International workshop on gender and politics

During an international workshop on gender and politics hosted by professor Ragnhild Muriaas at the Department of Governement (UiB) and associate professor at Berkeley Amanda Clayton, there will be two open events. Welcome everyone!

The sessions address highly topical questions concerning gender, power, representation, and the challenges facing gender scholarship today.

3:00–4:00 PM. Keynote

Melanie Hughes (University of Pittsburgh)

Men Are Not a Control Group: Rethinking Power and Representation in Gender and Politics Research

Melanie Hughes is one of the leading scholars in the field of gender and politics and has made major contributions to comparative research on women's political representation, political power, and inequality. In this keynote, she challenges longstanding assumptions in gender and politics research by questioning the tendency to treat men as the default reference point for understanding political representation and power. The lecture offers a fresh perspective on how scholars conceptualize gender, power, and political inclusion.

 4:15–5:30 PM. Roundtable Discussion

Gender Equality and Scholarship Under Attack

Recent years have witnessed growing political and institutional challenges to gender equality initiatives, gender research, and academic freedom in many parts of the world. This roundtable brings together scholars working in different contexts to discuss these developments and their implications for both research and policy.

Panelists will reflect on topics including:

• The consequences of cuts to international funding for gender equality and gender research initiatives.
• The effects of recent political efforts to restrict or delegitimize gender scholarship and expertise.
• The broader implications of anti-gender mobilization for women's rights, democratic institutions, and academic freedom.
• Contemporary forms of democratic backsliding, illiberal governance, and autocratic manipulation that affect gender equality policies and research agendas across different national contexts.

Moderator: Cecilia Josefsson (Uppsala University)

Participants:

• Sophia Boutilier (California State University, Fresno)
• Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
• Francesca Feo (University of Bergen)