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This case study is underpinned by research carried out within a Leverhulme Trust International Network award on Women and Union Leadership. The case demonstrates three sets of impact: (1) engagement of Professor Kirton to advise the probation service union Napo on changing policy and practices to improve women's representation in the union's leadership and decision-making structures; (2) career development, activist development and new networking opportunities for women union leaders/activists in the UK and USA; and (3) increased action on improving women's representation in unions and raising greater awareness (including lobbying through Motion 26, TUC 2011) of the pressing importance for union renewal of correcting women's under-representation in union leadership in UK and USA unions.
The findings of empirical research conducted by Professor Jim Barry and Dr Trudie Honour of UEL were shared at two focused capacity building sessions held in 2008 and 2009 for women leaders in middle and senior positions of responsibility and decision-making in the public and third sectors of a number of developing countries. Workshops were attended by women from Albania, Bahrain, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Participants considered the relevance and application of the research findings for their own countries, and worked together and with the researchers to formulate potential capacity development implementation strategies for women in positions of responsibility in those countries.
Research started by Professor Joni Lovenduski in 1992 and developed with Dr Rosie Campbell since 2003, influenced both policies about party political representation of women and the understandings of women's role in politics of party officials and activists. Showing that political recruitment, representation and participation are highly gendered — masculine — processes, Lovenduski and Campbell have successfully challenged the attitudes and contributed to changing processes that determine political equality between women and men. Both are routinely consulted about policy on political representation by political parties, UK government and parliament, the EU, and national and international organisations.
Research by Dr Garikipati identifies that microfinance is most beneficial to women when it enables them to enhance their livelihoods and participate in the local enterprise economy. It also shows that over 80% of the microfinance loans in Andhra Pradesh, India, did not meet these conditions. Using these research findings, Dr Garikipati directly lobbied the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP). This has had an impact on governmental organisations and other stakeholders within the microfinance industry and lead to the introduction of the Livelihood Enhancement Plan (LEP), which is used at the time of loan application. Dr Garikipati collaborated with the GoAP in designing and implementing the LEP. It impacts 500,000 women per year who join the microfinance program and enables them to enhance livelihoods in keeping with the demands of the local economy.
Dr Julie Gottlieb's research on women's politicization and gender roles in inter-war British extremist politics has had cultural impact in terms of the understanding of, and the coming to terms with, often uncomfortable and traumatic family memories. The personal and contemporary resonances of this research have led the media and the public, in particular the descendants of those still affected by the much-stigmatized political choices of their immediate ancestors, to become closely engaged with her work, serving to recover and understand overlooked histories. Of the audiences of hundreds who have heard her in person and hundreds of thousands who have listened to her on radio, several have contacted her with information and insights that signify a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted relationship between women and politics in the aftermath of suffrage, in particular during the crisis years between the world wars. Gottlieb's work has provided an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate women who have been sidelined in political history, providing a launching point for public discussion about women's political agency and representation almost a century after suffrage.
Using a ground-breaking database of recovered narratives of Latin American women during the Wars of Independence,
Critical historical, empirical and theoretical research on women offenders is deeply embedded in the culture of criminology at Keele. Research undertaken by Anne Worrall and colleagues at Keele since 1993 (and for a decade before) has contributed towards changing attitudes and practice in the treatment of women offenders locally, nationally and internationally. The impact of our research is long-standing and has been sustained across several generations of researchers. Its significance lies in our ability to challenge conventional wisdom about women offenders, inform and stimulate practitioner debate, influence CPD, influence practice for a specific group, improve access to justice and give a voice to those affected by our research.
Research undertaken by Dr Rainbow Murray in the School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) at QMUL has assisted governments and activists from Europe, Israel and China interested in adopting gender quotas in elections to understand their potential advantages, pitfalls and consequences. Users of her research include parliaments, intergovernmental organisations, political parties, public bodies, NGOs and the media.
The production of hand-knitting is of key economic and cultural importance in Scotland. University of Glasgow research on the history of hand-knitting has: helped to enhance a significant textiles collection at Shetland Museum and Archives (~88,000 visitors each year) and contributed to the growth of public interest in and understanding of this craft activity and its history. Glasgow research has also informed the work of contemporary knitwear designers who have found inspiration in the traditional designs and colour ways and has engaged the wider public, promoting greater appreciation of the cultural significance of hand-knitting and its role in the rural economy of the past and present.
More than twenty years of sanctions and war have decimated all areas of Iraqi society, including its higher education sector. In this context, the work of Professor Nadje Al-Ali has countered conservative forces pursuing Iraqi reconstruction in ways that explicitly marginalise women. Drawing on her research on women's rights in Iraq and beyond, Al-Ali has worked to raise consciousness of how perspectives informed by gender theory can contribute to a more equitable reconstruction of Iraqi civil society. Through in-country and regional training of academics and women's rights activists, and mentoring numerous Iraqi research projects, Al-Ali has substantially progressed the promotion of women's rights and gender-based equality in Iraq.