FEMCIT WP6 was recently represented at the international conference Families in Europe today.

The conference was a meeting place between researchers, NGO’s in the field of families, gender equality, lesbian and gay rights, and a variety of policy makers from EC and from different European countries.

The focus of the conference was cultural patterns in marriage and partnership, the legislation in the different EU countries, and the potential gap between culture and legislation.
FEMCIT partner Tone Hellesund spoke about shifting cultural norms and patterns regarding love and marriage, and told about the ongoing research on non-conventional intimacies in FEMCIT WP6.

Hellesund also took part in the panel discussion with the other speakers:  Jöelle Milquet, Deputy Vice Minister, Minister of Employment and Equal Opportunities (Belgium); Andrei Tarnea, President of EUNIC Brussels; Maria Szyszkowska, Philosopher and Professor in Law and Philosophy at the Warsaw University; Barbara Stiegler, Head of Department “Women and Gender Research”, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn (Germany), Koray Yilmaz-Günay, project coordinator at GLADT, Berlin; Garbi Schmidt, Senior Researcher at the Danish National Institute for Social Research, Copenhagen; Michael Cashman, Member of European Parliament (United Kingdom); Antonia Mochan, Head of Media, European Commission Representation in the United Kingdom; and Jozef De Witte, Director of Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.

The conference was organized by EUNIC Brussels in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee, Center for Equal opportunities and opposition to Racism, Institut pour légalié des femmes et des hommes, De Vice-Eerste minister - minister Wan Werk en VAN Geljike kansen, and Dialogue Interculturel.