Johanna Dohnal Prize for MCI graduate

Hannah Ringhofer, an MCI Social Work Master’s program graduate, has received an esteemed award for women and gender research.

The Social Work Department at MCI Management Center Innsbruck is celebrating Hannah Ringhofer, a graduate from the Social Work, Social Policy and Management Master’s program. Ringhofer has been awarded the much sought-after Johanna Dohnal Prize for her outstanding work on “Anti-feminist men’s rights movements and their impact on feminist social work”. The jury particularly praised her elaborate scientific exploration of this crucial social topic.

In her work, Hannah Ringhofer evaluated the anti-feminist movement with regard to feministic facilities. Her research reveals impacts on various levels: Anti-feminist tendencies within Austrian politics, for instance, cause respective facilities to increasingly struggle to prove their legitimacy and receive federal funding. At the same time, there have also been direct attacks on facilities and their employees.

“Ms. Ringhofer has addressed a highly topical issue. The question of how we can adequately deal with anti-feminist men’s rights movements, e.g. when it comes to women’s housework, poses a key challenge in today’s feminist social work. Austria still lacks empirical data on this matter. With her work, Ms. Ringhofer has made an empirically and theoretically sound contribution toward a further discussion”, says Professor Eva Fleischer, a gender and diversity expert who teaches at MCI in the Social Work Master’s program.

The Johanna Dohnal Prize is awarded by the Austrian Ministry for Women’s Affairs. The grant goes to young researchers who work on feminist issues or in research fields that are not common among women. In particular, papers are awarded that promote gender democracy and serve as a role model for girls and women in education and training.

Johanna-Dohnal-Preis 2016

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Mag. (FH) Ulrike Fuchs
Marketing & Communication
+43 512 2070-1527
ulrike.fuchs@mci.edu