UNRISD and the Centre for Global Gender Studies (CGGS), University of Göteborg, organized a joint conference on Gender and Social Policy from 28-29 May 2005 on Marstrand Island, Sweden. The conference provided an opportunity for the UNRISD research team to present the work its researchers have undertaken during the past two years under the project, Gender and Social Policy, and to discuss its conceptual and policy implications with a wider group of experts and policy actors working in this field.

The areas examined included: (1) historical and regional diversities in social provisioning; (2) the impact of the changing structure of the labour market on social rights; (3) the ways in which social sector reforms have been gendered; and (4) financing and reshaping the structure of benefits for broader coverage.

The UNRISD research team was represented by: Maxine Molyneux, Shireen Hassim, Ito Peng, Silke Steinhilber, Frances Lund, Maureen Mackintosh, Jufen Wang, Jyotsna Jha and Evelyne Huber. The topics which were presented and discussed included: the New Poverty Agenda in Latin America, Gender and Welfare in South Africa, Social Policy Responses and Gender in Japan and South Korea, Gender and Post-Socialist Welfare States in Central Eastern Europe, Working People and their Access to Social Protection, Gender and Health Sector Reforms in Africa, Health Sector Reform in China, Gender Dimensions of Secondary Education in India, and the Gendered Implications of Tax Reform in Latin America. Conference discussants came from a range of geographical areas and disciplines.

The papers presented at the conference have been included in an edited volume on Gender and Social Policy (edited by Shahra Razavi and Shireen Hassim, Palgrave, London).