Saturday February 11, 2012

Feminist Legal Studies Queen’s Conference - March 2-3, 2012 Women, The Charter, and CEDAW in the 21st Century: Taking Stock and Moving Forward Faculty of Law, Queen’s University 128 Union St. Kingston, Ontario, Canada This conference is open to anyone interested in equality and women’s issues, including students, faculty, members of community organizations, workers, policy analysts, managers and administrators, government employees, and professionals. Please register in advance with Melissa Howlett at melissa.howlett@queensu.ca. There are no registration fees for students, those on low incomes, or voluntary workers; those who can afford to contribute toward the food expenses of this conference are asked to pay a $50 registration fee upon arrival. Information on conference hotel rates can be obtained from Ms. Howlett. Purpose of this conference: Women’s equality rights have now been recognized in international treaties like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), regional covenants, growing numbers of national constitutions, and the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in governmental and nongovernmental governance for as many as six decades. Courts, governments, and civil society are increasingly expected to behave in nondiscriminatory ways, and legal remedies for discrimination appear to abound. At the same time, economic inequality is rising, wealth is becoming more concentrated in the hands of fewer individuals, and fundamental cultural, religious, race-, sex-, and ability-based divides still exist despite the practices of globalization. This conference brings those interested in sex equality together to assess the state of gender equality, and to identify existing priorities and strategies for advancing well-being on all relevant dimensions. With leading gender experts from across Canada and from Sweden, Ghana, and Taiwan, this conference will probe the roles played by race, immigration status, Aboriginal heritage, education, family composition, and other factors in shaping the status of women, and will identify policies and practices best calculated to remove existing obstacles to equality. Key questions range from the role of economic crises in shifting perceptions and opportunities to how emerging environmental, security, justice, and regulatory issues affect women as compared with men. Contact Bita Amani (amanib@queensu.ca) or Kathleen Lahey (kal2@queensu.ca) with any questions.