Feminist Studies Association (UK and Ireland)
Mission statement – January 2018
The FSA is a UK and Ireland based network promoting feminist research and teaching, and women’s studies nationally and internationally. The Association works to advance women’s, feminist and gender studies as a field of knowledge, and works for the inclusion of feminist teaching, research and knowledge in all fields.
Our core focus is a commitment to professional issues relating to feminist and women’s studies within Higher Education. This encompasses:
- supporting and promoting feminist and women’s studies scholars as individuals;
- promoting feminist and women’s studies as a discipline in its own right, and as a subject within other disciplinary fields;
- addressing changes in the Higher Education sector as they impact upon feminist and women’s studies scholars and/or the discipline as a whole;
- facilitating engagement between feminist and women’s studies academics and the wider feminist community;
- maintaining a commitment to equality and diversity by serving and representing a diverse body of feminist and women’s studies scholars, incorporating varied gender identities, sexual orientations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and disabilities; and a commitment to addressing the structural inequalities of academia that impact upon marginalised and under-represented groups.
In order to do this, the Association:
- runs initiatives including grant and prize schemes, the blog, newsletter, mailing list and other social media, and conferences and events;
- responds to issues in Higher Education such as the closure of feminist and women’s studies centres, commenting on the Research and Teaching Excellence Frameworks, and other issues as they arise, as well as supporting institutions/centres on working towards gender equality;
- encourages connections between feminist and women’s studies academics and feminist groups in the wider/non-academic community, such as by profiling non-academic feminist groups on our website, responding to requests for public engagement that we receive, and working towards further initiatives to facilitate engagement as they arise;
- retains a non-partisan stance and does not subscribe to a particular form or understanding of feminism; we encourage members to pursue debate and difference within the spaces, events, and writings of the Association, but recognise that the work of the FSA is best achieved through lack of partisanship at an executive/organisational level.
Code of Conduct
Following the lead of other academic organizations, the Executive Committee of the FSA has developed guidelines around member interactions, which is outlined in the FSA Membership Code of Conduct. The FSA Membership Code of Conduct has been developed in consultation with and for the benefit of its members.
Events Policy
The Executive Committee of the FSA has developed guidelines around Events and Webinars to ensure a safe environment for everyone who engages with the association’s activities, which is outlined in our Events and Webinars Policy.