Monash Memo - articles- 12 December 2001

More than 100 international delegates attended aconference held by the Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research atKing's College London last month.

The conference, A New Girl Order:Young Women and the Future of Feminist Inquiry, was held with thesupport of the Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and theMonash University Centre, London.

International scholars, teachers andactivists from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds came togetherat the conference to explore a range of issues concerning young women.These included third-wave feminism; 'grrl' power; young womennegotiating the media and popular culture; youth, sex and sexuality; andshaping new research agendas for the study of young women.

Provice-chancellor, London, Professor Richard White welcomed delegates fromas far away as Brazil, Russia and Finland to the conference, held at thecollege's Waterloo campus.

Conference convenors Dr Anita Harris and DrMaryanne Dever said the choice of London as the conference venue enabledthe organisers to involve many more scholars and researchers from theUK, Europe and North America than would have been possible if theconference had been held in Australia.

"This is one of the distinctbenefits of Monash's London initiative," they said.

"There wasenormous interest in the Monash presence in London, and we have no doubtthat this conference put the university on the map for many of ourinternational delegates."

Leading speakers included internationalscholars in the field of feminist youth studies Ms Angela McRobbie, MsChris Griffin and Ms Valerie Walkerdine, whose latest book, GrowingUp Girl, was launched at the conference.