CONFERENCE THEME

Gender and women's issues have been at the forefront of social discourses and movements in the last two centuries with discussion and deliberations covering issues like gender differences, gender diversity, multiple identities, multiple oppressions and much more. Women's movements across continents have helped women find their voices and channel them to become empowered. The present global milieu is characterized by thoughts and mission to outline outcome oriented goals, strategies and subjects that can achieve equality and optimum opportunities across genders. 21st century has taken a leap forward by abolishing discriminatory laws and irrational gender classifications, across the globe, to develop and implement remedial and corrective measures keeping in view cultural and intersectional dimensions of gender issues.

Gender and women's movements, in history, have focused on achieving gender equality in social, cultural, political and economic framework. Men and women are not just socialized in different roles, their roles have a different social status too (Simone de Beauvoir). The difference in the role and responsibilities associated with that status have been hierarchized and historically valued more for men than women. Thus, men and women are the "intended or unintended product(s) of a social practice" (Haslanger) whereby women's work(s) and voices are devalued and their status is disadvantaged. Different cultures have their own belief systems, values and norms that recognize and define binaries of gender roles, rights, responsibilities and identities. Historically, in many societies, women have been the deprived lot and treated as "second class citizens", designated as "homemakers" and primary "nurturers". Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Transformations in the social, political and economic systems, over the decades, have enabled women to think and aim beyond their life behind the veil and gain control over their agency. These changes began in the western world after the waves of feminist movement in 20th century which brought about a series of changes in the status of women in terms of voting rights, property rights and other civil rights. Women have overcome gender stereotyping to realize their dreams, and have broken the glass ceilings to overcome organized systems of vertical segregation in the professional setup. International agencies like the United Nations have taken initiatives such as the UN declaration of the year 1975 as the 'International Year of women', Women's World Congress 1985, Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1993, World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995, Women 2000: Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 among others. In order to ensure prompt and effective action, most countries have ratified women and child related international conventions. At the same time, most constitutions in the world also guarantee measures to ensure girls' right to education and protect women's political rights, protections from discrimination at work, the right to equal pay for equal work, prohibition of sexual harassment in the workplace, and the right to equality in marriage, and prohibition to human trafficking etc. Yet, 50 per cent of sexual assaults in the world take place against girls who are under 16 years of age, 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime, one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, almost 750 million women and girls were married before they are 18 year old; 71 percent of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls. (United Nations). There is long way to go; there are still negotiations, trajectories and strategies to be worked out to achieve gender parity across classes, communities and institutional setups.

There are different trajectories of agency and gender empowerment that need to be strategically employed, in 21st century, to achieve gender parity across classes. Modernization and technological advancements have empowered women with access to the fields of academia, business, politics, finance and other related areas. Even women entrepreneurship is recognized as a potential force to contribute to economic growth and development. This enormous progress does not undermine the challenges that the 'new' age woman faces both personally and professionally. Be it the statistics on women employment, pay parity and political representation, their participation and leadership roles are still negligible. According to the 2018 Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum, on leadership, women represent only 18 percent of ministers, 24 percent of parliamentarians globally, and only 34 percent of managerial positions. In terms of broader economic power, women continue to experience large gaps with men in their control of financial assets and in time spent on housework and other unpaid tasks. There is still lot to be achieved, both globally and locally, for gender and women's movements. Slogans of universal human rights, including gender equality, need to be supplemented with localized discussions of adaptation and application (Anders Ortenblad et.al). Strategies as actions need to be developed to address and resolve expectations of gender role categorization; to gain maneuverability, to negotiate structural limitations and challenges of intersectionality.

CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

The major objective of this International Conference is to promote a dialogue between people of various fields which would foreground gender and women's issues in the present times. The multi-disciplinary approach of the conference will help the participants to deliberate upon gender issues through several disciplines like culture, history, traditions, literature, law, sociology & psychology. This will aid in recommending policy initiatives for the benefits of policy makers and other related agencies. This will also help in preparing academic institutions to be more sensitive towards gender issues and increase awareness.

Original research papers, to be submitted, should not exceed 5000 words in length and be in 12 point size font, Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing. The papers would be shortlisted after rigorous reviewing process.