Brighton and Sussex Sexualities Network

EOI 2009 Conference:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Times of Crises

15-17 July 2009, ISTANBUL, Turkey

www.eoi-conference.org

EOI 2009 Conference will take place at Bosphorus University (Istanbul), one of the foremost academic institutions in Turkey: http://www.boun.edu.tr/resimler/guney_kampus_1.html

Stream Call for Papers:

Spirals of Silence? Tackling the invisibility of the sexual orientation strand and sexuality in academic research and in organisation equality and diversity policy and practice

Track Chairs:

• Fiona Colgan, COERC, London Metropolitan University (f.colgan@londonmet.ac.uk)
• Aidan McKearney, COERC, London Metropolitan University (aidan.mckearney@londonmet.ac.uk)

An important recent change for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people in Europe has been the prohibition by legislation of discrimination in employment on grounds of sexual orientation. The Employment Equality Directive (2000) has required all Member States to introduce legislation making it unlawful to discriminate on sexual orientation.

It is argued that this is long overdue given that the limited research to date has shown that LGB people experience discrimination and harassment at work. In addition to pointing to the cost of discrimination to LGBT people in terms of health and quality of working life, it has been argued that organisations which do not promote inclusive, working environments are less likely to reap the rewards of a well motivated, loyal and productive LGBT workforce. Yet, of all the strands covered by equality/diversity policy, sexual orientation has been described as one of the most ?sensitive?, ?taboo? and indeed ?invisible? areas of diversity in management and organisation studies (Bowen and Blackmon, 2003).

It is not true to say that research has been ?silent? on sexuality generally. A number of early works have explored sexuality, work and organisation, including for example, Hearn, Sheppard, Tancred-Sheriff and Burrell?s The Sexuality of Organization (1989) and Brewis and Linstead?s Sex, Work and Sex Work (2000). This research has shown that although sexuality pervades every aspect of organisation, this has not been conventionally acknowledged. The research began to show the various ways in which the very processes of organisation reflected power relations suffused with dominant forms of sexuality and reflected on the ways in which individuals are sexed and gendered in organisations. However, despite these valuable insights, we would argue that research on sexual orientation remains 'thin on the ground' at conferences and in academic and practitioner journals. This stream will welcome theoretical, experiential, policy based and empirical, theoretical and methodological papers from researchers and practitioners who would like to explore themes on sexuality and sexual orientation within work, organisations, management and equality and diversity policy and practice so rendering work in the area 'visible' and providing the space and opportunity for discussion in this stream at EOI.

1. Extended abstract: Customarily an extended abstract should be approximately 300 words including references. This is suitable for policy, intervention or research in its early stages of development.
2. Developmental papers: These should be approximately 3000-5000 words, including references.
3. Full papers: These are longer contributions less than 40 sides of A4 including references.

Abstracts and papers should be submitted electronically - the manuscript submission site will open in the first week of February, and will close on 15 May, 2009. Final session lists for each stream are due on 15 June 2009. All submissions to the EOI conference should be original pieces which are not published elsewhere in any other form.

In general, paper presentations at the conference will be a maximum of 20 minutes long, with 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Data projectors will be available in each conference room.

Important dates

• Abstract or full paper submission: 15 May 2009
• Response to authors: 15 June 2009
• Full conference schedule will be available 1 July 2009

Special edition of the EOI journal

After the conference, papers in this stream will be invited to be submitted for a special edition of the Equal Opportunities International journal, 'Spirals of Silence? Tackling the invisibility of the sexual orientation strand and sexuality in academic research and in organisation equality and diversity policy and practice.'