Information in English

Gender Studies Centre is a university based research and educational institution at the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava.

Established in June 2001, as the first institution in Slovakia of its kind, it focuses on research and teaching activities in the field of feminist theory and gender studies. The subject of its interest are especially the issues of gender identity, gender-specific differences and symbols which structure the relationships between women and men in a fundamental way and cause inequality between them as well as topics on feminist epistemology, methodology of feminist research and ´women in science´.

The Centre is to provide important knowledge, theoretical conceptions and reflection of problems tackling gender studies, support gender sensitivity for the existing structural inequalities between genders, which will lead to cultivation of critical thinking and ability of gender argumentation. The activities of the Centre are oriented towards the gender analysis of various socio-political problems. This interdisciplinary program concentrates on relations between genders in different areas of life and theory, like philosophy and science. It follows up a ten years tradition of similarly oriented educational and research activities which had been accomplished in cooperation with professionals from various disciplines from the Faculty of Philosophy and experts from NGO´s.

The aim of setting up the Centre is to approximate the education and research at the university to the standards of the countries where gender studies are a legitimate part of humanities as an expression of the democratic policy of education.

The main objectives of the Centre is to provide important knowledge, theoretical conceptions and reflection of problems tackling gender studies, support gender sensitivity for the existing structural inequalities between genders, which will lead to cultivation of critical thinking and ability of gender argumentation. The activities of the Centre are oriented towards the gender analysis of various socio-political probThis interdisciplinary program concentrates on relations between genders in different areas of life and theory, like philosophy and science. It follows up a ten years tradition of similarly oriented educational and research activities which had been accomplished in cooperation with professionals from various disciplines from the Faculty of Philosophy and experts from NGO´s.

The objectives of the Centre are also:

promotion of scientific research activities thematically focused on gender issues and starting from methodological approaches created in feminist theories
integration of the gender perspective into social sciences and their enrichment by new issues, approaches and results
opening up the space for interdisciplinary discussions on gender issues from a historical perspective and also the perspective of women and men in contemporary society

The most important fields of activities of the Gender Studies Centre are the following:

educational – courses for all students at the Faculty as well as for public at large
coordination – creating a team of lectors and organization of special seminars for GSC members
research – doing its own research in this field and initiating interdisciplinary gender research
tutorial – providing consultations for students and the others involved
expert-consulting – analysis of conceptional material from the gender perspective for government- and non-government institutions
publishing – publishing its own studies, translations and study materials
organizational – organizing lectures of foreign and home lecturers as well as the cooperation with partner institutions
medialisational– cooperation with media in introducing gender issues to the public at large
documentational – archiving term papers, theses and documentation of all activities connected with GSC

Activities and research projects:

The Gender Studies Centre has realized some pioneering projects such as

research projects on theoretical and epistemological aspects of feminist thinking and feminist research
transdisciplinary working groups on the methodology of oral history used in the Women´s Memory Project
international workshops on the application and evaluation of the methods of oral history for educational purposes
workshops on the results of research realized by the Gender Studies Centre on the situation and status of women university teachers and researchers at the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University
interdisciplinary educational project of Slovak and Austrian students and teachers from the Vienna University and Comenius University on gender issues, which resulted into the publication of the book ”The Problems of Gender Identity in Art, Architecture, Film and Literature”

The research projects of the Centre have been elaborated by the support of the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA), for example the project on feminist philosophy and epistemology. The project on women´s lifes and status in various fields of contemporary society and in history is supported by the EU Program SOCRATES. The Centre is also involved into some further projects under the SOCRATES Program (projects within GRUNDTVIG). The Centre has rich cooperation with partner organizations as ASPEKT, Cultural and Feminist Journal and Feminist Project; Centre of Gender Studies, Charles University in Prague; Gender Studies Centre, Masaryk University in Brno and other research and women´s associations in Slovakia. The Centre is also involved in the international network NEWW.

Current EU Projects:

Improving interaction between Universities and NGO´s (SOCRATES), Contract No. GRU2/2003/01-p-BA-2

Key persons:

Zuzana Kiczková: PhD (1951), associated Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Comenius University in Bratislava, gives lectures on metaphysic issues, philosophical problems on biology and ecology and introduction into the feminist theory.

In 1996 she visited the Institute of Philosophy in Vienna University where she gave lectures in a course on ”Construction and function of diffrent pictures of a woman in philosophical, political and practical reflexion”.

She has published her works in diffrent foreign and domestic journals, in 1998 she published her monography ”Nature: model–woman!?! Seeaking alternatives in ecofeminism”. In 2000 she prepared a study volume ”Questions of gender identity in art, architecture, film and literature”.

She is a member of the Slovak Philosophy Association and since 1992 a member of International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh). She cooperates with the interest group and cultural feminist journal and feminist projekt ASPEKT. She is a member of the board of the Slovak Family Planning Association - survey to November 2001. She is the head of an expert group for education, research and gender analyses of the Coordination board for the women´s issue at the Slovak Ministry of labour, social issues and family.

She cooperates with civil association ”Professional Women´s Association”. She also is leader for the project ”Women’s Memory”. She has prepared the contents and organised the introductory course ”What does it mean to be a woman at the thousand years´ turn?” for the Professional Women´s Institute for Democracy.

Since 2001 she has become the head of the Gender Studies Centre at the Faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava.

Etela Farkašová:, PhD (1943), Associated Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Comenius University in Bratislava and head of the Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy. She studied philosophy and sociology at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, where she gives lectures on epistemology, feminist philosophy and theory, gender studies. She has co-authored a monograph on theory of knowledge and is the author of several studies on the relationship between art and science, and on feminist philosophy as well.

She published nine books of stories and short novels, she writes essays, literary critiques, translates from German and English.

She is a member of the Society of Slovak Writers, of the National Committee for Philosophy, of the Slovak Philosophy Association, of International Association of Women Philosophers /IAPh/, of Slovak Center PEN, she is co-founding member of the Club of Slovak Women-Writers and of the Gender Studies Centre at the Faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava

Mariana Szapuová: PhD. (1958), studied arts at the Comenius University, after that she makes a post-graduate study at the Department of Philosophy. Since 1987 Professor Assistant, Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University, Bratislava. From 2002 she is program coordinator of Gender Studies Center Faculty of Arts. Her fields of interests are feminist philosophy, especially topics on epistemology and ethics, methodology of feminist researchers. Publications on feminist epistemology.

Selected publications:

Farkasová, Etela; Szapuová, Marina; Kiczková Zuzana: Die Lage der Frau in der heutigen slowakischen Gesellschaft. In: Wakounig, Marija (Hg.) Die gläserne Decke. Frauen in Ost-, Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa im 20. Jahrhundert. Studien Verlag, Wien 2003, p. 113 – 133.

Farkasová, Etela: Reason and rationality in contemporary feminist disscussions (the crisis of reason and the response to it). In: Science and Philosophy in Shaping Modern European Culture IV. Nadácia Komunikácia, Bratislava 1996, p. 79 – 90.

Kiczková Zuzana: Was versteckt sich hinter der Feminisierung? In: Frauen in Vereinten Europa. Internationale Tagung in Erfurt 7. und 8. Mai 1998. Universität Erfurt, Universität Opolski, p. 147 – 154.

Kiczková Zuzana: Why do we need Feminist Theories or one more time about Publicity and Privacy. In: Gender in Transition in Eastern and Central Europe Proceedings. Edited by G. Jahnert, J. Gohrish, D. Hahn, H.M. Nickel, I. Peinl, K. Schafgen im Auftrag des Zentrums für Interdisciplinäre Frauenforschung an der Humnboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Trafo Verlag 2001, p. 124 – 132.

Szapuova Mariana: Self-knowledge and knowing others. In: Science and Philosophy in Shaping Modern European Culture IV. Nadácia Komunikácia, Bratislava 1996, p. 97 – 102.