Integrating Gender Issues Research Articles

Closing gender gaps through gender-responsive, demand-led breeding in Burundi.

Gender inequality persists in Burundi's agricultural sector, especially in the bean value chain dominated by women. Women often have less access to improved seeds and to productive technologies. Interventions dubbed "gender-responsive plant breeding" have been launched to develop new varieties to address the gender gaps in variety adoption. Gender responsive planting breeding in Burundi targets to develop bean varieties that respond better to gendered varietal and trait preferences. This paper provides a background of gender-responsive bean breeding in Burundi, documenting the methodologies that were used to integrate gender issues in bean breeding and socio-economic research. It also covers successes of gender-responsive breeding to date, primarily focusing the interdisciplinary teams that drove the process, development and release of varieties that incorporated traits favored by women and men actors. Evidence from surveys and value chain analysis reveal that gender-responsive breeding program increased the adoption of improved varieties by women and improved yields and productivity. The paper reveals that gender-responsive and demand-led bean breeding programs require stakeholders engagements to develop products that align with preferences of diverse actors at different nodes of the bean value chain.

Framing vulnerability: An ecolinguistic analysis of gender and climate change discourse

This study examines how climate change organizations employ discourse strategies to highlight the vulnerability of women to climate change. It also explores how these strategies disrupt the conventional climate change narrative by integrating gender issues and emphasizing women's social and cultural experiences. The study utilizes the framework of ecolinguistics to examine narratives woven into the textual discourse. The research, based on 40 tweets from organizations such as the UN Environment Program and UN Women, offers insights into how these organizations utilize ecolinguistic techniques in communicating climate issues. The findings of the study revealed that gender intersections with other social identities determine vulnerabilities to environmental changes, as the research highlights the disproportionate impacts on women, especially those from marginalized backgrounds. This study contributes to the existing literature in terms of exploring the depiction of this issue in the Twitter discourse of international organizations.

‘그린데탕트’를 통한 남북협력의 추진 과제

Despite the uncertainty in inter-Korean relations, the Yoon Seok-yeol government proposed a plan for inter-Korean cooperation utilizing the inter-Korean border areas, such as the North-South Green Détende. The Yoon administration's 110 national tasks include strengthening inter-Korean environmental cooperation, such as joint response to fine dust and natural disasters through the implementation of 'North-South green détente', and a plan to 'turn the border area into a green peace zone'
 With the emergence of the importance of human security in the 21st century, efforts are being made to appropriately integrate gender issues, environment and climate-related issues into the peace and security policy framework, and establish a peace system. The concept of comprehensive security can also be applied to inter-Korean relations. Since the DMZ, the border area between North and South Korea, is a space for peaceful use, research on inter-Korean cooperation in this area have to continue. Therefore, this paper examines discussions on ways to promote inter-Korean cooperation using the DMZ area and discusses sustainable North Korea policy measures that the Korean government should pursue, such as the ‘green détente’ policy using the North-South border area.

Building bridges between gender and family business literature to advance women’s empowerment

PurposeThis study aims to underline the importance of addressing gender issues in family firms. It reinvigorates research in this field by revealing its current state, identifying research gaps and suggesting future agendas.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric approach using a co-word analysis of 376 papers from the Web of Science database and their 885 keywords was performed to reveal the thematic structure of gender and family firm research, research topics, associations among them and their evolution over the last 30 years (1991–2021).FindingsThis review provides an extensive literature base and suggests research topics that facilitate the adoption of a gendered lens in family firm literature and business practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis review demonstrates how gender issues are intertwined with management, leadership and family firm approaches. Our observations inform scholars, policymakers and practitioners on the need to integrate gender issues into organizational culture and to connect empowerment strategies with the sociocultural environment.Originality/valueThis study shows the need to address women’s empowerment in business, considering different sociocultural contexts in addition to a Western focus. It also calls for embracing gender and feminist perspectives in research.

Review of the National Experience of Measuring Gender Inequality in Ukraine, 2009–2021. Part IІ. Donor’s and Non-governmental Organizations’ Initiatives of Gender Measurements

The second part of the review describes and analyzes national gender measurement practices initiated in Ukraine by international donors and local organizations since 2009. The indisputable focus of international donors (five of the six instruments developed during this period) was found to be local-level measurements. Neither the national nor sectoral dimensions had such interested donor support. Thanks to these developments, certain steps forward have been made: several well-thought-out and well-structured tools have been proposed among the latest and developed by gender specialists from abroad; the thought-over structures of directions of gender measurement are offered.
 At the same time, all tools developed for the local level: 1) were not correlated and had no connection with previous developments (each of them was developed autonomously); 2) five out of six did not provide a clear link with the national gender measurements, thus creating a gap between the results of local and national gender measurements and making them disproportionate in their results; 3) these tools did not provide, except for the gender passport of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, the regularity of their use, thus continuing the negative trend of irregularity of gender measurements in Ukraine; and did not propose to establish appropriate bodies; 4) did not provide for participation in development teams of relevant research institutions, or even only the participation of academic gender researchers. The developers are definitely dominated by civil society activists and their coordinators from international donor organizations. In addition, the number of developers in such development teams is usually small. This leads to non-compliance with scientific procedures in the development of tools and in the actual measurements and calls into question both the effectiveness of such tools and the objectivity of the results obtained with their help. It also pushes gender issues to the periphery of national research and education practices in Ukraine, depriving the gender equality advocates of the opportunity to integrate gender issues into professional activities in academia. It is because of the exclusion of the academic community from the processes of developing gender measurement tools that Ukraine is unable to obtain such an indispensable source of gender data as research data.
 Conclusions were made on the serious and diverse experience of Ukraine in the field of national gender measurements, as well as the experience of creating groups and networks of active citizens ready to conduct such measurements to improve the social situation of their communities, regions, and cities. The need to move to the next stage of professionalization of gender measurements, their implementation on a solid professional basis, and integration into the activities of professional statistical, sociological, managerial institutions and communities are pointed out.

Integration of gender considerations into Tanzania's climate and water policies

Abstract Integrating gender considerations into national policies such as climate and water policies is a critical step toward achieving gender equality, resilient systems, sustainable water access and management of climate change. In Tanzania, just like in many developing countries, women play a vital role in water management and could be more vulnerable to climate change impacts than their male counterparts. While there are few attempts in existing literature to examine the integration of gender considerations into water and climate policies, analyzing policies' formulation process has not been given attention. Thus, this study analyzed the extent and effectiveness of gender integration in climate change and water sector policies in Tanzania. The study shows that there is a substantial acknowledgment of gender issues in the reviewed policy documents but there exist considerable gaps in terms of integrating gender issues in the documents and during formulation processes.

How does Gender Influence Sustainable Return to Work Following Prolonged Work Disability? An Interpretive Description Study.

A sustainable return to work (S-RTW) following prolonged work disability poses different challenges, depending on gender. This article provides a synthesis of gender differences in the issues and factors influencing the S-RTW of workers following such a disability. Using an interpretive description method, an integrative review was conducted of the literature on gender differences in S-RTW issues and factors associated with four major causes of work disability. The initial review concerned the 2000-2016 literature; it was subsequently updated for November 2016-March 2020. To explore and contextualise the results, four focus groups were held with stakeholders representing the workplace, insurance, and healthcare systems and workers. Qualitative thematic analysis was performed. A total of 47 articles were reviewed, and 35 stakeholders participated in the focus groups. The prevailing traditional gender roles were found to have a major gender-specific influence on the attitudes, behaviours, processes and outcomes associated with S-RTW. These differences related to the (1) cumulative workload, (2) work engagement, and (3) expressed and addressed needs. The results highlight the importance of taking into account both professional and personal aspects when integrating gender issues into the assessment of workers' needs and subsequently into interventions.

GENDER AND SUSTAINABILITY: EVOLUTION OF DISCOURSE AND FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this article is to analyze the stages of evolution of the UN social, environmental and gender policies and the peculiarities of their convergence into an integral concept of sustainable development, to assess the influence of feminist organizations on the direction and content of the concept of sustainable development, as well as criticism of «sustainability» and alternative development models proposed by feminist organizations and social movements, including the «Fridays for the Future» movement. The UN is the main international structure for shaping global social, environmental and gender policy. Over 75 years of the organization's activity, hundreds of documents have been adopted, dozens of conferences have been held in the field of eliminating social, gender and environmental inequalities. In 1992, the UN member states approved the «Agenda for the 21st century», in which social, gender and environmental aspects of development were combined into a holistic concept of sustainable development. Since that time, these political fields are considered in integrity and interconnection. International women's organizations have played a decisive role in integrating gender issues into the concept of sustainable development. Thanks to their activities, the legal aspects of enhancing gender equality are enshrined in the key UN documents on sustainable development - «Agenda 21» (1992), «Millennium Goals» (2000), «Implementation Plan» (2002), «The future we are want «(2012),» Sustainable Development Goals 2030 «(2015). At the same time, there are processes of the formation of an alternative gender discourse and feminist criticism of the official concept of sustainable development. International feminist movements and organizations have played a huge role in this. Currently, there are several feminist approaches to the study of the relationship between women and the environment: ecological-feminist, economic-ecological and post-structuralist. The most important area of activity for feminist organizations is the fight against global climate change. With the onset of the fourth wave of feminism in environmental protection, new trends and vivid leadership figures have emerged, and there has been a direct increase in women's presence in global climate policy. The most striking example of this trend is the climate movement «Fridays for the Future» (PRB), created by eco-activist G. Thunberg.

Gender audits: An approach to engendering energy policy in Nepal, Kenya and Senegal

Gender audits are an approach for putting gender on the policy agenda and are an alternative to gender budgets being less dependant on experts in government finance.This paper explores the effectiveness of gender audits as an approach to mainstreaming in the energy sector which has lagged other sectors in mainstreaming gender. The assessment takes the experiences of an international network on gender and sustainable energy that aims to get gender onto the energy policy agenda. Since there is no standard audit methodology, the network developed its own.The paper uses an analysis of qualitative data, reviews of audit reports and key informant interviews to answer two questions. As a result of gender audits, have gender issues or attending to women's particular interests been incorporated in energy policy? Did participation in an audit build the capacity of national actors to contribute to gender mainstreaming in the energy sector? Detailed data comes from network countries conducting audits: Kenya, Senegal and Nepal, with supporting evidence from 8 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.The gender audit methodology used is partially effective in integrating gender issues into government energy policy. Pragmatic, conceptual and political barriers to gender mainstreaming continue to operate. Adopting gender-aware policies occurs rapidly in organisations that participated in the audits. Male employees more readily accept gender policies when they see that policies also benefits men. In the audit countries, a group of national gender and energy experts has been established able to contribute to mainstreaming gender in the energy sector.

Gender and land degradation neutrality: A cross‐country analysis to support more equitable practices

AbstractWomen and men have unequal opportunities to address land degradation. Although adoption of Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3 leads the world to “strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN)” by 2030, gender concerns are sparsely considered in LDN programming to date. To achieve LDN in regions with deeply entrenched sociocultural norms requires gender responsiveness, accounting for the varied gender components of land degradation. This paper identifies innovative entry points for, and benefits of, integrating gender issues into LDN, as well as the risks of gender inaction. Assessment of the literature on the links between gender and land reveals land degradation is gendered and closely tied to gender biases in land rights, access to resources and incentives, opportunities to participate in decision making, and the distribution of costs/benefits of projects targeting land improvement. Analysis of selected LDN‐related projects shows that interventions seem to target gender biases by engaging: women's groups that are locally recognised as change agents in driving inclusiveness and gender specialists to coordinate gender mainstreaming activities. Entry points for gender‐responsive LDN are identified, including interventions that merge LDN gender plans with existing gender schemes at local and global levels, enable gender‐sensitive early warning systems, and narrow gender disparities and safeguard women's land rights through gender‐sensitive LDN financing mechanisms. Gender‐responsive LDN is one of several avenues to support growing international efforts to promote gender equality and female empowerment, alongside movement towards a future where more balanced relations ensure women and men can interact with and care for land in more equitable and nonhierarchical ways.

The gendered experiences of local volunteers in conflicts and emergencies

ABSTRACTThis article explores the gendered experiences of local volunteers operating in conflicts and emergencies. Despite decades of progress to integrate gender issues into development and humanitarian research, policy, and practice, the gendered dynamics of volunteering are still little understood. To redress this, this article draws on data collected as part of the Volunteers in Conflicts and Emergencies (ViCE) Initiative, a collaboration between the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement led by the Swedish Red Cross, and the Centre for International Development at Northumbria University. Contributing original empirical findings on the intersection of gender, volunteering, and emergencies, this article offers new ways of thinking about how gender equality and women’s empowerment can be advanced in humanitarian crises, as seen through the experiences of local volunteers.

Know Your Response: Pilot Mapping of HIV Prevention Responses by Non-governmental Organizations in Southern Province, Zambia

ZAMBIA’S nation-wide adult Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence stood at 13.3 percent in 2014. In Southern Province, 12.8 percent of adult men and women aged 15-49 years were HIV positive. The prevalence was higher in women than in men (15.1% compared to 11.3%). The most recent data also suggested that key populations were disproportionately infected with HIV compared to the general population. The Measure Know Your Response (KYR) study took place from September 2013 to July 2014 in the Southern Province of Zambia. The aim was to map and characterize the HIV response among both government (health and none health) and non-government organizations (NGOs). The purpose was to identify gaps in the response, in particular in terms of the geographical areas and the key populations attended to and those disproportionately missed. This paper focuses on the results from the mapping of NGOs involved in HIV and AIDS response. For this aspect of the mapping data were collected using the NGO Sector Questionnaire. Focus was interventions of NGOs and their services to target populations across all the 12 districts of the Southern Province. All program implementers working in a given district were asked questions to assess the extent to which their HIV-prevention activities in the district included strategies to address all key populations, including gender issues. Data from the quantitative questionnaires was analyzed using STATA version 12.0 and Microsoft Excel. The results of the pilot test revealed gaps in both geographic spread and content of programs in the NGOs run HIV-prevention response. For instance, hardly any NGOs worked in the new and smaller districts of Pemba, Siavonga, and Zimba. Similarly, certain services, such as mass media campaigns, interpersonal education and persuasion programs were being implemented across all the districts. Further, fewer than three of the 93 organizations surveyed targeted key populations, notably sex workers, incarcerated populations, men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people and injective drug users. With respect to gender, about 25% of the organizations did not integrate gender issues into their HIV-prevention activities. From a methodological standpoint, the pilot test revealed the need to examine dimensions of program content, quality and intensity. In spite of these limitations, the study permits us to know which interventions are being implemented by the NGO sector, contributing to new knowledge in Zambia about geographic gaps in the availability of HIV-prevention interventions.

Integrating Gender Issues into the Teaching of Art Appreciation at University Level

The aim of the present study is to integrate gender equality education into the university art appreciation curriculum. Through a process of pedagogical research, the study explores how the incorporation of gender issues into the curriculum can help to enhance both students’ gender awareness and their art appreciation capabilities. During the process of implementing the research, use was made of analysis of students’ learning sheets and feedback forms, along with class observation, interviews and reflective journal writing, to examine the effects of integrating gender issues into university-level art appreciation teaching and the impact on students.
 The research results - both in terms of the quantitative questionnaires and qualitative data and reports - showed that there had been an improvement in both students' awareness of gender issues and their art appreciation capabilities. With regard to awareness of gender issues, students were able to: understand how traditional gender roles affect individuals' learning and development; appreciate that housework responsibilities should be shared; realize that, when faced with gender discrimination in the workplace, one can choose to use one's actions and attitude to demonstrate one's capabilities; recognize the need to work through the family, the media, the legal system, the education system etc. to change people's preconceptions; realize that compensation should be based on ability, not gender; demonstrate respect for transgender people. The students felt that it was important for the curriculum to give them the opportunity to reflect, to change, to progress, and to not be constrained by gender, in order for everyone to be able to develop their full potential. In regard to art appreciation, students were able to use description, analysis, interpretation and judgment to appreciate art works, films etc. of different types. Finally, the students were also able to utilize the methods of art appreciation to analyze short films that embody or challenge gender stereotypes, and to identify examples of gender stereotyping. The students reported having had their awareness of gender stereotypes raised, and were able to compile reports that demonstrated an enhanced awareness of gender issues.

Gender and the EU's Support for Security Sector Reform in Fragile Contexts

AbstractHow does the European Union (EU) include ‘gender’ within its support to security sector reform (SSR) programmes? The EU has committed to include gender perspectives by implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS) within its foreign security practices. While researchers and practitioners recognise the importance of integrating gender issues into SSR operational effectiveness, there is limited knowledge about how this functions within the EU's security architecture. This article uses Feminist Institutionalism (FI) to understand the process of gender mainstreaming within the EU's support to SSR programmes. It does this by using two crucial theory‐testing cases of SSR programmes – Ukraine and Afghanistan. It finds that the EU's ability to promote gender inclusive approaches to SSR is limited by the structure of the EU's own assumptions and capabilities, and institutional constraints in third countries. At the same time, the cases underscore the importance of individuals as agents of change.

Implementation and sex-specific analysis of students' attitudes toward a longitudinal, gender-specific medical curriculum - a pilot study.

Gender medicine has gained importance over the past 20 years. Nevertheless, the scientific findings concerning gender- and sex-specific patient care have not been sufficiently integrated into the education of physicians. It was therefore our aim, against initial resistance in our school, to integrate clinically relevant aspects of gender medicine into the existing medical curriculum. This paper describes the implementation process of a lecture-based interdisciplinary, longitudinal, basic gender curriculum and evaluates students' attitudes in relation to sex and semester level. The curriculum encompasses 15 lecture sessions scheduled in years 1 through 5 of the medical curriculum at Ulm University, Germany. Prospectively gathered evaluation data of two cross-sectional analyses of this basic curriculum in the first and fifth semesters are analyzed by sex. More than 80% of the students have registered for this new curriculum. Evaluation data show a predominantly positive (75.5%) student response; however, only about half of those surveyed indicated that they had learned new material or judged the content on gender to be relevant to their practice of medicine. Students at a more advanced semester level (88.2% vs. 55.2%) and male participants more than female participants (36.7% vs. 62.4%) showed lower acceptance. It was possible to integrate gender issues into the existing medical student curriculum. Despite the overall positive rating, our evaluation data identified the aspects of rejection and resistance in some students, particularly male and more advanced students. Further studies on the development of student attitudes toward gender issues are needed.

What if gender became an essential, standard element of Vulnerability Assessments?

Vulnerability Assessments (VAs) can be useful tools for providing key insights for non-government organisations and other development actors, including governments. Not only can they provide an extensive, ‘landscape-wide’ understanding of vulnerability and its underlying causes in a specific context, but this understanding can be jointly owned by all participants. They can thus be used for designing risk reduction and resilience-building measures, programmes, or projects that affect specific groups within a community or the landscape. Beyond that, VAs can provide a platform that promotes interaction among otherwise disconnected stakeholders, as well as the evidence and argumentation for community groups to engage in advocacy with local and municipal/district authorities. This article draws on our combined experience as development practitioners, and considers what we have learnt about the importance of integrating gender issues into VAs.

Socioeconomic dynamics of gender disparity in childhood immunization in India, 1992-2006.

BackgroundRecent evidence indicated that gender disparity in child health is minimal and narrowed over time in India. However, considering the geographical and socio-cultural diversity in India, the gender gap may persist across disaggregated socioeconomic context which may be masked by average level. This study examines the dynamics of gender disparity in childhood immunization across regions, residence, wealth, caste and religion in India during 1992–2006.MethodWe used multi-waves of the cross-sectional data of National Family Health Survey conducted in India between 1992–93 and 2005–06. Gender disparity ratio was used to measure the gender gap in childhood immunization across the selected socioeconomic characteristics. Multinomial regression analysis was used to examine the gender gap after accounting for other covariates.ResultResults indicate that, at aggregate level, gender disparity in full immunization is minimal and has stagnated during the study period. However, gender disparity – disfavouring female children – becomes apparent across the regions, poor households, and religion - particularly among Muslims. Adjusted gender disparity ratio indicates that, full immunization is lower among female than male children of the western region, poor household and among Muslims. Between 1992–93 and 2005–06, the disparity in full immunization had narrowed in the northern region whereas it had, astonishingly, increased in some of the western and southern states of the country.ConclusionOur findings emphasize the need to integrate gender issues in the ongoing immunization programme in India, with particular attention to urban areas, developed states, and to the Muslim community.

Gender sensitivity of Sub-Saharan Africa National Adaptation Programmes of Action: findings from a desk review of 31 countries

There is growing realization that ignoring the mediating influence of gender relations may impact on the effectiveness of adaptation and mitigation policies, which has gradually brought gender issues onto the agenda of national and international fora. Against this background, this article confronts discourse with reality, by investigating to what extent and in what way 31 Sub-Saharan African National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) integrate a gender dimension into the different phases of the NAPA cycle, and the different sectors that are especially related to climate change. Additionally, this paper analyses the extent to which women and gender experts participate in diagnosis and decision-making, as well as the gender sensitivity of the format used for participation. The findings of the gender scan demonstrate, among other things, that there is a decline in gender sensitivity throughout the intervention cycle. Furthermore, processes have been more gender-sensitive than the actual content of NAPAs, which suggests that gender actors around the table in NAPA decision-making have not always been able to influence the content of the NAPAs. When it comes to integrating gender issues in climate change budgets, our study suggests that the insights, approaches and tools of gender budgeting could be particularly useful.

Perceptions on gender awareness and considerations in career choices of medical students in a medical school in Taiwan

The trend of medical career choice in the younger generation has resulted in deficiency of manpower in the four major disciplines of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics, which will threaten people's health care in Taiwan. However, perceptions of gender awareness and factors affecting the career choices of medical students have not been investigated systemically in Taiwan. To explore the perceptions on gender awareness and considerations in career choices, we recruited 280 1st- and 7th-year male and female medical students at a Medical University for the study. A modified Nijmegen questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale containing medical curricula (18 items), gender awareness (13 items), and career inclination (9 items) was adopted as the investigation tool in our study. The response rate was 75% (224/280). With regard to gender, the 1st-year male students had greater confidence in being a physician than the female students (p < 0.05), and female students subjectively suggested an advantage to communicate with patients or colleagues (p < 0.05). Faculty attitude in treating students differently by gender was more prominent in the 7th-year than in the 1st-year students (p < 0.001), and they felt male preceptors typically were more enthusiastic to teach and to rank higher grades to female than to male students; however, this was not observed among female preceptors. Both male and female students showed a low level of agreement that clinical skills and performance of a physician were significantly different by gender and “female physicians are more empathetic and provide more communications than male physicians”. Factors influencing career choices of medical students, including “personal interests/talents” and “academic achievement of the specialty,” were not significantly different by gender. Factors included “training and learning environments of the specialty”, “risk of lawsuit”, and “economic incentive” were more appreciated by the senior than the junior students (p < 0.05). Effect of “family” or “spouse” did not differ significantly regardless of gender or seniority. The 7th-year students had experiences in clinical medicine and had different considerations in career choice in comparison to the 1st-year students, and gender played a role in senior students. In addition, the senior rather than the junior students regarded “training and learning environments”, “risk of lawsuit”, and “economic incentive” as more important factors affecting the career choices, and male students paid more attention to these issues. Other factors such as fixed hours of duty with no emergency, easier lifestyle, and more time to take care his/her families were also important factors affecting career choice in medical students regardless of their gender; however, the junior students disclosed lower concern on the issues. In addition, four major misperceptions of gender and health issues were prevalent in the 7th-year students; therefore, we recognized the importance of integrating gender issues into medical curriculum to diminish gender misunderstanding and prejudice, and to provide gender-specific health care is mandatory in Taiwan.

Femmes et genre en contexte colonial, XIXe-XXe siecle (Women and gender in colonial context, 19th-20th centuries), Centre d'histoire de Science Po, Paris, 19-21 January 2012

This international conference was organized by three French historians with over fifteen years research experience: Pascale Barthelemy, Lecturer at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, who works on education and training of women in French West Africa; Anne Hugon, Lecturer at the University of Paris 1, who is researching the history of childbirth and child-rearing in the colonial period in Ghana; and Christelle Taraud, Professor at New York University in France, whose research concerns sexuality in the colonial Maghreb. After two years preparation, they organized a conference of exceptional scope. Over three days at two different venues, the symposium welcomed sixty-five scholars from five continents and several generations. Special emphasis was placed on young researchers (doctoral students and new PhDs), who made up a third of the speakers. The fact that women were in the majority at this event reveals nevertheless a segmentation difficult to escape in this field – at least in France. And this was precisely one of the main challenges raised by this conference. If the primary objective was to provide ‘a long-term overview’ of research on women and gender in various colonial contexts (Africa, Asia, Oceania), challenges specific to the inclusion of these studies in French research were not forgotten. To address this, the organizers initiated several spin-offs from the conference: publications in academic and public history journals, lectures, and radio broadcasts.1 It is indeed no longer possible to consider this area a new current of historiography. For nearly thirty years now, researchers throughout the world have been writing the history of women and of relations between the sexes under colonialism. Yet while departments of colonial and postcolonial history in Anglophone countries very often integrate gender issues, this perspective remains tentative in France.