organised by University Sciences Po Strasbourg, France

15 November 2018 -18.00 - Lieu d'Europe, Strasbourg

The conference will take place on 15 November, 2018 at 18:00 Lieu d’Europe, 8 rue Boecklin 67000 Strasbourg.

The capacity of the conference room is to host people around 50 participants.

Presentation of the conference

Transidentity: a new gender equality issue for Europe

The World Forum for Democracy will take place in Strasbourg between 19 and 21 November 2018 on the theme: ‘’Gender Equality: Whose battle’’? It is dedicated to the issues of gender equality and women's rights.

It is obvious that the current media and political context invites us to address violence predominantly suffered by women. As the following issue will widely be debated in the context of the Forum, we have chosen another angle to look at the topic. Therefore, the Satellite Event will be dedicated to understanding the concept of "gender equality" that goes beyond men and women. The chosen concept is constantly found in political discourse as a conceptual substratum of certain public policies; it has emerged as a legitimate political debate in European democracies (according to historical and social processes).

However, the concept of gender equality is too often understood as "the ambition / the need to achieve equality between women and men’’. But it is problematic to consider only the feminine and masculine genres, the binary division of the genre makes invisible some of the European citizens.

This is the case of transgender people who are subject to discrimination because of their gender: discrimination in labour market, social exclusion, absence of political representation, transphobia that can result in moral or physical violence.

Thus, by organising the conference, we propose to raise the issue of discrimination faced by the transgender people that will be followed by the discussion on legal gender recognition in France and Europe. The conference also intends to be a platform to identify challenges in the process of inclusion of transgender people in democratic systems.

We hope to have a genuine reflection on gender equality in a non-binary framework.

To answer these questions, we will have the honour to receive:

  • Eleni Tsetsekou : Head of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit, Council of Europe
    She will present the work of the Council of Europe to fight against transphobic discrimination and to integrate transgender people into the democratic system.
  • Hélène Hardy : Candidate EELV in the legislative elections of June 2017
    She will provide insights into the institutional discrimination specific to transgender people, particularly in France and will share her experience of campaigning for legislative elections in 2017 as a transgender woman.
  • Cornélia Schneider : Co-founder of Support Transgenre Strasbourg
    She will speak about bureaucratic terrain and reality to which transgender people are exposed.

The event is organised by the students of MA 2 European and International Studies of Sciences Po Strasbourg : Ariane ALAM, Arthur Delon, Quentin Hocquet, Galya Hovhannisyan, Mélanie Pelascini, and Audrey Prudhomme. The association of Master 2 finances board and lodging of the invited speakers.