to attract a significant degree of press and media attention with the inclusion of a few well-known figures from academia and, as appropriate, the worlds of business, politics, the arts, popular culture and sport. The conferences will involve both keynote addresses, mixed panel discussions and audience debate on the themes outlined on the accompanying document. In the panels we will draw on the depth and richness of expertise in British universities, along with some high-profile international invitees.