Since its launch in 2005, Politics & Gender has been a leading outlet for research on women, gender, and politics in both the United States and globally. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the journal, the editorial team is organizing a two-day conference at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, on May 28 and May 29, 2025, that brings together scholars working on all aspects of women, gender, and politics. Like the journal, the conference aims to represent the full range of questions, issues, and approaches on gender and women across the major subfields of political science, including comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and U.S. politics. We welcome research addressing fundamental questions in politics and political science from a gender perspective, as well as those that interrogate and challenge standard analytical categories and conventional methodologies.

The organizers are open to submissions on all topics related to women, gender, and politics. We are particularly interested, however, in receiving submissions taking stock of the current political moment and/or addressing new and emerging questions in gendered political analysis, including:

​

• The gendered nature and impact of elections held in 2024, in the U.S. and internationally;

• Policy advances and reversals related to sexuality and reproductive justice;

• Backlash against women’s and/or LGBTQ+ rights;

• Gender, authoritarianism, and democratic backsliding; and

• Theoretical, policy, and legal developments analyzed through the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, disability, and other categories.

In addition to raising the visibility of and generating manuscripts for Politics & Gender, the conference seeks to build and expand ties among gender and politics scholars at all stages of their careers to support the broader goal of advancing gender and politics research within political science. To maximize opportunities for participation, applicants may propose and present only one paper at the conference, but they may appear on the program multiple times if they volunteer to serve as panel chairs or discussants. However, presenting a paper is not required to attend the conference; participants may indicate on the submission form their willingness to serve only as a panel chair and/or discussant.