Gender Studies Centre

Sukurta: 17 September 2013

47 Didlaukio, LT-08303 Vilnius
Tel. 219 3028 fax 219 3017
E-mail:
www.lsc.vu.lt

Chair – Prof. Dr. Dalia Leinartė

STAFF

Professor: Dr. D. Leinartė.
Lecturers: Dr. D. Šėporaitytė, Dr. L. Stundžė, V. Tretjakova, J. Augustytė.
Visiting professors: Assoc. Prof. Leena Kurvet-Käosaar , Sen. Researcher Ene Kõresaar, Dr. Swantje Köbsell.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Social sciences – gender/women’s studies
Family policy
Women’s history
Women with disabilities

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2012

Traditional Lithuanian Family. Prof. D. Leinartė. 2012–2013.

In the 19th century, traditional Lithuanian family was closely intertwined with the Catholic Church. The Church regulated many issues of married life. It explains why in this research a significant body of the sources consists of nearly one hundred years (1813–1915) of documents from the Curia of the Samogitian Diocese. They include the reports of priests about the obstacles in Canon Law to the marriage of particular individuals, the requests of parishioners for permission to marry and the letters of priests to bishops about these requests, and parishioners’ complaints about the interference of priests in their proposed marriages. These archival documents permit to examine the motives for nineteenth-century Catholic marriages, and study note the incidence of traditional Lithuanian family and reasons for marriages between close relatives.  The protocols of the Samogitian Curia also facilitate the reconstruction of traditional Lithuanian family how the sacrament of marriage was administered and managed, and the attitude of the clergy toward illegitimate marriages among Catholics.

In 2012, international conference The Soviet Past in the Post-Soviet Present: Ethics of Oral History and Memory Studies was organized by Gender Studies Centre in cooperation with the University of Gloucestershire. It was funded by the Research Council of Lithuania.  

At the beginning of the 21st century, historians and social investigators are making increasing use of oral history methods to explore the realities of everyday life in Eastern Europe under the Soviet regime and for analyzing present day memories of the Soviet past. The use of oral history helps researchers to identify a broad range of responses to life under the Soviet regime both in what is said during interview and what is not said.

In 2012 the series presentations of the book Memories of Lithuanian painter Barbora Didžiokienė, published at the end of 2011, was organized.
Barbora Didžiokienė lived at the period 1896–1976. Her life story is archived in Kaunas National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum. Barbora Didžiokienė (Varvara Gorochova) and Vladas Ddidžiokas both were painters, but Barbora Didžiokienė was less acknowledged. Her life tells a story of woman and a painter. The archive can be divided in two parts: Va­rvara Gorochova memories of her childhood and youth in Saint Petersburg and her life after marriage with Vladas Didžiokas in Lithuania. The archive documents translation and publishing of the first book was funded by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.  

Women with Disabilities in Lithuanian: Diversity of Female Discourses. Dr. D. Šėporaitytė. 2012–2013.

Despite a growing interest in and research on the gender situation and identity in a Lithuanian and foreign academic discourse in Lithuania, it should be noted that people with disabilities are not as yet perceived as gender subjects. In the situation of disability the aspect of disability becomes dominant, and often gender becomes almost invisible. Such a situation is evident from accounts by women and men with disabilities, and academic discourse which seldom considers the gender aspect of the disabled (Köbsell, 2010). So far, almost all studies focusing on people with disabilities have regarded gender and other social dimensions such as class, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation as irrelevant. Disability studies, analyzing the lives of disabled people, have also followed the traditional perspective and disregarded the impact of gender on the lives of the disabled (Traustadóttir, 1990). This trend can still be seen in an analysis of the situation of people with disabilities (Robertson, 2004).
The unique situation of disabled women, and their vulnerability is noted in the preamble of the Conventionon the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its articles regulating different spheres as they are reflected in scientific reports and research carried out in various countries (Bungart, 2005; Zinsmeister, 2003; Ghai, 2001; May, Remus, 2000; Live, 2000; Henschel, 2007; Schur, 2004; Sørheim, 2004; Reis, 2007, etc). The Convention emphasizes the need to take into account the gender aspect of the disabled in different spheres of their life. Besides their equal participation in public life (in education, employment, representation of the disabled and etc.) attention is also paid to the elimination of discrimination in private life (family relationships, motherhood, parenthood and etc.) and protection of its privacy. It is likely that the establishment and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will impel to address the multidimensional experience of disability, its links to other social categories, and disabled people as gender subjects.
We analyze the social construction of women’s identities in a perspective of disability, the importance of body in this process, also gender socialization as well as femininity and sexuality in the context of physical disability. It will also taken into account interactions of various social categories which take place in the processes of women‘s gender identity construction. Multidimensional interaction analysis acknowledges the variety of disabled women’s experiences, which extend over different generations, class, education, work experience, interpersonal relationships and other experiential aspects throughout their lifetimes. This will allow a more comprehensive look at the current situation of women having motor disabilities and the construction of femininity in general.

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

Parts of the Books

D. Leinartė. Lithuanian women and Lithuanian men in soviet exile: living through trauma. Maps of memory: trauma, identity and exile in deportataion memoirs from the Baltic states edited by Violeta Davoliūtė, Tomas Balkelis. Vilnius, 2012, p. 72-89.

Other Books

D. Leinartė. Census-like material preserved in the archives of Lithuania, 19th century. Vilnius : Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2012. 38 p.

Articles

D. Leinartė. Lietuvos moterų ir vyrų trauminė patirtis sovietų lageriuose ir tremtyje // Kultūros barai. 2012, nr. 2, p. 50-57.

D. Leinartė. Cohabitation in imperial Russia: the case of Lithuania // The history of the family. Kidlington: Routledge. 2012, vol. 17, issue 1, p. 16-30.

D. Leinartė. Why does public policy implementation fail? Lithuanian office of state benefits for mothers of large families and single mothers // And they lived happily ever after: norms and everyday practices of family and parenthood in Russia and Central Europe / Edited by Helene Carlback, Yulia Gradskova, Zhanna Kravchenko. Budapest : Central European university press, 2012, p. 105-122.

Translations

G. Jankevičiūtė, M. Adomėnas, A. Aleksandravičiūtė, V. Ališauskas, R. Andriušytė-Žukienė, J. Augustytė, L. Balaišytė, J. Baronienė, K. Bubnytė-Montvydienė, A. Burnytė, R. Butvilaitė, L. Dovydaitytė, R. Drazdauskienė, J. Fomina, A. Gailius, A. Grigaravičiūtė, E. Grigoravičienė, L. Jablonskienė, A. Jackutė, R. Janonienė, I. Katilienė, L. Laučkaitė-Surgailienė, E. Lubytė, J. Malinauskas, S. Maslauskaitė, G. Mickūnaitė, I. Miškinienė, K. Mitalaitė, A. Narušytė, A. Paliušytė, I. Pavlovskaitė, R. Rachlevičiūtė, A. Simanavičiūtė, V. Stalioraitytė, M. Strockis, H. Šabasevičius, S. Trilupaitytė, B. Vitkauskienė. Dailės istorijos šaltiniai : nuo seniausių laikų iki mūsų dienų : antologija : [mokymo priemonė humanitarinių specialybių studentams]. / sudarytoja Giedrė Jankevičiūtė ; įvadinius straipsnius ir komentarus parašė: doc. dr. Mantas Adomėnas, prof. dr. Aleksandra Aleksandravičiūtė, dr. Vytautas Ališauskas, doc. dr. Rasa Andriušytė-Žukienė, Justina Augustytė, dr. Lina Balaišytė, Karolina Bubnytė-Montvydienė, doc. dr. Rasa Butvilaitė, doc. dr. Linara Dovydaitytė, Julija Fomina, dr. Erika Grigoravičienė, doc. dr. Lolita Jablonskienė, Asta Jackutė, prof. dr. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, dr. Rūta Janonienė, dr. Laima Laučkaitė-Surgailienė, prof. dr. Elona Lubytė, dr. Sigita Maslauskaitė, doc. dr. Giedrė Mickūnaitė, dr. Kristina Mitalaitė, doc. dr. Agnė Narušytė, dr. Aistė Paliušytė, Inesa Pavlovskaitė, Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė, doc. dr. Helmutas Šabasevičius, dr. Skaidra Trilupaitytė, doc. dr. Birutė Rūta Vitkauskienė; Vertė: Vytautas Ališauskas, Rasa Andriušytė-Žukienė, Lina Balaišytė, Jūratė Baronienė, Auksa Bunytė, Rasa Drazdauskienė, Antanas Gailius, Aušra Grigaravičiūtė, Erika Grigoravičienė, Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, Rūta Janonienė, Irena Katilienė, Laima Laučkaitė-Surgailienė, Jonas Malinauskas, Irena Miškinienė, Agnė Narušytė, Aistė Paliušytė, Inesa Pavlovskaitė, Aušra Simanavičiūtė, Vaidilė Stalioraitytė, Helmutas Šabasevičius, Mindaugas Strockis // Vilnius : Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2012. 816 p.

COOPERATION

Estonian Literary Museum (Estonia)
NGO Development Centre Pro Magister (Estonia)
Association Weibernetz (Nationwide Network for Women Lesbians and Girls with Disabilities) (Germany)
The University of Gloucestershire (UK)

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Prof. D. Leinartė –

Dr. D. Šeporaitytė –

V. Tretjakova –

  • member of the Lithuanian Sociological Association.

L. Šumskaitė –

  • member of the Lithuanian Sociological Association;
  • member of the Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (Int–ergender) doctoral students group DO9.