The 20th Gender and Education Association International Conference 2024. was hosted at Charles Sturt University's main campus in beautiful Port Macquarie, Australia from 17th-20th June 2024. It was organised by the Gender and Education Association (GEA), whose aim has always been to fight for gender equality within and through education.

The Conference whose main theme was ‘Be the Change”, brought together education practitioners from all levels of education, activists, academics, students, community members and leaders, artists, researchers, lawmakers, policymakers, and media to explore the need for change for diversity and inclusion, positionality, and redressing inequalities through both an intersectional and a gendered lens.

Jane Umutoni attended on behalf of the Gendered Journeys (GCRF-funded) project, affiliated with the University of Glasgow’s CR&DALL research centre and the PASCAL International Observatory. The themes were very much in line with our project work:

GEA acknowledges that engaging in the debates of inclusion in education is important but pivotal are the pedagogies and ideologies that underpin how we include and reframe the systemic and structural barriers that led to cumulative disadvantage. Given the global impact of the pandemic with women being hardest hit with career stability and access to education and services, a call to action is needed to go beyond a deficit model to that of universal inclusion – designing education and pedagogy to be inclusive and accessible to all regardless of ones identified intersections. Hence, the GEA conference theme, Be the Change, was indeed a catalyst for discussion and action to redress global and institutional inequality through the power of education and knowledge. The closely related 6 sub-themes allowed everyone to comfortably fit into any ongoing conversations. Across all sessions, the common point of discussion was mainly around ‘equality and inclusion’.  Indeed, a badge handed out by in one group summed it up!

Comprising keynote speakers, oral and poster presentations, symposiums & workshops, panel proposals as well as various group learning activities, the conference was very well organised, educative and interesting.  Different days with breaks in between sessions, provided plenty of time for participants to interact, and network while savouring delicious eats.  Each conference day, ended with a social event organised in the city to allow conference participants to relax, socialize and get to know one another better.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to attend all of the interesting sessions in parallel sessions., but our Gendered Journeys presentation, compiled by Barbara Read and Jane Umutoni, was delivered on the second day of the conference, 18th June 2024.  Our session had three oral presentations and was well attended and received. Discussions continued beyond the session, that is during coffee/tea/lunch breaks as well as interactions on the created Whova Conference app.

Gains from GEA Conference 2024

• Future opportunities to publish papers presented at the conference
• Valuable lessons learned from fellow presenters and diverse conference attendees
• Opportunity to interact with scholars and experts in similar research fields as well working on joint publications in future
• Networking and establishing important contacts
• Possibility to attend the next GEA conference in Australia or elsewhere
• Simply enjoying the beauty of Australia

Looking forward to a next time!

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