Since our last newsletter update, the new executive – Anne Maria Holli (University of Helsinki, Finland) as chair and  Jennifer Curtin, University of Auckland, New Zealand) as vice-chair have been working on several projects in order to advance RC business, with the active assistance of the new board consisting of Parvathy Appaiah (India), Judit Fabian and Joan Grace (both from Canada), Sarah Maddison (Australia), Petra Meier (Belgium) , Birgit Sauer (Austria), Lea Sgier (Hungary) and Patricia Lee Sykes (United States).

 

For starters, we are among the co-sponsors of the Second International Conference on Public Policy at Catholic University of Sacro Cuore,  Milan, 1st-3rd July, 2015.  The first time this event was organized in 2012, it attracted over 1000 participants. We are hoping that also RC19 people increasingly find this new conference which is a new joint co-operative effort by several IPSA RCs. Melissa Haussman, former chair of RC19, is our representative in the organizing committee of the conference. The new vice –chair Jennifer Curtin is also, as we speak, in conjunction with FIIN (Feminism and Institutionalism International Network) busily organizing a special panel on 'Feminist Institutionalism and Gender Equality Policy'. In addition to this panel, the general call for paper proposals opens on 15 November and closes on January 15th. We sincerely hope that scholars specializing in  gender and public policy will  make a strong appearance within all the strands and themes targeted by the conference!

 

For Europeans at least, and maybe even most of the other RC19 members around the world, the highlight of 2015 is the 4th European Conference on Gender and Politics, arranged by ECPR Standing Group on Gender and Politics, June 11-13 at Uppsala University, Sweden. Continuing the initiative taken for 3rd ECPG conference, RC19 will again be sponsoring a specific Roundtable on the State of the Art of Gender and Politics in Uppsala. The proposed Roundtable is titled “Where is feminist political science going to?” and it promises to gather some of the most prominent scholars worldwide to share their thoughts on the topic.