Call for Research Papers and Workshop Proposals

Proposals due Feb. 15

Convenors: NOW Foundation, Institute of Women's Policy Research,
National Council of Negro Women

About the Summit

Submit a proposal

This is a call for research papers or workshops proposals that address specific economic issues and action and policy strategies. All papers must be policy relevant and researchers must include discussion of the strategy and action implications of their findings. Each workshop must include a strategy building discussion that leads to public education and action. Participants may also propose research/action panels that have researchers, policy experts, community activists, NGOs, and leaders from business, labor, government or other arenas working together to analyze and formulate the policies needed to address economic justice for women.

The Summit conveners will consider proposals that include the elements described above and one of the five major summit themes:

  1. Labor, Business, and Global Trade
  2. Family, Community, and Population
  3. Health, Human Security, and Women's Rights
  4. Well-Being and Economic Security
  5. Leadership and Social Change
  6. Voter Mobilization and Civic Engagement

Summit conveners will integrate research papers and workshop proposals to provide analysis of issues and calls for grassroots action to achieve economic justice and empowerment through the prisms of race, class, age, ability, expression and opportunity.

Below are the types of proposals. Submit a proposal.

Workshop Panels or Roundtables: Please submit a short description of the workshop that is no more than 500 words. The proposals must include and describe the topic and the community activist viewpoint that will be brought to the discussion. You must provide full names and affiliations, addresses, contact numbers, and e-mail addresses for all your proposed panelists, along with suggestions for any gaps you believe should be covered by others. In some instances, the conveners will amend workshop proposals or combine workshop proposals with research paper presentations to achieve the summit's goals.

Research Papers: Papers should be original and not previously published. Please submit a short description of the research paper that is no more than 500 words. You must include the author's name(s) and affiliations, addresses, contact numbers, and e-mail addresses the relationship of the paper to the conference theme; the theoretical framework; sources of data, if applicable; methodology or policy/program strategy; and results and their policy and action implications. Conveners will combine approximately three research papers to constitute a seminar. In some instances, the conveners will combine research presentations with workshop proposals to ensure the summit's goals are achieved.

Research and Action Panels: Please submit a short description of the research/action panel proposal that is no more than 500 words. Research/action panels should include a balance of researchers, policy experts, community activists, NGOs, and practitioners from business, labor, government or other arenas working together to analyze and formulate the policies needed to address the specific issue. Please specify the relationship of your proposal topic to the conference theme and the methodologies and activist viewpoints to be presented. You must include addresses, contact numbers, and e-mail addresses for all your proposed panelists, along with suggestions for any gaps you believe should be covered by others. The conveners may amend research/action panel proposals to ensure the summit's goals are achieved.

Research Posters: Posters enable presenters to discuss their work based on either written or illustrative materials. Submission guidelines for posters are the same as the guidelines for paper proposals. Reports of completed research, research in progress, or recently initiated projects may be submitted as a poster presentation. The poster session and reception will take place the evening of April 11 and is expected to be very well-attended. Precise directions for assembling your poster will be sent upon acceptance.

Decisions regarding acceptance of research papers, action workshops, research action panels, and posters will be made jointly by the NOW Foundation, IWPR, and NCNW.

The deadline for receiving the proposals is Feb. 15, 2008. The Summit will be conducted in English. Submit a proposal

Conference Topics

Labor, Business, and Global Trade

  • Integration of Women in the Global Marketplace
  • Globalization, Development, and International Trade's Impact on Women and Girls
  • Women in Business
  • Corporate Accountability
  • Micro-Enterprise and the Informal Economy
  • Trends in Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Leave policies, Flexible Scheduling, Part-Time Work, Sick Days and Family Leave
  • Women and Collective Bargaining
  • Job Quality and Living Wages
  • Women in Non-Traditional Employment
  • Sex-based Discrimination
  • Job Training
  • Women's Entrepreneurship

Well-Being and Economic Security

  • Women and Poverty
  • Welfare, Unemployment Insurance, and Family/Children's Allowances
  • Intersection of Immigration Policy, Immigrant Rights
  • Intersection of Poverty, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
  • Tax and Budget Issues/Human Needs and Safety Net Budget
  • Subsistence Agriculture and Property Rights
  • International-Debt Relief, Foreign Aid
  • Social Security and Retirement
  • Uneven Development and Inequality
  • Women's Asset Development
  • Retirement Security (SS and pensions)
  • Housing
  • Expanding Opportunities for Wealth Building

Family, Community and Population

  • Changes in Family Structure, Care-giving, and Household Work
  • Adoption and Foster Care
  • Aging Women, Aging Workers, Aging Societies
  • Child care and child care workers
  • Elder care and elder care workers
  • Population Trends and Changing Fertility Patterns
  • Marriage and Non-Marriage
  • Migration and Immigration
  • Same-sex Parent Families, Same-sex marriage
  • Single parent families
  • Property Ownership Regimes
  • Schools and Community
  • Equal Education Opportunity
  • Non-Traditional Fields for Women
  • Women and Girls in Science and Engineering
  • The Impact of Development Policies on Families and Communities
  • Community Economic Development Strategies, Sustainable Development

Health, Human Security, and Women's Rights

  • Health Insurance Reforms Including Single Payer Proposals
  • Access to and Provision of Health Care
  • Reproductive Rights, Maternal Health, HIV/AIDS
  • Chronic Illness, Mental Health, and Eating Disorders
  • Violence Against Women and Girls, Gender-based Crime
  • Preventive Health and Public Health, Sanitation, Nutrition, and Famine
  • Environmental Health
  • Crime, Prisons, and Justice Systems
  • The Sex Industry, Trafficking in Women and Girls
  • Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and the Rights of Refugees
  • Contemporary Slavery, Child Soldiers
  • Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities
  • Women in the Health Care Profession
  • Addressing Health Disparities

Women's Leadership and Social Change

  • Women's Leadership, Effecting Change
  • Political Leadership Among Women of Color
  • Women and War, Terrorism, and Peace
  • Gender-based Initiatives
  • Gender Quotas for Candidates
  • Women and Religious Activism
  • Cultivating Leaders in Electoral Politics, Academic Institutions, Community-Based Organizations, and National Organizations
  • Women in Coalition with Other Social Justice Groups

Voter Mobilization and Civic Engagement

  • Local, National, and Global Governance
  • Women's Movements Worldwide
  • Community Organizing
  • Education and Outreach
  • Targeting Subpopulations (e.g. young women, women of color, married women, unmarried women, etc)
  • Women and Philanthropy
  • Women in NGO's and Non-profits
  • Women's Moral Vision and Public Policy
  • Diverse Constituencies Coming Together

Submit a proposal