CALL FOR PAPERS: Women’s equal and effective participation in political and public life: An imperative for inclusive democracy and sustainable development

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Ethiopia Office in collaboration with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) invites you to submit an abstract for presentation at a Conference to be held on 8th and 9th of December 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the title ‘’Women’s equal and effective participation in political and public life: An imperative for inclusive democracy and sustainable development ‘’.

The conference aims to create a platform for concerned stakeholders including the gender machinery, democratic and political institutions, associations of women and youth, civil societies, individual gender activists and partners from intergovernmental organizations to discuss the status and participation of women in leadership and politics. In particular, the conference will focus on exploring pertinent issues affecting women’s participation in political and public life both at national and local government level such as institutional/organizational and political culture, normative frameworks, accountability systems in peace and security. With the spirit of leaving no one behind, issues of intersectionality and inclusion are expected to be further explored to see the extent to which groups such as young women and women with disability face additional barriers to access positions of power.

The conference is expected to result in identification of emerging challenges and best ways to tackle the same; best practices and innovative solutions to overcome the critical barriers that are faced by women, particularly those facing intersecting forms of discrimination; analyze the impact of COVID-19 and conflict on the participation of women in leadership as well as help decision makers envision how the participation of women in crisis management and decision making could result in better, inclusive and sustainable outcomes.

Researchers, academicians, policy makers and other practitioners on leadership and governance, gender equality and women’s empowerment are welcome to submit original research papers, discussion papers or case studies to the conference.

Abstracts are expected to be focusing on the following themes:

• Political culture and women’s participation in political processes in Ethiopia  
• Organizational/institutional culture and its impact on women’s participation in leadership and decision making
• Power with: Networking for women’s increased participation in leadership and decision making
• Organizational culture and women's participation in leadership and decision making
• Impact of conflict on women's participation in leadership and decision making
• Normative frameworks and accountability mechanisms on the promotion of women's leadership and decision making
• Women's leadership and decision making in local governance
• Women with disabilities in political and public leadership

Submitting an Abstract

1. All abstracts must be submitted by the 9th of November 2022. Submissions made after the deadline will not be considered. Presenters shall give due attention to the key dates and deadlines for preparation and submission of papers as strict adherence is expected.
2. The abstract shall present your paper presentation in a short summary and shall not exceed 350 words in length. It must be submitted in English and should not include figures, charts, literature reviews and bibliographies. The abstract must at least have the following headings:
   1. Introduction
   2. Objective
   3. Methodology
   4. Findings and Conclusion
3. Abstracts must be submitted by the presenter who must be able to attend the conference.
4. Submissions that do not adhere to the requested format may be returned to the authors for re-submission.
5. Only individual submissions will be accepted. Individuals may submit only up to two abstracts across all thematic issues.
6. The abstracts will be reviewed as they are submitted and once an abstract is submitted revision to the text either grammatically or content wise is not allowed.
7. Abstracts submitted to or presented at other national or international conferences may be submitted. However, the presenter shall clearly indicate with its submission the details of its previous presentation status.
8. Abstracts must be submitted via email to: ethiopia.public@unwomen.org cc.  [ Click to reveal ] 
9. Upon receiving the abstracts, you will receive a confirmation email.
10. The decision of the selection committee in relation to the paper selection process is final.

Key dates and deadlines

• Call for Abstracts opens: 12th of October 2022  
• Call for Abstracts closes: 9th of November 2022
• Notification to authors: 18th of November 2022
• Submission of final Presentation Paper: 28th of November 2022
• Travel arrangements:  6-7 of December 2022
• Presentation of the papers 8-9 December 2022

Terms and Conditions

Submission of abstracts implies the author’s agreement to publish the abstract in all Conference publications including UN Women and EHRC website and other knowledge products UN Women and EHRC wish to disseminate.  

Abstracts submitted only from Ethiopia will be accepted. Acceptance of abstracts does not imply any payment from the organizers. However, for the selected paper presenters, the costs of travel, accommodation and stay in Addis Ababa for the given dates of the Conference will be covered. In addition, the selected papers for the presentation will receive an award of 40,000 ETB cash prize. The award will be given once the presenter makes the presentation during the conference and submit a final edited version of the paper after incorporating comments, if any, as a lump sum amount.