Around 60 women and (some) men attended the symposium "F wie Kraft - Frauen. Life. Oberlausitz" at the university. The project conclusion of the research and practical project on the conditions and development opportunities of qualified women in Upper Lusatia(information here) invited participants, curious people and representatives of regional administration, politics and business to Görlitz.
In the morning, project coordinator Julia Gabler (TRAWOS Institute) and Ines Fabisch (Equal Opportunities Officer of the district of Görlitz and project sponsor) summarized the stages of research and mediation through to application together with employees and participants. Afterwards, Professor Ulrike Gräßel (HSZG, F-S) opened the reflection session as "From talking about to talking with women".
Mr. Frank-Peter Wieth, Head of the Gender Equality Department at the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, spoke about women and the difficult status of his department in the current political debates. Heike Zettwitz (Görlitz District Office) then outlined possible development perspectives for the region - enough material for the subsequent exchange and, above all, for the workshops that followed.
The afternoon of the symposium was dedicated entirely to women as creators and initiators and opened up spaces to discover (surprising) female perspectives on the region. The clowning workshop by Valentin Hacke (Kulturbrücken e.V.) offered the opportunity to unexpectedly change perspectives, loosen up and simply follow the (clown's) nose.
A second workshop with regional manager Ansgar Kaup (Richter + Kaup, Görlitz) and Sandy Marschke from the Görlitz Office for District Development dealt with female development perspectives in rural areas with exciting results. "Welcome 2018" was the motto of the third workshop, in which the Queer Film Festival, the Women*Forum and the Ladies Night presented the quality of arriving and staying here alongside the Upper Lusatia Future Alliance, KoLABOR and other regional initiatives.
At the end of the day, it seemed to be less a celebration of project completion than a new beginning. Prof. Ulrike Gräßel's conclusion pointed the way forward: "Make women visible, speak to women, welcome women, in the city, in the countryside, in the district of Görlitz! We still have a lot to do."
Following the symposium, the final event of the 3-year research and project cycle will take place on March 2, 2018. Together with the Saxon State Minister for Equality and Integration Petra Köpping, the District Administrator of the Görlitz district Bernd Lange, the Rector of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Friedrich Albrecht and the Chairwoman of the Saxony State Women's Council Susanne Köhler, the political scope of the project will be discussed and an outlook given: How can the potential of female perspectives in the district of Görlitz be supported and better developed?
Contact
Dr. Julia Gabler
TRAWOS Project Coordination
Tel: 03581 374-4345
E-mail: j.gabler(at)hszg.de