IPSA and Gender Equality

Today is UN’s International Women’s Day, celebrated under the theme “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.”

We are proud that gender equality and diversity have become one of the main criteria in the election of the IPSA President, Executive Committee and Council members as well as for IPSA activities, thanks to the various reforms made in IPSA’s constitution in recent years. For the first time, the Executive Committee (2021-2023) is composed of over 50% of women members. We invite you to discover them on our website.

In the last three decades, IPSA has also witnessed an increase in female representation, with the election of five women presidents: Carole Pateman (1991-1994); Lourdes Sola (2006-2009); Helen V. Milner (2012-2014); Marianne Kneuer (2018-2021); and Dianne Pinderhughes (2021-2023). For the first time in our history, a woman President, Dianne Pinderhughes, succeeded another, Marianne Kneuer in 2021. The appointment of the first woman Executive Director was another milestone in IPSA's history. Kim Fontaine-Skronski took over this key position after nine consecutive male Secretaries-General from 1949 to 2019.

Changes in the IPSA Constitution

Objectives
The general purpose of the Association shall be to promote the advancement of political science throughout the world, by such means as:
(…) working towards ensuring gender and diversity balance in all its actions and encouraging its collective members to aspire to the same high standards of achieving gender and diversity balance in their actions.

Changes in the Rules & Procedures

Congress Structure 
(…) in every World Congress, IPSA should have a special high-profile panel - and preferably a plenary- devoted to the topic of gender and diversity. 

Responsibilities of Program Chair 
The Program Chair shall ensure that women, younger scholars and scholars from disadvantaged regions are adequately represented in the congress program. World Congress Program Chairs should strive to ensure that high-profile and/or plenary panelists reflect the evolving nature of the political science community in terms of region, gender, career stage and other forms of diversity. 

Duties of Conveners, co-Conveners and Chairs 
To strive to obtain a balanced representation on the program of each panel session in terms of gender, region, and age and career stage, and other criteria arising from the plurality embodied in IPSA and the discipline.

Gender and Diversity Monitoring Report

Since 2011, IPSA publishes Gender and Diversity Monitoring Reports to track the status of women in political science. The upcoming report will be released in 2023.

We also invite you to join the following UNESCO and ISC online events, organized on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

UNESCO Webinar: Promoting Gender Equity in the Right of Access to Information
9 March 2022

ISC Panel: Women Leading on Equitable and Inclusive Solutions to address the Climate Emergency
14 March 2022

ISC Webinar: Inclusion and Participation of Women in Global Science Organizations
24 March 2022