Anticipating the futures of the gender dimension in research: Storying entangled practices and bodies

In recent years, scholars have been increasingly urged to address a gender dimension i.e. sex and gender impact in research. In this study, we explore scholars’ explicit and implicit views about the future of implementing gender impact assessment (GIA) in research. We do so by analysing a series of co-design workshops in which participants anticipated possible futures regarding the use of a GIA checklist. We conduct a narrative inquiry of participants’ stories consisting of the personas and scenarios created at the workshops. Our analysis reveals silenced viewpoints and tensions for adopting GIA, while unveiling quite stereotypical bodies and practices in the academic world. Based on our findings, we claim that storytelling approaches help create a safe space in which participants can express discomfort and conflicts playfully and with humour. This study contributes to advance co-design futures-making by accommodating plurality of voices when discussing sensitive topics such as gender equality.