Sylvia Walby

Sylvia Walby OBE FAcSS
Born	Sylvia Theresa Walby (1953-10-16) 16 October 1953
Nationality	British
Occupation	Sociologist
Organization	Lancaster University
Website	Official website

Sylvia Theresa Walby (born 16 October 1953), OBE FAcSS, is a British sociologist, currently Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University. She is noted for work in the fields of the domestic violence, patriarchy, gender relations in the workplace and globalisation.

Walby is coordinator of the Gender Equality Research Network International (GENIe) the aim of which is to develop, through research, the knowledge base to understand and reduce gender inequality. She is principal Investigator of the Lancaster node of Quing, an Integrated Project funded by the European Union under Framework 6 to investigate gender and citizenship in a multicultural context, 2006–2011, Member of the Executive Board, and Leader of the strand on Intersectionality. She is also co-organiser of an international network on Gender Globalization and Work Transformation (GLOW).

Walby is the first UNESCO Chair in Gender Research and coordinates the associated UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group. She was appointed in 2008.

Career

Walby has been Sociology Professor at the University of Leeds, Professor and Head of Department of Sociology at Bristol University; Reader in Sociology and Director of the Gender Institute at the LSE; Lecturer in Sociology and Director of the Women's Studies Research Centre at Lancaster University; Visiting Associate Professor in Sociology at UCLA and Honorary Visiting Scholar at the Schlesinger Library, Harvard University. She was the first President of the European Sociological Association and has been Chair of the Women's Studies Network UK.

Her current research is situated within the tension between general social theory and specific forms of inequality, especially gender. Over the years this led her from theories of patriarchy to a current concern to mainstream difference into social theory. She has an interest in economic matters, a fascination with new political forms, and concern with marginalised groups. Today, all of these issues are framed by globalisation, the understanding of which requires new forms of social theory, especially complexity theories.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Current research themes and writing

Gender Equality Research Network International (GENIe)

Walby is coordinator of the Gender Equality Research Network International (GENIe). The aim of GENIe is to develop, through research, the knowledge base to understand and reduce gender inequality.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is funding developmental workshops at Lancaster to take forward new ventures in gender analysis.

QUING: Gender Equality in the EU

Quing was an Integrated Project funded by the European Union under Framework 6 to investigate gender and citizenship in a multicultural context, 2006–2011. QUING compared the meanings of gender equality in each of the 27 EU member states, and Turkey and Croatia. This involved close textual analysis of key policy documents on gender equality in employment, gender-based violence and intimate citizenship, as well as the comparative analysis of the varied institutional and social structural environments under which these meanings develop. Quing will contribute to the development of gender theory, especially in relation to intersectionality and to the theorisation of differences in gender regimes, as well as to more effective gender equality policies. With partners in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey, the project was coordinated by Professor Mieke Verloo in Vienna. The total budget is 4,742,000 Euros, with 634,000 Euros for Lancaster. Sylvia Walby was the Principal Investigator of the Lancaster node, Member of the Executive Board, and Leader of the strand on Intersectionality. The Lancaster node included Dr. Jo Armstrong and Dr. Sofia Strid.

UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group

Professor Sylvia Walby was appointed to the UNESCO Chair in Gender Research in 2008. Members of the UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group include Dr Jo Armstrong and Dr Sofia Strid. The objectives of the Chair are to:

• facilitate the development of policy-relevant research on gender equality and women's human rights around the world;
• support and develop international networking to facilitate the exchange of ideas, research and policy developments, especially between the North and South;
• support research and build capacity on policy-relevant gender equality issues; curriculum development, student training at graduate level; staff exchanges;
• facilitate exchanges between researchers and policy makers, in the context of UN instruments for promoting women's human rights and the Millennium Development Goals;
• collaborate with UNESCO in its gender equality policy and strategy.

Social theory, Complexity theory

A book from a long-term programme of research.

• Paper presented to a conference of the British Sociological Association, University of York, April 2003.
• Paper presented to a conference of the British Sociological Association, University of York, April 2004.
• Pdf.

Response from Sandra Harding (doi: 10.1086/495602).

Response from Joey Sprague (doi: 10.1086/495603).

Gender, Globalization and Work Transformation

Walby is co-organiser of an international network on Gender Globalization and Work Transformation (GLOW), with members in US, Japan, Germany and UK. Key interests are in the relationship between the new knowledge based economy and new non-standard employment forms in the context of changing forms of regulation and deregulation and globalisation.

• Edited with GLOW.
• Presented to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) seminar 'Work, life and time in the new economy', LSE October 2002.
• Working paper series no. 55.

Gender-based violence

Work for the UN on improving statistics and indicators on violence against women:

• Invited paper (ref ECE/CES/GE.30/2006/7) for the UNECE's Conference of European Statisticians, Group of Experts on Gender Statisticians, 11–13 September 2006.

• • Member of UN Task Force on Violence Against Women, 2006-.

• Home Office research study paper no. 276, based on a consultancy with the Home Office's British Crime Survey.
• Pdf. Based on Nuffield Foundation funded work.

Politics in a global era

• Pdf.

Response from Steve Bruce and David Voas (doi: 10.1177/0038038504047184).

• Pdf.
• Pdf.
• Pdf.

Measuring Gender Equality

• Pdf. Originally prepared for UNESCO, considering to what extent the Beijing +10 process has led to the improvement of the lives of women.
• Contributed research to EU Presidency (Luxembourg) report on "Beijing+10: Progress Made Within the European Union", 2005 (with Anne-Marie Theisen, Nadine Spoden and Mieke Verloo).
• Working paper series no. 17.
• "Gender, Economic Development, Economic Growth and Democracy", ESRC funded project with Wendy Olsen, 2004-5.
• Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and member Official Statistics Committee.

ESRC Gender seminars

ESRC funded seminar series, "Gender Mainstreaming" 2003-04.

• Pdf.
• Pdf.

ESRC funded seminar series, "What is Gender Equality", 2005-07

• Pdf.
• 2006, May. "Indicators and statistics of gender based violence"; co-hosted by Royal Statistical Society, Programme and presentations here.
• 2007, April. "Developing indicators and official statistics to monitor the new duty to promote gender equality", Programme and presentations here.

Further reading

• Pdf.

External links

• Lancaster University Staff Pages
• Online Articles by Author
• Women and Equality Unit
• Curriculum Vitae
• Review Scout Listing
• UN Presentation on Violence against women and the Millennium Development Goals