6th. Sino-Nordic Gender Research Network Conference 2017: AGE, AGENCY, AMBIGUITY - gender and generation in times of change

The conference will focus on gender and generations in times of social and economic change and various forms of globalization, in particular the present economic crises, migration, human rights and environmental challenges. In both China and the Nordic countries processes of industrialisation, urbanisation, deregulation, migration and globalisation have had profound transformatory effects on gender and generational relations that displays both differences and similarities. They relate to gender and generational aspects of family life, family-work relations, ageing societies, the situation of the younger generations, popularization of higher education, the expanding of the middle class and emerging precariat, the environment and sustainable development, and the increasing inequalities between different groups and classes. All this has far-reaching impact on the conditions for gender equality work and academic research practices. The development of Nordic gender equality as both social policy and as a research field, differs from the Chinese. Despite the huge differences in regard to size, culture, history and political regimes, there may, however, also be common features to these processes and the tensions they create between genders and generations. We hypothesize that exploring these questions in our 2017-conference, will provide important knowledge regarding the conditions for improving gender equality in different times, places and generations. A comparative view on conflicts, negotiations and changing relations between genders and generations may illuminate both general and specific traits of processes of change, as well as what might be entailed in the concepts of modernization and crisis.