Gender Equality: Historical Background and Modern View of the Issue
On March, 15 the Caspian Higher School of Interpretation and Translation held a virtual class with trainers and students of London Metropolitan University. The class was dedicated to the celebration of the International Women’s Day, and the main topic was the issue of gender equality that is now a point of hot debate all over the world.
The participants of the VC were the 1st and 2nd year MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpretation and Translation and MA students from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) (Paris, France), who are studying at Astrakhan State University this semester under a student exchange program. Consecutive interpreting was performed into Russian, English and French. For some students, it was the first interpretation experience, and it proved to be very successful. Besides, two London Met students – Nathalie Wilson and Mae Charef – interpreted from Russian into English and from French to English respectively.
The topic of gender equality was addressed from different perspectives. Olga Egorova, the Director of the Caspian Higher School of Interpretation and Translation, gave a speech dedicated to the gender equality in Russia; she also touched upon an issue of quantitative representation of men and women in the Russian education and said a few words about the celebration of the International Women’s Day in Russia and the attitude to this holiday in our country and abroad.Karen Leopold Reich, a London Met trainer, spoke about history of the gender inequality in the UK and the suffragist movement. Having RU in her language combination, Karen also gave valuable feedback on the interpretation for all the participating students.
Danielle D’Hayer, another London Met trainer, addressed the issue of gender equality from a “family life” point of view, told about men’s and women’s “responsibilities” in the family and in everyday life and shared her personal experience. And finally, Ekaterina Shamova, a trainer of the Caspian Higher School of Interpretation and Translation, covered quite an interesting aspect of this topic having given a speech about certain traits of men’s and women’s behavior in senior management.
All in all, the virtual class was lively and interesting. The experts from both universities appreciated serious and thorough preparation of the students for the chosen topic and gave a full detailed feedback after each performance.