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We’re really proud and honoured to have researchers at Durham whose work is focused on issues affecting women with the aim of forging women’s equality.
And on International Women’s Day, we’d like to celebrate just a few of our amazing researchers – of course, there are many, many more - and the contributions they are making to bringing about positive change in our society.
Professor Clare McGlynn
Over the last 20 years, Clare’s work has influenced and shaped law reform. Her particular expertise is in the legal regulation of pornography, sexual violence and image-based sexual abuse, including taking and sharing intimate images without consent such as ‘upskirting’, deepfakes and cyberflashing.
In 2020, Clare was appointed an Honorary QC in recognition of her work championing women’s equality in the legal profession and shaping new criminal laws on extreme pornography and image-based sexual abuse.
Dr Geetanjali Gangoli
Geetanjali from our Department of Sociology works on social and feminist responses to gender-based violence, particularly in relation to India and the UK, making ‘real world’ differences in policy, law and practice.
Her work has been hugely influential in creating much needed changes in responses to forced marriage, honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, and sexual violence in refugee and asylum-seeking communities.
https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/geetanjali-gangoli/
Dr Stacey Pope
Working on issues such as gender, sport and inequality, Stacey’s most recent research showed that openly misogynistic attitudes towards women’s sport may still be common amongst male football fans.
Based on a survey of 1,950 male football fans on UK football fan message boards, it found that although progressive attitudes amongst men were also strongly represented, they were not as common as hostile and sexist attitudes.
Professor Lynda Boothroyd
As a psychologist interested in the evolutionary and cultural drivers of gendered appearance ideals, Lynda’s research is currently focused on body image in children and adults. She is also a trainer for ‘Succeed’ - the UK edition of an international preventative body image programme.
Lynda’s research has shown that exposure to ‘thin ideals’, via TV, other media and even toys such as dolls, can lead to girls and women aspiring to an unrealistic ‘thin ideal body’ in multiple countries. In young girls in particular, this could lead to body dissatisfaction, which has been shown to be a factor in the development of eating disorders.
https://lgboothroyd.webspace.durham.ac.uk/
Professor Abir Hamdar
In Arab culture, cancer is quite literally a disease without a name. It is commonly and euphemistically referred to as “that disease” and there’s a history of silence, stigma and taboo attached to it, with the silence particularly affecting women. Abir’s research gives voice to Arab women’s experiences of cancer through arts-based projects.
The on-going work is already helping to break the social taboo around cancer and minimising fear of it, influencing how doctors evaluate women’s cancer experiences and facilitating a support network for female cancer patients.
Professor Nicole Westmarland
Nicole started looking at the topic of violence against women when working as a taxi driver to fund her undergraduate degree. Her research on the gendered victimisation of taxi drivers led to a career dedicated to understanding men’s violence against women allied with a strong determination to contribute towards ending it.
As the Director of the Durham Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA), Nicole is also interested in supporting others to create ‘real world’ social change, working alongside grassroots violence against women groups and feminist activists. Her work has won a number of awards internationally, and underpinned changes in both policy and practice.