Gender and Communication Section - Call for Proposals 2025

The Gender and Communication (GEN) Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites the submission of abstracts for IAMCR 2025, which will be held in Singapore from 13 to 17 July 2025, hosted by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.

The deadline for submission is 7 February 2025, at 23h59 UTC.

See the list of all sections and working groups and their remits
See the CfPs of all sections and working groups

IAMCR conferences address many diverse topics defined by our 37 thematic sections and working groups. We also propose a single central theme to be explored throughout the conference with the aim of generating and exploring multiple perspectives. This is accomplished through plenary and special sessions, as well as in many of the sessions of the sections and working groups.The Gender and Communication Section defines additional themes in its own call for proposals. We encourage you to focus on an aspect of the main conference theme as it relates to the concerns of the Gender and Communication Section, or address a theme or sub-theme identified by the Gender and Communication Section in this call for proposals.

The 2025 central theme is Communicating Environmental Justice: Many Voices, One Planet. This theme reflects the richness and complexity of the landscape of media and communication studies today. The theme highlights the critical intersection of diverse voices from various stakeholders and their collaborative action in addressing the pressing challenges of our time.

Consult a detailed description of the main theme

The Gender and Communication section seeks research that addresses theory and practice, and explores the relationship between gender, media, and communication. In recent years, the sessions have included papers on representation, body image, (digital) feminism, queer theory, LGBTIQA+, pop culture, hook-up apps, inclusive reporting, power struggles and relations, identity, (emotional digital) labour, health, HIV/AIDS, pandemic, violence, human rights, social change, activism, media production, reception, consumption, monitoring, elections, development, and culture. Papers can examine diverse forms of media such as film, television, radio, print, social media, advertising, and the Internet.

In keeping with our philosophy of inclusivity and development, we welcome contributions with or without regard to empirical, theoretical, disciplinary, and/or philosophical perspectives.

We welcome submissions on any topic involving gender, media, communication, indigenous and/or endogenous expert and academic knowledge. However, we give special consideration to papers and panel proposals that examine connections to the conference theme: Communicating Environmental Justice: Many Voices, One Planet.

We would like to encourage scholars to tackle the intersections of gender, identity, sexuality, dignity, inclusivity, and indigenous and endogenous knowledge and development, with media and communication processes. Themes, which seem more consonant with our current section, include (but are not limited to):

  • Gender and the bioregions
  • Gender and climate change
  • Gender and the environment
  • Gendered agency and social change
  • Gender equity, social and economic prosperity
  • Gendered voice and visibility
  • Gendered identity, and equality
  • Gendered identities and online experiences
  • Gendered expression and social participation
  • Gendered rights and the achievement of universal dignity
  • Gender, inclusivity and sustainable development
  • Gender in higher education and pedagogy
  • Gender and social movements
  • Gender and (eco)territorial conflicts
  • Sexism and body as battlefield
  • Gender, sexuality, and violence
  • Sexuality and technology
  • Technology and/as gender
  • Marginalized sexualities
  • Queer theory and culture
  • Gender, consumption, and aspiration
  • Social media campaigns of women and non-binary people
  • Queer and LGBTQIA+ representations or resistance
  • Gender conflicts or resistance
  • Gender representation and authenticity
  • Gender discourse and power
  • Gender and public spaces
  • Gendered histories, war or politics
  • Gender, politics and governance
  • Gender, disability and health advocacy
  • Gender and algorithmic culture
  • Gender and indigenous/endogenous knowledge
  • Gender in multicultural contexts and neoliberal globalisation
  • Gendered terms, models and moral goals of communication, histories, and imaginaries
  • Gender experiences and futures
  • Art and gender

We encourage submissions by emerging scholars and plan to hold at least one joint session with the Emerging Scholars Network Section (ESN). To participate in this joint session submit your abstract to ESN and choose the topic GEN/ESN) joint session on the submission platform.

Guidelines for abstracts

Abstracts must be submitted exclusively through IAMCR’s submission system from 3 December 2024 through 7 February 2025, at 23.59 UTC.

Abstracts should be between 800 and 1000 words in descriptive form, bearing the necessary ingredients of academic research. It is expected that each person will submit only one abstract. However, no author’s name should appear on more than two abstracts, either individually or as part of any group of authors and authors should not submit more than one abstract to any single section or working group.

IAMCR 2025 is a face-to-face conference. Pre-recorded presentations are not allowed. Papers can only be presented by their authors or co-authors.

The Gender and Communication Section does not accept proposals from undergraduate students unless they are co-authored by their professors or supervisors. The professor/supervisor’s presence at the presentation is mandatory.

Graduate scholars and all students must submit their full paper by the Deadline for full paper submission. If no paper is submitted an accepted proposal/presentation may be withdrawn from the conference programme. All authors and co-authors attending the conference must register.

Evaluation criteria

Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:

  • Technical merit
  • Readability
  • Originality and/or significance
  • Use of or contribution to theory
  • Relevance to the section and current trends or controversies in its field
  • Depth of knowledge of the research, theory and/or literature related to the proposed topic as evidenced in the submission
  • Acceptance of proposals may also be conditioned by programme diversity and balance criteria

The Gender and Communication Section may use additional criteria and may assign different weights to the above criteria.

Statement on use of AI tools

IAMCR does not encourage or condone the use of generative AI tools to create abstracts submitted for consideration for our conferences. IAMCR values originality, integrity, and transparency in academic work, and believes that human-authored contributions best support rigorous and innovative scholarship in media and communication research. Should an author choose to use a generative AI tool in the preparation of an abstract, we require that they include a clear statement within their submission disclosing the tool's use. This statement must specify: (1) the name of any AI tool used; (2) how the tool was used in preparing the abstract, and; (3) the reason for using the tool. Failure to disclose the use of generative AI in accordance with these guidelines may impact the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.

Languages

The Gender and Communication Section accepts abstract and plans sessions in English, French and Spanish. As we do not have the interpreters, we like to encourage our presenters to invite their bilingual colleagues to interpret their presentations in English.

Chair/Respondent/Reviewer

The Gender and Communication Section published a call for reviewers in its October 2024 newsletter. If interested in reviewing abstracts (in English, French or Spanish), chairing a session or responding to a paper in Singapore, please contact Wajiha Raza Rizvi <wajiharaza@fulbrightmail.org>, co-chair of the Gender and Communication Section.

Deadlines and key dates

The deadline to submit abstracts is 7 February 2025, at 23.59 UTC. For other key dates see https://iamcr.org/singapore2025/keydates. Dates are subject to change.

Contacts

For further information about the IAMCR 2025 - Singapore Conference, contact singapore2025@iamcr.org

For further information about the GENDER AND COMMUNICATION SECTION, or its themes, submissions, or panels please contact:

Co-Chairs: Wajiha Raza Rizvi <wajiharaza@fulbrightmail.org> and Carolina Matos <Carolina.Matos.1@city.ac.uk>

Vice Chairs: Patricia Nunez Gomez <pnunezgo@ccinf.ucm.es> and Faiza Rafique <faizarafique@uowdubai.ac.ae>; <faizasrafique@gmail.com>

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