Gender Prize

Isabell Sperke, 2025 Gender Prize Winner

The University of Greifswald is awarding Isabell Sperke the 2025 Gender Prize. This marks the tenth time the prize has been awarded. Sperke is receiving the award for her thesis as part of the First State Examination for teaching history at high schools, which was supervised by Prof. Dr. Annelie Ramsbrock. Her thesis is titled “Of ‘Muttis’ and ‘Emanzen’—Female Roles in the German-German Reunification Process.”

“In her study, Isabell Sperke, who studied history and geography at the University of Greifswald from 2018 to 2025, examines the reunification process. She highlights the conflicts that arose between West German activists and East German women at the First Women’s Congress in April 1990. The dissertation makes it clear that East German perspectives were often marginalized in these exchanges. At the same time, Sperke demonstrates that, despite significant differences, the congress opened up an important space for encounter, exchange, and productive collaboration.” — Jenny Linek

To date, the Rector’s Office and the Central Equal Opportunity Officer have awarded the Gender Prize to students and doctoral candidates from eight different academic disciplines. “We look forward to receiving applications from diverse academic fields in the coming years that demonstrate how the category of gender can be used in a variety of ways to gain new insights or turn old perspectives on their head,” says Jenny Linek.

Special thanks go to the members of the Senate Gender Equality Commission, chaired by Anne Tiede, who reviewed seven submitted papers this year. Isabell Sperke’s findings—particularly with regard to the value of exchange even when perspectives differ—convey a message that we can carry forward into the new year 2026.

The Senate's Gender Equality Committee views the entries and makes a suggestion to the Central Gender Equality Officer and the Rectorate. The Rectorate decides on the award winner in agreement with the Gender Equality Officer. 

The following criteria are decisive for the selection process:

• The piece of work places special emphasis on the gender perspective
• The piece of work benefits and makes a significant contribution (scientific relevance) to gender research in the respective discipline
• The topic is innovative and future-orientated
• The topic is up to date
• Further research can be made on the topic

• 2025 - Isabell Sperke, First State Examination for a Teaching Degree at High Schools
• 2024 - Isabel Roth, Master's Thesis in Human Biology
• 2023 - Alisa Otte, Master's thesis in German literature studies
• 2022 - Titia Ladewig, Bachelor's thesis in English/American Studies
• 2021 - Nele Marie Klamer, Doctoral thesis in Criminal Law
• 2020 - Anna Lange, Masterarbeit in der Skandinavistik
• 2019 - Oksana Alekseev, Bachelor's thesis in Political Science
• 2018 - Sabrina Stock, Master's thesis in Culture - Interculturality - Literature
• 2017 - Nicole Rupschus, doctorate in theology
• 2016 - Jenny Linek, doctorate in Modern History and
               Georg Brosche, Master's thesis in German Literature