Feminism in Estonia

Internet Sites:

Women's Organizations in Estonia here.

You can contact The Network Women's Program -- Open Estonia Foundation through Asta Trummel here, or write to them at this postal address: Open Estonia Foundation, Estonia Avenue 3/5, EE0001 Tallinn, ESTONIA.

Introduction

[Some of this information was contributed by Katrin Kivimaa.]

Three of the major women's studies centers in Estonia are:

1. The Women's Studies Center at the Pedagogical University in Tallinn. You can reach their website (in Estonian) here.
2. The Gender Studies Center in the Sociology Department at Tartu University is lead by Dr. Anu Laas.
3. The Women's Information and Research Center has recently opened in Tallinn Pedagogical University.

For more information on these centers (in English), please contact Marianne Paimre here.



The Baltic-Nordic Conference on Women's Studies and Gender Research

by Irina Novikova

[Copyright 1998 Irina Novikova.]

The Baltic-Nordic Conference on Women's Studies and Gender Research: Mapping the Situation took place on October 16-17,1998, in Riga (Latvia). Women's/gender studies as a theoretical standpoint and methodology is a new perspective in knowledge-production process in the Baltic countries -- on the national as well as regional levels. Although the first women's studies centers were established in the Baltic countries already in 1992, we can state that only a couple years ago women's/gender studies became an engaging research perspective for many scholars and NGO activists across the Baltic region. The Conference was organised by the Center for Gender Studies at University of Latvia, Lithuanian Women's Informational Center, Women's Studies center at Tallinn Pedagogical Institute, Femina Baltica Network, NIKK. The Conference was sponsored by Soros Foundation-Latvija, The Gender Equality Council of The Nordic Council of Ministers, NIKK and Mama Cash Fund. We are particularly grateful to Aino Saarinen, Marianne Laxen and Carita Peltonen for facilitating the process of obtaining funding for the conference. The coordination and organization of the conference were conducted by Irina Novikova, Giedre Purvaneckiene, Barbi Pilvre. The secretary of the conference was Elizabete Pichukane.

The Conference hosted more than 90 officially registered participants and attendants from the Baltic and Nordic countries. We were delighted to see our colleagues and friends from NIKK, The Gender Equality Council, women's studies centers in Finland and Sweden.

The objectives and goals of the Conference were:

1. to develop discourse on relationship between Western feminist theoretical standpoints and women's experiences in East European, specifically Baltic, contexts;
2. to develop women's/gender studies discourse in the Baltic region and to support new theoretical and practical initiatives in this direction in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia;
3. to integrate the individual initiatives of women-researchers in women's/gender studies from the Baltic and Nordic countries;
4. to develop cooperation network among women's/gender studies centers in the Baltic countries in terms of regional cooperation with Nordic countries and with East European and Central European countries;
5. to work on the agenda for women's/gender studies development in the Baltic states, on the platform of The Inaugural Conference on Women's/Gender Studies in Eastern and Central European countries in Belgrade, 9-12, September, 1998;
6. to develop the integrated platform for the agenda of the Baltic workshop at The Women's Studies Interdisciplinary Congress in June, 1999 (Tromso, Norway);
7. to provide our students with an access to contemporary theoretical discourses, methodological approaches in women's/gender studies;
8. to raise issues of knowledge, education and women's NGOs;
9. to raise issues of women's rights in our research areas and projects as related to women's access to education and academic work, to the problems of violence against women, to the problems of sexism in our societies.

This conference aimed at developing the discussions of the categories and methodological tools of feminist theory and gender theory. The conference plenary sessions and workshop topics center around such issues as gender, identity and ethnicity; sex and gender in cultural locations; gender relations in social and political discourses; gender and health; gender relations and politics.

Theoretical and methodological issues were presented in the papers of Katrin Kivimaa (Estonia), Rima Pociute (Lithuania), Lea Rojola (Finland) at the first day plenary session. They lay the grounds for raising the issues of women, difference and solidarity; postfeminist discourses and women's studies in the Baltic countries; gender theory and knowledge production and many other related questions of theory and practice. The second plenary session on Feminism, Gender and Culture included the papers of Dagmara Beitnere (Latvia), Ulla Holm (Sweden), Barbi Pilvre (Estonia) and addressed the issues of gender and anthropology;feminist ethics -- contextualization vs universalism; gender and mass media. The panel discussion Violence and security conducted by Giedre Purvaneckiene (Lithuania), Sandra Sebre (Latvia), Hilkka Pietila (Finland) addressed the topical issue of violence as a gendered complex process -- in everyday life, education, language, economy, and "high" politics. Workshop topics included:

1. Women's studies, women in politics and government Women in Latvia and tolerance in society Gender, career and education
2. Women and cooperation in crisis centers
3. Gender and mass media
4. Feminism and culture
5. Gender, health and culture
6. Gender research, knowledge and women's NGOs From domination and control -- to partnership and self-esteem

Representatives from Baltic women's NGOs worked together with academic women for two days, and, in our view, this was the first attempt to build up mutually enriching connections between women in theory and women in practice, to challenge the politically convenient "ebony towers of women's research on women" by bringing women's voices from NGOs into gender theorizing and debating.

A very important result is the presentation and installation of EMILJA DATABASE on Women's Studies and Gender Research in the Nordic and Baltic countries. This project has been succefully headed by Jill Lewis (NIKK) and presented at the Conference by Diana Anders (NIKK). EMILIJA is very important for everybody who already works in WS and GR as well as for those who make their first steps and are highly motivated to step into women's/gender studies in the Baltic countries. The contact person in charge if EMILJA DATABASE is Liene Chaplinska (office 133, Raina Blvd.19, Center for Gender Studies, University of Latvia, LV-1586, Riga, Latvia).

This conference is seen by us as a politically important event for bringing new perspectives and discourses into intellectual, public and political life of our countries. Thus, this conference contributed significantly to developing terminological apparatus of women's/gender studies, literary/nationalism/cultural studies in our languages. We consider the language aspect to be very significant in terms of the public impact of the conference. The conference was a publicly open event, and the closing session is intended as an open discussion of pro and contra views.The conference gave an opportunity for Baltic scholars in women's/gender studies to develop platforms for their further integrative research plans. We hope that the conference became an event to build up cooperation between gender research and women's NGOs acitivities on the national and regional levels. The conference work will result in publishing the proceedings of selected conference papers.

The conference was viewed by us as part of preparation process for the Baltic workshop at the 7th Women's Studies International Congress in June, 1999, in Norway. As to the follow-up and/or long-term benefits of project we look forward to:

1. publication of the collection of articles on gender and human rights issues - development of the Femina Baltica Network (coordinators Solvita Vever, Carita Peltonen)
2. preparation for the Baltic workshop "Women and Citizenship in the Baltic countries" at the 7th International Women's Studies Congress in Norway (1999)
3. organization of the Baltic lecturers' exchange network among Baltic women's/gender studies centers
4. initiation of research projects and teaching programmes in Baltic women's/gender studies

The hosting organization of the Conference was the center for Gender Studies at the university of Latvia. The Center was founded in January, 1998. Director -- Irina Novikova, coordinator -- Elizabete Picukane. The Center's office address: Room 133 Raina Blvd-19 University of Latvia, LV-1586 Riga, Latvia Fax 371 7 820113. You can reach Irina Novikova by email here and Elizabete Pichukane here.