International Conference on Gender Relations in Developing Societies: A 21st Century Perspective

The conference is organized by the Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi.

Date: 30th - 31st October, 2012
Venue: Conference Hall, Maharaja Agrasen College, Vasundhara Enclave, Delhi - 110096

Overview:
Gender is a socio-cultural concept in which men and women have their specific roles to play in the societies. Gender inequality is a common phenomenon incorporating various aspects such as sexual harassment, preventing right to work with dignity etc. In fact, the concept of non-discrimination and equality of treatment is very basic to human right.

To validate this, Art.11 of Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination states that 'parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in employment and shall ensure, on the basis of equality of men and women, the same rights to work, to the same employment opportunities, to free choice of employment, to promotion, benefits, vocational training, equal remuneration, equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, the right to social security, unemployment, protection of health.' Millennium Development Goals of United Nations also expresses the need for a better society for women. The two UN Conferences centered on Women held in Vienna (1993) and Beijing (1995) recognized the women's rights as human rights.

In the new millennium, Gender issues and gender equality have become paramount. The Third world feminist struggle in order to improve women lives has not been an easy one. They have been successful only to some extent. However many gender specific issues still remain to be addressed. We have yet to find key strategies to respond to numerous issues and challenges that women across multiple nations are facing today. Multiple challenges need multiple strategies as inequality exist at various levels and is of a different nature in each country.

For long it has been ignored that women suffered human rights abuses in gender specific ways. The feminist efforts had led to the change in legal system globally but a significant change in institutional culture and social arrangements remain to be brought in. Throughout the developing world women are abused, discriminated, marginalized, demeaned and are put at disadvantage at all levels in the society. Crosscutting issues, such as gender-based violence and sexual violence are highly prevalent in the third world countries of Asia and Africa. Violence is the major means of women oppression. In these countries especially in Sub Saharan Africa, reliable data is also not available.

This conference aims to highlight the gender dynamics of global issues in the developing societies. It sets out to explore the ways of responding to their detrimental effects on lives of women. The objective of this conference is to debate the relative effectiveness of the strategies adopted by various institutions. It's an urgent need of the times to push the issues and to ensure that they do not remain merely a facade. Networking and mass mobilization among people sensitive to this cause is important for achieving gender equality and that is what the conference aims at. Collective thinking, commitment to gender issues and strategizing together is needed which forms the focus of the conference 'Think better, do better and get better' is the vision of this conference.

Themes:

Abstract Submission:
Abstracts must be submitted in English and should contain the title of the research paper, the author(s) full name, name of the institution, department, position, city and country along with contact details i.e. email id and phone numbers. A short CV of the author should also be attached. Abstract should be in 12 point Times New Roman and around 200-250 words.

All abstracts should be e-mailed to conferenceagrasen@gmail.com. There is a provision for accommodation to the outstation delegates.

Important Dates:

Contact:
Dr. Anju Aggarwal
Conference Coordinator & Teacher-in-charge
Department of Political Science,
Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi,
Vasundhara Enclave, Delhi - 110096
Phone: +91-11-22610565, +91-11-22610552
Email: dr.anjuaggarwal@yahoo.co.in
Website: http://mac.du.ac.in/

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