RC07 has accepted five open panel proposals for the World Congress program. You can see them here and direct your paper proposal to them but we are sharing the ones we have proposed here for your convenience.

Gender, politics and development

RC07’s original area of interest was ‘gender and development’ and we are delighted to host a panel on the gender politics of development debates and policies. We understand development debates and policies to include a vast range of topics from urban governance, city planning (including smart cities and safe cities projects) and civic rights to land rights, labour force participation, rural development and livelihoods. Papers on disaster consequences, climate change and relief will also be considered under this rubric.

Recent research on gender, law and human rights

Law and legal reform have been commonly advocated and adopted routes to gender equality in countries around the world. We invite proposals that discuss laws promoting or undermining gender equality as also research around legal advocacy campaigns, feminist jurisprudence and precedent-making cases. The laws in question might involve family, workplace or violence-related or reproductive issues. We are also interested in papers that tie human rights law and gender equality discourses.

Recent research on gender, peace and security

We invite researchers to submit paper proposals based on their work in progress on topics related to gender, peace and security–both the official UN discourse around UN Security Council 1325 as well as issues raised by feminist security studies scholars and women’s peace movements. The adoption of National Action Plans, the implementation of the four pillars, challenges of implementation and the potential for broad-based advocacy are possible topics. Research that queers the gender, peace and security area is also welcome.

We are also interested in the role of gender and gender politics in conflict resolution and conflict transformation. Possible topics include the participation and role of women in specific peace processes, official and unofficial, as well as the implementation of Resolution 1325. Feminist approaches to conflict transformation in specific “Global South” contexts are also welcome.

Women in politics in the Global South

We invite researchers to submit paper proposals based on their work in progress on topics related to women’s participation in politics, gender issues in inclusivity discussions, women in social movements (especially women’s movements), violence against women in politics as well as against women human rights defenders. The research needs to be situated in the geographical South, but discussions of political marginalization in a comparative context are also welcome.

You will need to submit your proposal via the IPSA World Congress interface at https://wc2025.ipsa.org/wc/submit-paper, marking rc07 as your track of choice. We look forward to hearing from you!