The workshop was held at the guesthouse Cavo Perlevos on the beautiful Greek island of Kea, and lasted from 30 May to 2 June, with an optional social day on 29 May and a joint dinner in Athens concluding the workshop on the evening of 2 June. The workshop participants for the 2023 workshop were selected based on a highly competitive call for papers, as is the case every year.
The participants worked together in harmonious environment at the Cavo Perlevos guesthouse, with the breath-taking view of the beach of Otzias. The workshop sessions consisted of presentations of the research by the participants. Two discussants were assigned for each paper, which provided insightful inputs and suggestions for the final research paper. The 45-minutes discussion per paper continued over lunches and dinners at local tavernas, and during relaxation time at the beach.
The participants were from different countries around the world, including India, Brazil, Croatia, the UK and Australia, promoting sisterhood in a highly competitive academic world. The discussions of the challenge of intersectionality in business and society were enriched by the different backgrounds of the participants. It created new awareness and understandings of systemic problems in the society and promoted discussion about oppressive power structures, systemic inequalities that permeated aspects of just ‘being’ and ‘existing’.
The workshop week provided opportunities for creating new bonds and strengthening old ones. Publication opportunities were discussed, with the conclusion that the academic organisers will work towards publication in a special issue of a journal. The final workshop day was concluded with discussions of ways to improve further the annual workshop and the Daughters of Themis network more broadly.
Reflections from the participants
Lívia Gil Guimarães, PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law of University of São Paulo (Brazil) and member of the Academic Organising Committee of the workshop: ‘The workshop was very enriching and a unique academic opportunity. Old friendships were strengthened and new ones formed. As part of the Academic Organising Committee, it was stimulating to see intersectionality also blossom in practice from the encounter, listening and dialogue with academics with diverse life backgrounds, crossed by the most diverse social markers of difference, and living different professional and personal moments!’. Livia expressed the feelings of many participants when she added that ‘the workshop provided food for thought and powerful insights for life!’.
Isabelle Oglouyan de Campos, PhD Candidate, also from São Paulo, echoed Livia’s sentiments that the workshop was ‘a rewarding experience, both academically and personally. It is an incredible opportunity to meet highly engaged and experienced people from all over the world, who dedicated an entire week of their lives to give thorough and constructive feedback on their colleagues' papers’. The workshop confirmed in the words of Isabelle ‘that it is, indeed, possible to do research with feeling and affection’.
Niak Sian Koh, postdoctoral scholar at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden, emphasized the significance of the Daughters of Themis Network, adding that she is ‘honoured and grateful to be a part of this network, where rigorous science is complemented with a culture of care and compassion’.
Ellie (Larelle) Chapple, Professor at the Faculty of Business & Law, Queensland University, Australia, said that the workshop is a ‘warm, congenial and unique experience in allowing the researchers to drop defensive shields and open up. It promotes robust and constructive discussions. And each researcher becomes a participant in the others’ research’.
Sanja Mihalić, PhD candidate, Zagreb, Croatia, and also member of the Academic Organising Committee, highlighted the role of Greek ambience in providing the setting for ‘the intellectual-friendly sisterhood that works perfectly for the mind and soul’. Sanja emphasised how the workshop brings ‘together so many women from all over the world with different lifestyles and different experiences that manage to integrate so well in exchange of academic reflections and in a friendly atmosphere. The workshop has proven again, that the happening grows every year and positions itself as respectful academic occasion’.
Feminist theories and business at the 2024 workshop!
The 2024 Workshop will be held in Kea 4-7 June 2024, with optional social days on 3 and 8 June. The workshop will be shaped in the established tradition of having a combination of academic sessions and social activities. The academic organisers for the 2024 workshop are Sarah Cornell and Beate Sjåfjell, and the call for papers will be out in October 2023, with an early January 2024 deadline.
This news piece is written by participant Kanwal Singh, with input from the participants.