Relevance of the gender perspective to life, the universe and everything
Engage me
My name is Åsa Ekvall and I work as a gender consultant with my own company Ekvall Consulting. I provide advise, studies, analyses, evaluations, workshops and trainings on almost all gender related topics, including gender and sports; gender and organizations; gender and discrimination; gender and violence; gender and poverty; gender and development; gender, environment and climate change; gender budgeting; gender mainstreaming; toxic masculinities and more. These days I find it particularly interesting to help companies and organizations to think about gender and diversity. I also like to train professional women in how to face patriarchal structures in their workplace (or in politics) without loosing too much energy.
What I do
Through my work I promote having a gender perspective on all important things in life. I also like to share knowledge about gender related research and reports – knowledge that is not always easily accessible to everyone. During the past 25 years I have gained a lot of experience with, and gathered extensive knowledge about, how to apply a gender dimension on the most varied fields. Please look at the About section to learn more about what I can do.
At the moment I am also a Visiting Fellow at ESPRIT – Erasmus Center for Sport Integrity & Transition at Erasmus University. My colleague Sandra Meeuwsen and I made a research report for the Dutch National Olympic Committee on the inclusion of trans and intersex women in elite sport. It can be read here: https://www.eur.nl/en/esphil/news/research-document-sex-gender-and-inclusion-elite-sport
My own research (PhD thesis),
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Relevance of the gender perspective to life, the universe and everything
Why do I do this? Because the gender perspective is relevant for about every aspect of life and society. It changes the way we do things. This is to everyone’s benefit, not only to the benefit of people who are usually at a disadvantage. It also helps reducing levels of violence – from inter-personal violence to armed conflict – as well as making the society more inclusive and just for all. Having a gender perspective on paid and unpaid labor increases productivity and sustainability. And there is more: the gender perspective has a positive impact on the protection of the environment: it mitigates effects of climate change and has proven effective when working to counter climate change, pollution, bio-diversity loss and deforestation on local levels. Having a gender and diversity perspective in corporate settings improves sustainability, problem solving capacities and long term gains.
Gender perspectives are useful on all levels: in a family; a company; a school; a local community; and organization; on national level; EU level and in international bodies. Everyone can do something. Once you start to apply a gender perspective to your situation you might find it hard to stop!