The International Conference on Women, Women 2022 hosted by
iConferences, was held on 20th of November 2021, via virtual platform,
with the greater collaboration of International Relations Department,
Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia joining as the Academic
Partner. The conference had an immense impact in understanding the
opportunities, addressing the emerging challenges of women in the post
pandemic world, thereby securing the safe and equitable position of
women within the society.
Evaluating the strength of women who worked in the forefront in combating the ongoing global health challenge as leaders, health care workers, administrative officers, mothers, and many more predominant roles, new possibilities that emerged such as entrepreneurial activities, and the unpleasant challenges women faced such as domestic violence, losing fixed source of income, mental health challenges constituted the main subject areas that were brought into discussion during the conference. Very diversified ideas of participants from all around the world representing countries such as the USA, Australia, India, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka paved the way towards many fruitful discussions.
WOMEN 2023 – Web Launch and Announcement
Looking forward to organizing equally impactful conference in 2023, the announcements were made regarding the Women 2023 conference and website was launched. All the participants were very enthusiastic in attending the next year’s conference as well and contained hopes of meeting in person if the health conditions become conducive.
Keynote Speech by Dr. Elisabeth Adyiningtyas Satya Dewi
The conference was enriched with valuable insights of Dr. Elisabeth Adyiningtyas Satya Dewi, Chair of Department, International Relations Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia. She shared information regarding the women leaders and their decolonization efforts to ensure nature’s sustainability in Indonesia. Being the leaders of Life Relation Agents, these women personalities made important decisions that greatly influenced the lives of their surrounding communities. Those stories were very exemplary for all the women leaders joined with the conference in developing themselves to make an everlasting impact.
Technical Session 1 – Women, Workplace and Empowerment
The first technical session was chaired by Dr. Roshan Ara, Assistant Professor (Research) Centre for Women Studies and Research, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K, India. The session was enriched with engrossing findings of 3 researchers. The technical session created an ideal platform in understanding the challenges and opportunities that are faced by women in different fields that have relatively underrepresentation of women. Accordingly, the emphasis was made on Indian mining sector, Sri Lankan political sector, Journalism and the aspects of gender digital divide. Many valuable suggestions in strengthening the women as they move forward in these fields were brought to light by the researchers and were well discussed within the session.
Keynote speech by Dr. Gyanmudra
The participants of the conference were also privileged to hear insightful remarks from Dr. Gyanmudra (Professor and Chairperson, School of Gender Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. Adding much value to the conference she explained details regarding a very progressive initiative that is based on Telangana State of India, where the women who undergo the unpleasant incidents of violence are provided necessary protection, safety, and nourishment. They have been able to encourage the women’s voice against violence and discrimination at the same time inculcate promising hopes among the women of the relevant community. The information shared during this session motivated the participants to seek out for innovative and constructive measures for helping their own communities.
Short Movie by Dr. Lanka Bandaranayake
Women 2022 conference provided the participants many refreshing experiences and one such memorable experience was the short movie titled “Tradition” which was produced by Dr. Lanka Bandaranayake Producer/ Director and Actress, Bournemouth, United Kingdom. The movie critique was presented by Mr. Upali Amarasinghe, a professional critique. The short movie was able creatively expose the ideologies that are behind the traditions associated with marriage in Sri Lanka in comparison with the real context associated with the family life in the current context. The critique revealed the symbols that are used in the movie which helped all the spectators to critically analyze the massage conveyed through this work of art.
Keynote speech by Dr. Kimberly De Simone
The next keynote speech for the conference was delivered by Dr. Kimberly DeSimone Professor, St. Bonaventure University, USA, enlightening the participants with novel perceptions and concept that are useful in empowering women. Her speech emphasized some of the present- day scenarios that are holding the women back while hindering their opportunity to advancing themselves and exploring new possibilities. She also pointed out several facts regarding the extent of opportunities that have been obtained by women in different sectors of the world while allowing the participants to understand the inadequacy of gender equality which suppresses the women to an alarming level. Empowering the women leaders and researchers who joined with the conference, her speech immensely supported in fulfillment of the objectives of the conference.
Technical Session 2 – Feminist Activism and Leadership
The second technical session was chaired by Dr. Alpana Borgohain, Professor and Former Head, Department of Women’s Studies, Gauhati University. 4 researchers presented their interesting findings during the session. This technical session was consisted with the research findings that were closely related with the female activism and provided the opportunity for all the participants to be enlightened regarding some of the captivating concepts. Future of American human rights, psychological aspects, women artisans, tax regimes that involve women were among the noteworthy topics that led into fruitful discussions during the session.
Technical Session 3 – Identity, Challenges and Opportunities for Women
The 3 rd Technical session of the conference was chaired by Dr. Adeela Rehman, Department of Sociology, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan. It provided the opportunity for 5 researchers to present their findings. The session was dedicated to identifying and conducting further discussions regarding the challenges that are faced by women. The research topics that were included in this session has a special focus onto aspects related to climate change, education, and identity construction. Accordingly, the scholars were able to explore multifaceted issues that involve women that belong to different communities and share their own experiences and suggestions with the objective of ensuring a better tomorrow for all women in the world.
Publication Workshop
Women 2022 offered many valuable learning experiences for the research enthusiasts in addition to the keynote forums and technical sessions. The publication workshop was a prominent experience among them which was conducted by Prof. Anita Singh, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, India. The participants were provided with a comprehensive knowledge regarding all the aspects of doing a successful publication. Starting from knowing the essentials of all article types till the completion of the publication were discussed during the session. This was indeed a very valuable session that helped the researchers a lot and that has very high potential in enhancing their careers as pioneer researchers in the field of women empowerment.
Technical Session 4 - Gender Based Violation, Trauma and Counternarratives
The last technical session of the conference was chaired by Asst. Prof. Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad, Department of Women and Gender Studies, Faculty of Social Science, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and created an effective platform for the findings of 4 researchers. The session was enriched with the enthralling findings of research that were closely related to spirit possessions and witchcrafts, influence of media on crime against women, and measures to uplift the resilience of Black women. In conclusion this session was capable of bringing in very diverse topics for discussion and thereby expand the scope of the conference and its capacity to make a significant contribution in solving issues that are related to women.
Award Ceremony
The Award ceremony was conducted in order to recognize the presenter for each technical session.
The Best Presenter Award for the technical session – Women, Workplace and Empowerment was won by Grace Chenxin Liu, Founder, Sharing to Empower Alliance, USA for the presentation titled “Determinants, Impacts and Regional Perspective of the Gender Digital Divide: A Review and Future Research Agenda”.
The Best Presenter Award for the technical session – Feminist Activism and Leadership was won by Prachi Jaisinghani, School of Gender Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, for the presentation Titled “Through Her Eyes: Rural Women Artisans and the Question of Tradition, Labour and Sustainability”.
The Best Presenter Award for the technical session – Identity, Challenges and Opportunities for Women was won by Doris Yuen Hung Fok, School of Social Sciences, Caritas Insti tute of Higher Education, Hong Kong, for the presentation titled as “Identity Construction of Teenage Mothers in the Hong Kong Chinese Context”.
The Best Presenter Award for the technical session – Gender Based Violation, Trauma and Counternarratives was won by Poonam Kakoti Borah, Department of Women’s Studies, Gau hati University, India, for the presentation titled as “Witchcraft Accusations and Persecutions: A Study of Gender Based Violence in Assam, India”.
