Third transatlantic seminar on gender equality

After the meetings in Boston and Paris, the third transatlantic seminar on gender issues was given the title « Re-strengthening global sisterhood – Emerging women’s issues for a new global agenda”. The event was organised on 20-21 October in Washington D.C. with the support of the Fondation Jean Jaurès, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the AARP.

These meetings have been a unique possibility for discussion amongst European and North-American experts, and facilitated the development of new initiatives for promoting gender equality, useful both for academics and policy-makers.

The two main issues were:

– Outsourcing gender equality issues to the global market – Female migrant care workers The debate brought up various aspects of the issue. Speakers discussed the definition of care, care work and its recognition as a global good. Several solutions were proposed how to regulate care work, and what role should be given to labour law in that respect. Rules of immigration law concerning care workers received a special attention during the debate.

– Progressive political parties and feminism This round table aimed to find progressive policy suggestions to advance women’s rights and liberties in the context of the revival of the traditionalist agenda. Different views were brought up on the voting patterns of women, which then lead to a debate about framing strategies, with a specific focus on empowering young women.