International Conference
WOMEN`S COMMUNICATIONS RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL ERA:
THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION 30 YEARS ON
[CALL FOR PAPERS]
Thursday 18th & Friday 19th September 2025, Lisbon – Portugal
ICNOVA, CICANT and ECREA’s Gender, Sexuality and Communication Section with the support of the Digital Culture and Communication Section.
Submissions are open until 31st January NEW DATE! February 28, 2025 via EasyChair
In 2025, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Actimon (BPfA), which was adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in 1995. For UN member states, the BPfA is an action plan that is linked to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The imperative to advance gender equality in the media sector was established in Section J of the BPfA. It took decades of feminist activism to have Section J included in the Platform. These initiatives also led to the launch of the Global Media Monitoring Project, a comprehensive analysis of the portrayal of women in the news in different countries.
Section J calls on Member States to: “Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication” (Strategic Objective J.1) and “promote a balanced and non-stereotypical portrayal of women in the media” (Strategic Objective J.2). Three decades after the adoption of the BPfA, the global communication and media landscape has changed enormously. It is characterised by an increasing concentration of ownership, an erosion of budgets for journalism, the rise of large digital platforms/technology companies and a difficult global regulatory environment. The current media landscape has made the demand for gender equality and women’s empowerment even more critical.
At the same time, stereotypical images continue in cultural imaginaries and women’s voices are silenced in public discourse. A complex mix of post-feminist, popular feminist and tokenistic practices contribute to the distortion of media messages. Despite efforts to promote gender equality in the workplace, women remain underrepresented in decision-making positions in the media and digital industries. In general, the recommendations of Section J have been largely disregarded.
Although the internet has been used for global solidarities and activism, it has also become a site of gendered abuse. Social media and digital technologies enable widespread dissemination of disinformation and online violence against women and girls, adding new forms of abuse, especially for those belonging to different minority groups and facing other forms of discrimination such as ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, aporophobia, classism or ageism. Digital platforms have failed to take responsibility for implementing effective policies to combat online misogyny, establish reporting mechanisms and remove harmful content and disinformation.
At a time when rights are under threat, it is necessary to continue to develop strategies for action and exchange ideas on methods to support our demands for a fairer (media) world. This conference aims to foster a dialogue about changes, challenges and future directions in realising gender and intersectional equality in the media. How can we respond to the new and old challenges of the media landscape? How can we develop a notion of solidarity that embodies diversity and fosters connections that advance common goals in media and communications policy and activism?
We invite scholars, policymakers, journalists and activists to submit a contribution on topics such as feminist media policy, digital harassment, intersectional discrimination, media representation and the role of feminist movements in shaping media policy or other topics as below. Contributions dealing with intersectional and comparative approaches to media and gender issues are particularly welcome. Presentations can be inspired by research, creative, media, activist, and interdisciplinary practices and will be arranged in thematic sessions by the organising team.
Potential topics could include (but are not limited to):
- The role of feminist movements in media and gender policy-making
- Gender and media regulation
- Online gendered harassment and abuse
- Gender issues in media production
- Manifestations of misogyny in digital and popular media
- Gendered implications of AI / automated technologies and algorithmic communications
- Intersections of sexism, ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, ageism, classism and other forms of oppression
- Shortcomings and possibilities of the Beijing Platform for Action
- Pervasiveness of (neo)colonial framings in the global representation of women
- The role of affect, emotion, and authenticity within gender and communication
- Disinformation, misinformation, malinformation and threats to gender and intersectional equality
- Far-right communication, social media and women’s rights
- Alternative feminist media practices
- Possibilities for building solidarity in and through the media, especially within the Global South and the Global North
- Specific policy issues such as privacy, surveillance, issues of data justice and others
- Feminist utopias in media production and representation.
Please submit your proposal by February 28, 2025, 23:59 (CET) and highlight how your work relates to the conference topic, methods used, and perspectives you would like to bring to the discussion.
Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.
Please submit here: https://easychair.org/cfp/WomComRights25
Registration
The cost of (in-person) attendance is 100 euros for salaried academics and other professionals, and 50 euros for students and unwaged participants. Requests for fee exemption will be handled case-by-case by the organizing committee.
This covers conference registration and coffee breaks. Booking for the conference dinner will be available once registration is opened.
Organisation
This conference is co-organised by ICNOVA (NOVA University Lisbon), CICANT (Lusófona University) and ECREA’s Gender, Sexuality and Communication Section with the support of the Digital Culture and Communication Section.
The conference is partially supported by National Funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology under Project refª: UIDB/05021/2020.
Hosted and sponsored by ICNOVA (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa).
For questions, please email us at WomComRights25@fcsh.unl.pt
