Seminar series CEDAW’s intersectional gaze and state obligations – political participation in SEE Analysing intersectional discrimination and political participation in South-East Europe Add to calendar 2025-09-16 14:00 2025-09-16 15:00 Europe/Rome CEDAW’s intersectional gaze and state obligations – political participation in SEE Sala Belvedere Villa Schifanoia YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Sep 16 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST Sala Belvedere, Villa Schifanoia Organised by Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies GGP: Global Governance Programme Eastern Europe as Laboratory of Change Working Group Join Biljana Kotevska as she presents a critical analysis of political participation through the lens of CEDAW. This seminar presents a critical analysis of political participation in South-East Europe (SEE) through the lens of the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations. Based on a chapter from a forthcoming volume, the talk introduces an original ‘obligations framework’ to assess how intersectionality is understood and operationalised by the Committee. This framework is constructed drawing on the Committee’s engagement with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. It identifies both promising trends and structural shortcomings in national approaches to political participation, particularly regarding temporary special measures and protection against intersectional discrimination.Drawing on critical legal analysis and qualitative content analysis, the talk also questions the Committee’s ability to spotlight the most marginalised women. This session is of interest to scholars and practitioners working on gender, human rights, international law, and political participation, both within and beyond SEE. It concludes with reflections for future research following General Recommendation No. 40.