The FREE Network – the Forum for Research On Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies – and the International School of Economics at TSU (ISET) and its Policy Institute, are delighted to extend a warm invitation to participate in an international conference on gender economics entitled: "Removing Obstacles to Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment". The conference will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 15-16th November 2019. The conference is organized as part of the FROGEE initiative - the Forum for Research on Gender Economics – supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE). The objective of the conference is to bring together researchers, policy-makers, and the broader development community to discuss the obstacles to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, and policies to remove existing constraints, with a focus on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies.

Our aim is to contribute to the development of national and regional agendas pursuing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals  (see UN’s portal here), with a particular focus on Gender Equality (SDG 5), critical to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

We are currently accepting abstracts (max 500 words) presenting research on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Gender discrimination in the labor market

• Gender gap in labor force participation

• Gender gap in the allocation of time to unpaid care and domestic work

• Gender gap in leadership positions at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life

• Gender gap in the access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources.

For all topics, we welcome papers analyzing the causes of the gender gaps and/or potential policy solutions (including the evaluation of the impacts of projects and policies that have already been implemented inside or outside the region).

Important Dates:

Conference dates: 15-16 November 2019.

Deadline for abstract submissions:  July/10/2019.

Notification of acceptance: Jul/31/2019.

Full-paper submission deadline, for accepted abstracts: Oct/15/2019.

For more information, please visit the conference website