Metaheurísticas
3.3. Evaluación de metaheurísticas
This issue was put together by members of the Women and Geography Study Group (WGSG) at the request of the editorial board of the CIGE. The two general aims of this issue were therefore agreed by both groups, and are closely aligned to those of the WGSG itself. The WGSG seeks, through the use of feminist perspectives, to demonstrate the importance of gender to the study and teaching of geography and in so doing to promote the development of a geography in which women’s experiences, values, and needs are treated as legitimate areas of enquiry and curriculum development. (n.d.: 1)
Issue Summary Box Number 7 Gender and Geography
Date of publication: n.d estimated 1989 Volume 3.1 Number of pages: 105 Theme Editors: Jo Little and Sarah Whatmore
Printed by Spider Web / Layout Sue Dransfield, Typesetting: London Manhatten Page Size: A5
Production Format: A5
Contributor Institution / affiliation (if any/known)
Sarah Whatmore Lecturer in Geography, University of Leeds
Jo Little Lecturer in Planning, Bristol Polytechnic
Sophie Bowlby Lecturer in Human Geography, University of
Reading
Liz Bondi Lecturer in Geography University of Edinburgh
Rachael Dixey Lecturer in Geography, Trinity and All Saints College of Education, Leeds
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Nicola Franchi Teacher in Walthamstow
Brekke Larson Teacher in Sheffield
Kate Oliver Camden Borough Council
Linda Peake Lecturer in Geography, Kingston Polytechnic
Maggie Pearson Lecturer in Medical Sociology, Liverpool University Jill Rutter (not listed in ‘notes on contributors’
section) Possibly the same Gill Rutter (spelt with a G) who reviewed BandAid video in previous issue, name mis- spelt and no institutional affiliation listed in this edition, although the previous suggests Barnstaple School, Basildon, Essex
As the introductory quote from the editorial to this issue states, the penultimate journal of the series, ‘Gender and Geography’, was compiled and edited primarily through the efforts of members of the Women and Geography Studies Group (WGSG) of the Institute of British Geographers at the request of the CIGE editorial board. Having recently been ratified as a legitimate research group in 1982, the WGSG’s official ‘beginnings’ had their inception around the time CIGE was launched. From its inception, the ACDG was keen to have a specific CIGE theme issue dedicated to gender, geography and issues of gender inequality experienced by women61. Linda Peake, as a member involved with both CIGE and WGSG, proved mutually beneficial to Gill and Slater, since they were able – through Peake, who had been Newsletter Coordinator for the Women and Geography Working Group (WGWG), the precursor to the WGSG 62– to link with other WGSG members, in particular Sarah Whatmore, then a PhD student at University College London. Archival materials held in both the WGSG and CIGE archives attest to the shared goal of producing a ‘political pamphlet’63 to promote the aims and academic activism of WGSG members, while simultaneously promoting those shared aims of CIGE and ACDG.
The partial archives of the WGSG (WGWG) reveal close mutual promotion. WGSG Newsletter No.12 (March 1984:4) dedicated a whole page promoting a ‘*new journal…….new
journal*’ in which all nine aims of CIGE are reproduced and Slater is named as main contact
should anyone wish to subscribe. The production of the WGSE edited issue is equally promoted in a later WGSG Newsletter in the Autumn of 1989 (Newsletter No.25) where, under ‘Members publications’, the theme edition is academically referenced ‘Whatmore S and Little J (eds)’, with the publication summarised as: ‘This issue demonstrates the importance of gender to the teaching of geography’ (1989:9). The organisation of the issue was undertaken by members of the WGSG, and minutes from the meetings of CIGE Editorial Board from 1986 allude to the enthusiasm of WGSG members, with Whatmore attending a meeting on 3rd May 1986 with a clear idea of contributors and how the issue would take shape (1986:000005). Photocopies of four pages of her handwritten notes also exist attached to this meeting, containing information of who was to contribute and how it would be compiled exist in record (1986:000005), with Whatmore reporting at a meeting on 26th September 1986 that ‘most articles have been received in their first draft. Final drafts and additional papers will be collected at a Gender and Geography conference at the Institute of Education at which
61 Newspaper archival clippings in the CIGE archive from 1982 reveal articles from THES and the Guardian’s Education Section following press coverage of research by Sophie Bowlby presented at conferences in 1982. 62 The Women in Geography Studies Group or WGSG formed in 1982
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both Francis Slater and Sarah Whatmore are presenting papers’ (1986:000022). By the CIGE Editorial Board meeting on 7th February 1987, all papers were complete. Attending the meeting from the WGSG were Sophie Bowlby, Jo Little and Whatmore, who stated that the issue was ‘virtually complete’, with Pepper offering his copy-editing services. The WGSG was keen to ensure quality of production, stressing “[i]t will be handed over in its final format and require only proof reading when it has been typeset. We hope to get this work done professionally’ (1987/000002).
Figure 5.40: Issue 3.1: front and back covers
As with previous issues, the ‘Gender and Geography’ issue has an eye-catching cover. Startlingly (subversively?) pink in colour both on its back cover and in the font of the publication’s title (Figure 5.40), this issue finally saw publication in 1989, three years after materials had been submitted. The image on the front cover intended to raise questions about the ‘overlooked’ everyday geographies of exclusion experienced by women in ‘everyday’ landscapes: in this instance, a woman is attempting to get onto a Routemaster bus accompanied by her toddler child and holding a baby and a folded up push chair, suggesting the complex juggling in order to make simple access to a public service.
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Using such an image is intended to provoke response from the viewer, a response if not forthcoming, then reiterated thought the words of the editorial. Collaboratively written by Whatmore, Little and Bowlby, the editorial (Figure 5.41) clarifies the aims of the journal to dovetail with the shared aims and ambitions of the WGSG: to profile feminist geographical approaches and, in turn, raise awareness of gender inequality as played out in the everyday geographical negotiations of women in and beyond the urban landscape. It aims to make women’s lives visible within geography and draws on Wilbur Zelinsky, Janice Monk and Susan Hanson’s 1982 Progress in Human Geography article, as well as citing earlier seminal pieces by Jacqueline Tivers (1978) and geographers writing about women’s negotiation of gendered spaces in the work place. The authors cite the research of Linda McDowell and Doreen Massey, raising in turn broader questions about the workings of capitalist state mechanisms, constructions of spaces of leisure and work, private and public terrains, and the power relationships therein. The conclusion of the editorial sets out ‘the future of feminist geography’ by highlighting three inter-related issues that concern: firstly, to insist that ways in which the geography of society gets written need to look beyond conventional presumptions; secondly, to reveal the way material and methods used in teaching often work against women and girls; and, finally, to consider how to make people aware of the marginalisation of women within geographical subject matter as a political act:
The future of feminist geography is to broaden its relevance of its challenge by developing its explanatory basis … Geography has played a part in the maintenance and particular form of class and racial divisions and patriarchal gender relations a central part of their construction. Explanations of the changing geography of Britain and the world must therefore address how these social divisions intersect at any one time and place. (1989:7)
The editorial also sets out in clear terms the political activism of the WGSG:
The WGSG, which is affiliated to the Institute of British Geographers, is a group of about 100 women and men, mainly, though not exclusively, academics and researchers (from universities, polytechnics, colleges and schools). It was set up in 1980 to promote the development of feminist approaches in the study of geography and to offer help and support to women engaged in geographical research and teaching. (1989:1)
The editorial acknowledges the range and scope of collaboratively produced academic publications, citing the undergraduate textbook Geography and Gender (1984), lists of two further book publications64, collections of essays and forthcoming publications, all underscoring the motivations of WGSG members to validate their work, efforts and activisms and to engage with wider readerships. The editorial also explains the process and labour of production, which it felt necessary in order that rightful work and production efforts of individuals should be acknowledged, while simultaneously situating WGSG ideals alongside those of CIGE:
Although the WGSG as a whole endorses this issue and shares in the general aims outlined here, the specific tasks involved in producing this publication have fallen to particular people. Sarah Whatmore carried out the editorial tasks of soliciting articles and managing the long re-writing process. Sophie Bowlby, Jo Foord, and Sarah Whatmore collectively wrote the editorial and share responsibility for the views expressed in it. Similarly the views expressed in each article are those of the individual author
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and may not be representative of the WGSG or of its members. However, on behalf of the whole group, many thanks are due to each individual for her labour. (1989:2)
In interview, Whatmore, Little and Liz Bondi revealed that it was Gill who located the teacher contributors for the edition; however, Whatmore’s handwritten notes in the CIGE archive suggest she did the ‘suggesting’, with the majority of contributors involved in the WGSG and reflecting their recent and forthcoming research on feminist geographies and gender geographies.
The structure of and focus of the majority of articles submitted in this edition is much altered from the first issue. The first Discussion paper, by Maggie Pearson,65 addresses issues of access to medical care and the gendered and radicalised experiences of exclusion therein. Questions of spatial access are also considered by as Sophie Bowlby66, who explains how women are encouraged through the retail industry to adopt particular patterns of behaviour based around the rhythms of domestic work. Kate Oliver,67 drawing on GLC research reports on accessibility, explores the contested geographies of transport and the different needs of women for different types of public transportation as connected to questions of unequal accesses. At the end of her piece, Oliver includes a comprehensive list of multimedia resources that could be followed up by researchers and by educationists wishing to develop their own bespoke teaching materials. Bondi68 and Peake69 co-author the Discussion feature entitled Gender and urban politics. Studying diverse interdisciplinary research in urban studies, Bondi and Peake offer a feminist critique of the male-centric70 ways in which urban politics were being defined. Jo Foord’s Discussion piece explores her research into the gendered geographies of clerical employment and the impact of new technologies and women’s employment opportunities, while Rachael Dixey’s contribution is concerned with the gendered nature of leisure, explaining conceptions of and relationally gendered experiences of both leisure time and leisure space. The final piece, by Bowlby, expands on research about ‘gender issues and retail geography’, using a range of case study examples and data to raise questions of how gender is entangled within the spatial design and practice of the retail industry71.
Primarily, this issue of the journal issue is made up of Discussion papers, standing as little different from more conventional academic journal papers. There are only two other pieces of commissioned writing, one Open Space article (Gender bias and the GCSE by Brekke Larsen) and a feature on suggested classroom materials (Gender bias and geography: the need for anti-sexist
65 Lecturer in Medical Sociology, Liverpool University, subsequently Professor at Leeds and latterly Regional Director of Research and Development of NHS NW regional office.
66 University of Reading. 67 Camden Borough Council.
68 Lecturer in Geography, University of Edinburgh, currently Professor of Counselling, University of Edinburgh. 69 Lecturer in Geography, Kingston Polytechnic, currently Professor in Social Science and Women’s studies, York University, Canada.
70 In their text Bondi and Peake define this as ‘androcentric’.
71 Further details regarding how articles were gathered for this issue through the early years of the formation of the WGSG are revealed in Chapters 6 and 7 through interviews with a number of those WGSG members who contributed to the journal series, ones who are now notable professorial feminist geographers writing about geography and gender.
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teaching resources’ by Nicola M Franchi). Given the motivating aims of the journal, this
teaching-facing presence seems rather limited, especially as there is little indication that any additional worksheets were provided in conjunction with this journal issue. Focused on the gendered politics of ‘work’, the classroom materials piece draws on resources previously produced as part of the Checkpoint Series edited by John L Foster, alongside data from statistical surveys and newspaper reports (Figure 5.42) to raise questions of when and what and whose work is considered of greatest value72.
Figure 5.42: Issue 3.1: teaching materials for practical classroom suggestions taken from the
Checkpoint series and ‘No more Peanuts: an evaluation of women’s work from the National Council of
Civil Liberties’ (NCCL)
There are two reviews in this issue’s Review section. The first is a review of a War on Want education pack entitled Dhaka to Dundee: Bangladesh and Britain in an Unequal world. Another review by school geography educator Gill Rutter highlights how a multimedia education pack can be utilised across disciplinary subjects for critically engaging and collaborative teaching approaches. Rutter signs off in a manner which dates the review to have been written before Kenneth Baker introduced the National Curriculum and, in turn GCSEs, in May 1988:
The pack … can be used in geography, history, social studies and economics … It remains to be seen how Kenneth Baker’s national curriculum will constrain taking this kind of approach to group work’ (1989:87)
Following this article is Linda Peake’s book review the WGSG text Geography and Gender (1984): a somewhat ‘insider’ view, nevertheless, Peake makes pains to draw out the importance of what is now a classic text for feminist geographers in British geography,
72 Research into checkpoint suggest it was a specific unit operating within ILEA on anti-sexist and women’s rights. Further research remains pending.
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presenting an overview of the struggle in the late-1970s and early-1980s to get the issues taken seriously, and indeed, Peake notes, it is a relevant read in the continued and ongoing concern in the ‘real world of social struggle’ (1989:90).
Adverts in this edition are few: GEON (Geography and Equal Opportunities Network), a network of school educators wishing to raise question about the incoming GCSE National Curriculum (contact Brekke Larsen in Sheffield); the WGSG itself, encouraging readers to contact Nicky Gregson for further details; and three final adverts for classroom materials produced by the ACD. The first of the latter is Sweet or Sour? Case study of Tate and Lyle by Neil Larkin and John Widdowson, followed immediately by an advert for a video ‘about the development of British racism’ (1989:92)entitled ‘A history of racism: we are here because you were there’ produced and distributed by the ACD, with Gill’s telephone number and P.O. Box address details as contact information. The final advert sits at the end of the classroom resources and is for another ACD video production entitled ‘The black image’, for use by ‘teachers and students of art and history’ (1989:101). The advert is dated 1988, and it is this date that gives an indication of when the whole issue was produced and eventually circulated.
Pages 102-103 are a double page of adverts for new subscribers and a repetition of the journal’s nine aims, while the final pages consist of a one page subscription form with ‘forthcoming’ issues listed as ‘Anarchism and Geography; The Urban Crisis; Transnational Corporations; Australia and the South Pacific; Nicaragua and Central America’ (1989:104). The final page lists the Editorial Board members. By this issue, the Board had shrunk in number since the first issues, and those listed here include Julian Agyeman, Cook, Gill, Huckle and Larkin, alongside Pepper, Brenda Tucker (nee Spandler), Whatmore, Peter Jackson, John Fein and Chris Harris. The back cover has an image of a woman waiting to get on presumably the same bus as those appearing on the front cover. In a white text box is another advert, this time a summary of what the ACD entails:
… a voluntary organisation formed buy the affiliation of several teacher’s self-education groups which have been working on anti-racist education since 1982. It is independent of local education authorities and the DES. The ACD is working to combat racism and sexism in education, challenge indoctrination, and produce learning materials which promote equality. We have set up ACD Productions Ltd, to produce resources for teacher in-service education and classroom use” (n.d back cover). (1989:back cover)
The ACD clearly had personnel overlapping with those working on the journal and in the new Association whose critical educational remit stretched beyond a conception of just teaching Geography in a way that might delimit the subject’s disciplinary boundaries. Rather, the ACD indicated the complementary way geographers were now working alongside critical educators across schooling and official education institutions more generally, sharing together in challenging normative notions of who, how and why particular presumed and accepted practices within education existed.
There were clearly factors affecting the smooth publishing of this issue in spite of the organised nature of the authors and theme editors, as indicated in the minutes of the archive.
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The issue had at least two different print runs and saw delay to the planned publishing schedule by at least three years73, and it is clear that such typesetting and production problems with formatting were replicating the kinds of complaints politely leveled at the Editorial Board by previous contributors and theme editors. These matters will be discussed in greater detail across the following chapters (6 and 7). The following issue, while improved upon in terms of its production copy, would prove to be the final issue of CIGE.