Gender Equity Lecture Series | Faculty of Science
Epistemic Injustice, Personal Responsibility, and Gender Equity in Academia
In this Faculty specific session, participants will explore the many responsibilities we have as knowers. The responsibility to share accurate information is one responsibility, but not the only one. In this talk, Dr. Jamie Sewell, will explore the connections between Miranda Fricker's work on epistemic injustice and the ways that it can manifest in academic settings. We will focus on the relation between epistemic injustice and social privilege, highlighting the ways in which epistemic injustice directly contributes to ongoing gender inequity. Finally, this talk will offer some ways in which we might work toward greater gender equity and what our personal responsibilities for collective injustice might consist in.
About the Gender Equity Lecture Series
This lecture series is intended to highlight some significant personal, interpersonal, and systemic barriers to gender equity across the University of Waterloo's campus, and explain some of the harms of gender inequity, when it arises. In addition, this series aims to explore foundational concepts in gender theory, implicit bias, epistemic ignorance, systemic oppression, and more. Ultimately, this series is intended to help develop shared epistemic resources, such that we can all better understand how gender inequity can manifest, and work toward mitigating its effects on our community.
More About Dr. Jamie Sewell
Dr. Jamie Sewell (she/they) is a queer, feminist epistemologist, and a first-generation student. Dr. Sewell holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy where she's contributed to democratic education theory, applied ethics, and philosophy of law. She has been teaching at the University of Waterloo since 2015, in both the Philosophy and the Gender & Social Justice Departments, and is a Senior Training Specialist in the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism. Dr. Sewell founded and, in its first year, co-directed the University of Waterloo chapter of Minorities and Philosophy — an international organization that seeks to connect with and support marginalized philosophers at all levels.
