The new Master’s Program is based on the 20-year-long tradition of EHU in the field of Gender Studies, since a similar program was already implemented by the university during its operation in Belarus and for a long time remained the only program in Gender Studies in the region. Besides, in 1997, the Center for Gender Studies was founded at the university. The Center continues its active research activities to this day.
“Indeed, our gender Master’s Program is now experiencing its third birth. Let me remind you that the Program, which we opened in 2000 in Minsk, became the first Master’s program at our university. After EHU moved to Vilnius in 2005, the Master’s Degree in Gender Studies was resumed and operated until 2020 as a specialization within the Master’s Program in Cultural Studies. Over the years, about 100 people have graduated from the Program, many of whom now live and work not only in Belarus and Lithuania, but also in Western Europe and North America”, — says Professor of EHU Almira Ousmanova, who played a key role in the development of the new Program.
“Nowadays, the demand for gender knowledge and feminist optics is very high. Last year, I monitored the topics of Final Theses over the past 5 years, and it turned out that every year from 25 to 30 percent of them are directly related to gender. All this, of course, is not accidental: a new generation comes to the university with formed views on politics and social practices, and many declare their feminist views even before they start taking specialized courses and engage in scientific research”, — added Prof. Almira Ousmanova.
The “Gender Studies” Program was developed with the participation of representatives of the teaching staff of EHU – specialists in the field of Gender Studies, a fourth-year student of the Bachelor Program “Media and Communication” Carolina Rynkevich and invited specialists from other countries. This Program is the only full-fledged Master’s program in Gender Studies in Lithuania and Belarus.
The Program combines theory and practice, research and projects’ activities focused on gender dimension, emphasizes the development of the research skills of students and is based on an interdisciplinary approach that provides students with a solid knowledge of gender dimension in such fields as law, political sciences and other social sciences.
According to the EHU lecturer, Dr. Uladzislau Ivanou, who was directly involved in the preparation of the Program: “The creation of a Master’s Program in Gender Studies at EHU is a timely launch of an academic platform to disseminate scientific knowledge about gender and, possibly, minimize stereotypical thinking about this concept. A narrow vision of any phenomenon, and gender, in particular, is the result of ignorance or delusion. Gender is primarily a concept, not a theory, doctrine or ideology, as ignorant people often present it. There is a lack of concepts needed for critical situation analysis in the post-Soviet space, while gender is one of the new tools that help to identify social and other inequalities more clearly, to reveal the forces that resist to changes and criticism. That is why the concept of gender is often perceived as dangerous because it criticizes the authorities, questions well-established ideas. Our Program aims to launch a new critical matrix of reading, writing and thinking in Belarus and Lithuania, and possibly in the entire region”.
The studies under the Program will last for 1.5 years and will be conducted fully in English in the blended learning format that combines full-time education in Vilnius with distance learning.
Prof. Almira Ousmanova told about the professional and academic future of the graduates of the Gender Studies program: “Graduates of this program will be able to find a job in national and international organizations, institutions, agencies whose activities are related to monitoring, expertise, analysis of problems in promoting gender equality. Our graduates will be able to engage in educational and project activities in various non-governmental organizations and in the sphere of creative industries and media, thanks to which progressive models of gender socialization are promoted and public discourse is formed around the topics of gender identity, domestic violence, overcoming patriarchal stereotypes and discriminatory practices. Also, alumni of our gender Master’s Program are usually very motivated to research and successfully realize themselves in the academic field (more than ten alumni of the previously existing EHU gender Master’s Program defended their Ph.D at universities in Europe and the United States)”.
Enrollment in the program will be carried out only in case of successful accreditation and registration at the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education of Lithuania.