PGAE faculty/students at International Association for Feminist Economics meeting, Barcelona, July 2012.

The International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) is an organization that brings together an international community of practitioners, academics, activists, economists, and non-economists interested in feminist perspectives, offering a forum to discuss feminist viewpoints on economic and policy issues. In addition to its involvement with the journal Feminist Economics, IAFFE hosts an annual conference whose venue rotates around the world to give members from other parts of the globe an opportunity to attend.

The 2012 annual conference was held in Barcelona, Spain, under the theme Human Well-Being for the 21st Century: Weaving Alliances from Feminist Economics. The conference featured many interesting sessions that explored a diverse range of topics, including the recent global economic crisis, macroeconomic policies, land rights, food security, gender gaps in wages and assets, migration, and caregiving. Many nationalities, professions, and age groups were represented, which helped bring new perspectives to topics under discussion. To wrap up the conference, many of the participants assembled for dinner to mingle, continue networking, and exchange ideas.

As a graduate student it was great to attend the IAFFE conference because it provided me with a supportive yet critical forum to discuss my research and to receive valuable feedback from experienced scholars. Attending the conference — with AU PhD student Leanne Roncolato, alumna Hazel Malapit, and economics faculty members Caren Grown and Mieke Meurs — offered a great opportunity to network with other researchers and to keep up with the direction of current gender-related research. The IAFFE conference also provided a fertile environment of ideas, which allowed me to gain new perspectives on the broader relevance of my research work. As a first-time attendee, I had an overall positive experience and will attend future conferences.