Second seminar 
Reflections on Gender Equality in the UK: Conservative Narratives and Alternative Stories

November 27th, 2024 
To join the seminar, please click here. 

Chloe Sanyu 
Newnham College, University of Cambridge (UK) 
Tales of Empowerment or Echoes of Inequality? A Feminist Exploration of the UK Conservative Government's Narratives Concerning Gender Equality in International Development (2018-2024). 
Between 2018 and 2024, successive UK Conservative governments have committed to advancing gender equality in international development. However, these commitments are shaped by a racialised, gendered, and colonial perspective of “women and girls”. This research utilises Chandra Mohanty’s concept of the “third world woman” to critically examine the textual and visual representations found within the Department for International Development’s Strategic Vision for Gender Equality (2018) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s International Women and Girls Strategy (2023). Complementing this are semi-structured interviews with eight UK civil society professionals to explore their views on these representations and their ability to (re)shape them. I find the portrayal of the “third world woman” serves two key purposes for the UK Conservative government: to define her as a young, poor Muslim woman, and to envision her transformation into an older, empowered working woman whose economic empowerment purportedly benefits the British state. These images reinforce racialised and gendered hierarchies of power, asserting the UK’s dominance over the Global South. As political change looms, I consider how civil society believes these representations can be reimagined to meaningfully reflect the diverse realities of the “women and girls” targeted by the policies of the UK government. 

Ellen Davenport-Pleasance 
University College London (UK) 
How Do Bi+ Mothers Make Meaning of Their Experiences of Motherhood? : A Narrative Analysis of Timeline Interviews with Bisexual+ Mothers. 
In light of the lack of research on bisexual+ parenthood (Manley & Ross, 2020) and a specific lack of narrative research into this topic, this study aimed to investigate how bi+ mothers make meaning of their experiences of motherhood. Narrative interviews were conducted with 21 bi+ mothers, facilitated by an innovative timeline interviewing methodology. Most participants (76.19%, n = 16) were cisgender women, lived in the UK (57.14%, n = 12), had two children (52.38%, n = 11), and were in a monogamous relationship with a man (76.19%, n = 16). Following transcription and familiarization with the data, narrative analysis was conducted, guided by Minority Stress Theory. This presentation will discuss the various narrative strategies bi+ mothers used to make sense of their bi+ identity in relation to their role as a mother, such as positioning themselves as good mothers because of their bi+ identity, or presenting their bi+ identity as separate from their parenting. Additionally, how bi+ mothers made sense of the discrimination facing their families will be discussed, including a discussion of how bi+ mothers adopted strategies such as downplaying their experiences of discrimination or emphasising their resilience. These narrative strategies will be discussed in relation to the theoretical and practical applications.