CONFERENCE

University of Graz, 28 and 29 November 2013

Promoting Gender Equality Abroad: An Assessment of EU Action in the External Dimension

While first activities of the European Union (EU) to address the disadvantaged situation of women beyond EU borders can be traced back to the 1980s, ever since the early 1990s it has invested considerable efforts into developing a policy of gender equality promotion abroad. Today this policy is based on a whole range of policy documents, is implemented through three major approaches or instruments – mainstreaming, specific projects, and political dialogues –, and is implemented worldwide.

The planned conference will bring together leading European scholars as well as young scientists, especially PhD students, working on EU gender equality promotion in third countries to discuss their research results and together assess various aspects of that particular EU policy. The papers will largely focus on four main research themes:

1. CONCEPTS: The conceptualization of gender and gender equality in EU external action.
2. EU ACTION IN DIFFERENT WOLRD REGIONS and/or SPECIFIC COUNTRIES: Assessing EU action in major world regions, including the enlargement dimension (the Western Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey), the Mediterranean and East-European region or ENP-region, Latin America, Africa, and Asia or in individual countries.
3. EU APPROACHES/INSTRUMENTS: Assessing one or more of the EU’s three approaches or instruments of gender equality promotion: mainstreaming, programmes/projects, and political dialogues.
4. GENDER EQUALITY PROMOTION AS CROSS-CUTTING POLICY OBJECTIVE: Gender equality in different EU external policies, like trade policy, humanitarian aid, and CFSP.

Scholars interested in participating in the conference are kindly asked to send a proposal for their paper (max. 500 words), indicating into which of the four broad themes it falls, and a short CV to reees@uni-graz.at by 1st of July 2013.