About Sophia

Sophia’s primary aim is to foster research and teaching in field of gender studies in Belgium. It also wants to stimulate collaboration in this field: across disciplines and between different universities, between the Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium, and between the women’s movement, policy makers and the academic community.

Origin

• In 1989, the idea of setting up a network to coordinate feminist studies in Belgium was born at the international symposium on “Concepts et réalités des études féministes” (Concepts and reality of feminist studies), organised by GRIF. A group of French- and Dutch-speaking scholars and feminist activists joined forces and created the bilingual Sophia network.

General Objectives

• promoting, developing and fostering gender research and education in Belgium
• institutionalizing gender studies within research and educational programmes in Belgian universities
• bringing the value of gender studies to the attention of all scientific disciplines
• demonstrating the importance of gender studies for developing effective equality policies

Target Audiences

• Individuals working in academia: researchers, lecturers, PhD students… who are interested in gender studies, feminism, equality and/or diversity
• individuals engaged in political, social or cultural organisations who are interested in gender studies, feminism, equality and/or diversity