Gender Centre - The Graduate Institute Geneva

Young Tanzanians are fed up with not getting a slice of the economic action – research Tanzania’s October 29 protests were framed as an electoral dispute. Research links them to a deeper crisis of blocked adulthood among young people.

In her PhD thesis in International Relations/Political Science, Luisa Lupo examines the everyday lives of people labouring in the fields of Southeast and within the supply chains that connect them to international markets. She finds that labour precariousness intersects with the violences of the state’s security measures to produce veritable “cotton wars,” which workers and their families negotiate as they make life liveable and meaningful.
Read an interview
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/cotton-wars-labour-precariousness-and-geopolitics-cotton-fields-southeast

“This House believes that countries should adopt a feminist approach to peace and security to address today’s global security challenges.”

2026 Geneva Gender Debate
📅 3 March, 18:30, Auditorium Ivan Pictet A1A | Maison de la paix, Geneva

In Partnership with International Gender Champions, the Club Diplomatique de Genève

https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/events/2026-geneva-gender-debate

How do certain people move from being erased and excluded to being recognised as legitimate subjects under international ?
Drawing on archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, Rafael Carrano Lelis examines in his PhD thesis the mobilisation of human rights by transnational LGBTI+ activists. In doing so, he highlights the leading role of civil society in the subject-making process of q***r people.
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/leading-role-civil-society-recognising-rights-lgbti-people

In her recently defended PhD thesis, Shriya Patnaik focuses on the decline and demise of the regional community of Devadasis — hereditary, ritualistic temple dancers and singers — in the Jagannath Temple of Puri, Odisha, India.
Nicole Bourbonnais, Associate Professor of International History and Politics, Co-director of the Gender Centre, and her thesis supervisor, interviewed her about her research and findings.
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/decline-and-demise-mahari-devadasis-orissa

FILM, SCIENCE, ACTION: ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Screening and discussion

📆24 November 2025, 18:30 CEST
Maison de la paix | Auditorium A2

Register here: https://shorturl.at/Fs2HQ

On the eve of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, this special screening and discussion will explore the global scope and scale of violence against women—its human impact, the power of communities to create change, and the evidence shaping global action.

The event will include the screening of three short films from World Health Organization (WHO)'s Health for All Film Festival (HAFF), as well as excerpts from three feature length films selected by the FIFDH Genève : they tell the stories of women who have experienced violence, and how communities are coming together to prevent future violence from happening.

Following the screening, a moderated discussion will bring together experts on violence against women from the UN’s Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP) and the World Health Organziation (WHO), the featured filmmakers, and representatives from the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The discussion will draw on new WHO evidence on the prevalence and health impacts of violence against women, as presented in an upcoming global estimates report.

Several filmmakers will be present at the event, offering participants the opportunity to meet and engage with them.

The event is organized by the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute in collaboration with the UN’s Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH Genève) and the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Call for papers: Motherhood Without Poverty: Working-Class Women and Global Struggles for Work, Family, and Reproductive Autonomy (1918–1939)
Friday 27 February 2026

Please submit these to by November 10, 2025

This event will bring together scholars exploring the history of global women’s activism around working motherhood, state support for families, and reproductive autonomy during the interwar period. Professor Eileen Boris of the University of California Santa Barbara will deliver an online keynote titled “Regulating Women’s Labors: Cultures of Protection, Womanly Duties, and the Wages of Care.”

The workshop aims to examine how women both shaped and were influenced by national and international politics concerning these issues. Through intersectional, postcolonial, and critical- feminist approaches, we seek to reassess the contributions of working-class women to struggles for emancipation at work and in the family.

Following World War I, as women entered the labour force in unprecedented numbers, governments, political parties, and international actors began debating policies aimed at working women and mothers. Although women were only discreetly present in these policy discussions, their influence was significant. Yet, while the role of conservative and liberal currents has been studied, the ideas and policies of international left-wing and working-class movements regarding working mothers, childcare, and reproductive rights remain underexplored. This historical amnesia persists despite the progressive character of these movements and the fact that many of their demands – such as free, medically supervised deliveries, paid maternity leave, unconditional state support for mothers and families, public childcare and schooling, and access to contraceptives – later on came to form the bedrock of welfare states worldwide.

This workshop aims to address this gap by fostering dialogue among scholars working on such activism in local, national, and global contexts. We particularly welcome proposals that:
- Examine working class and left-wing women's ideas and demands related to state policies towards working mothers' and children
- Explore working-women’s ideas on work and reproductive autonomy
- Adopt transnational and global perspectives on working motherhood, moving beyond Western-centric case-studies and narratives
- Investigate connections, networks, and ties and/or antagonisms between movements and activists across different countries and political movements


Submission Guidelines
We welcome proposals for individual papers, co-authored papers, and panels. Please submit these to by November 10, 2025:
[email protected]
1. Title of the paper or panel.
2. Abstract (max. 250 words).
3. Short biography for each presenter (max. 150 words), including affiliation and contact information.

Funding
We encourage researchers to seek funding through their respective institutions.

Publication Opportunity
Selected papers from the workshop will be considered for publication in an edited collection or special journal issue. Further details will be provided following the event.

We look forward to receiving your proposals and will inform you on our decision by 1 December 2025.
Dr. Daria Dyakonova, Sapienza University, Rome.
Prof. Maud Anne Bracke, University of Glasgow
CENTRE FOR GENDER HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW GLOBAL HISTORY RESEARCH CLUSTER, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Funded under EU Horizon 2020 R&I Programme

Motherhood Without Poverty 2026 Motherhood Without Poverty: Working-Class Women and Global Struggles for Work, Family, and Reproductive Autonomy (1918–1939) Call for papers A One-Day Hybrid Workshop at the University of Glasgow Friday 27 February 2026 This event will bring together scholars exploring the history of global women....

The Rise of Women’s Organisations of Diplomats

Amena Yassine's research explores how women’s organisations of diplomats — operating at national, regional, and global levels — are (un)intentionally transforming from a traditionally male, Eurocentric domain into a more inclusive, pluralistic, and horizontal practice.
Amena has been a career diplomat in the Foreign Service of for the past 17 years and continues to serve, currently advising the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil on multilateral issues and Middle Eastern affairs.

Read an interview:
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/rise-womens-organisations-diplomats

🌐 Our CAS in Gender and Development has started!

📅 On 15 September, we launched this year’s Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Gender and Development — a programme delivered in Spanish that focuses on gender inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean, while also drawing on experiences from Africa, Asia, and Europe.

The course addresses how gender inequalities shape development policies, climate change, peacebuilding, human rights, and social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics in the region.

Participants will:
🔹 Strengthen their knowledge and skills to design gender-sensitive policies and programmes
🔹 Engage critically with the intersections of gender, climate change, humanitarian action, development, and peace
🔹 Learn to integrate gender approaches into projects across professional, academic, and community contexts
🔹 Exchange experiences with experts and peers from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean
🔹 Join a diverse international network of professionals working on gender and development

👉 Learn more about the programme here: https://executive.graduateinstitute.ch/programme/genero-desarrollo