Gender and child welfare is the title of an interdisciplinary conference to be held at the University of York on September 19.

How is gender being integrated into the child welfare agenda today? As services in the UK reorganise to reflect higher aspirations for children’s well-being, they also have new obligations to eliminate discrimination and promote gender equality (under the Equality Act 2006) which apply to children, parents and practitioners. How can children’s views and experiences inform such developments? What new challenges in parenting that women and men face in the context of family and societal change and diversity do policy makers and practitioners need to be aware of? How does gender intersect with ethnicity, religion, class, disability, age and sexuality in families? How are other policies such as youth justice promoting or undermining child welfare goals? What theoretical and practice developments are most promising in promoting both child well-being and gender equity?

This exciting one-day conference is the second organised by the Gender and Child Welfare Network, an international group of researchers and practitioners. Further information available shortly on www.york.ac.uk/spsw.

Plenary speakers will include Harry Ferguson, Professor of Social Work, University of West England. Author of Protecting children in time: child abuse, child protection and the consequences of modernity, with current interests in working with men, masculinities and families; and Wendy Hollway, Professor and co-Director of the Research Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance, Open University. Author of The Capacity to Care: Gender and Ethical Subjectivity, with particular interests in gender, capacity to care, parenting, and the development of self in family and intimate relations.