Gender equality highlighted in Sino-Nordic conference

Scholars from Nordic countries and their Chinese colleagues discussed issues in gender equality and mass media at a forum held in Beijing on Monday which promoted dialogue in women’s and gender studies between academics from both regions.

The Nordic-China Women and Gender Studies Conference Series is an international academic conference organized by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Malmö University in Sweden, and the Nordic Center at Fudan University in China. It is held triennially and is hosted on a rotating basis by Chinese and Nordic universities.

Promoters of gender equality have always been concerned about questions of communication: How do media products construct and consume gender identity and stereotypes? What is the relationship between the media establishment and gender equality? Much research has shown that new technologies, especially in the era of Web 2.0, are bringing new opportunities and challenges. What kind of roles do WeChat, social media and blogs play? How does gender relate to information and communication technologies and development programs? Can the strategies of current women’s organizations effectively promote gender equality and social change?

The two-day conference encourages participants to discuss the roles of media, culture, communication and new technologies in social development, using social gender as a tool for analysis and criticism.

Vice president of the Chinese Women Research Society Li Qiufang reviewed the development of studies on communication and gender issues. “Since the implementation of the Beijing Action Plan for Women in 1995, federations of women, grassroots women’s organizations and gender scholars in China have been motivated to promote gender equality through mass media.” She also revealed that an evaluation of the implementation of this action plan is currently ongoing and that mass media’s role is an important index

Themes from previous conferences are: Re-Negotiating the Politics of the Public and the Private - Gender and Politics in China and Nordic Countries (November, 2002, Fudan University, Shanghai, China). Gender and Human Rights in China and the Nordic Countries (August, 2005. Malmö University, Sweden). Gender at the Interface of the Global and the Local: Perspectives from China and the Nordic Countries (November, 2008, Yunan University, China). Travelling Theories within the Context of Globalisation (October, 2011, Aalborg University, Denmark).