Members of the LAWGEM research team from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Prof. Dr Dragica Vujadinović, Prof. Dr Ivana Krstić, Prof. Dr Tanasije Marinković, Prof. Dr Ljubinka Kovačević, Marija Vlajković and Valerija Dabetić took part in on-line debates organized by the Initiative of Women in Science „UdruŽENE za znanje” („Women Associated for Knowledge”), as a platform of academics oriented towards improving the position of women in higher education in Serbia, with the support of the SeConS group, the University of Belgrade Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, UN Women, and the Coordination Body for Gender Equality.
One of these webinars was held on the 21st of October 2020. During the webinar titled „How to eliminate barriers at the road of scientific development of women, with special reference to specificities in the field of gender equality at the University of Belgrade”, Prof. Dr Dragica Vujadinović, Head of the LAWGEM project, talked about the process of achieving gender equality at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and the development of the idea of creating a Master study program in Law and Gender. Prof. Dr Vujadinović said that the development of this study program is the result of several years of research of the gender perspective in legal and higher education, which started with the organization of the international conference „Gender Mainstreaming in Higher Education: International Good Practices and Local Contexts”, which was held on the 20th of October 2017 at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, with support from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Serbia. The cooperation between the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and the OSCE Mission to Serbia in the field of gender equality continued in the drafting of the first gender action plan for achieving gender equality in higher education in Serbia, to be created for the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. Prof. Dr Vujadinović explained that in the meantime some important measures proposed in the Draft Action Plan for Achieving Gender Equality have already been enacted, even though this document has not been formally adopted yet. This is especially true of the fact that the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law received a grant from the European Commission for implementing the international project of creating the Law and Gender Master study program, organizing the online conference titled „Gender Competent Legal Knowledge”, implementing the call for the best student paper on the general topic „Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality” and preparation of the volume Gender Perspective in Law, edited by Prof. Dr Dragica Vujadinović and Prof. Dr Ivana Krstić, which will be published in 2022 by Springer.
The final conference of the Initiative of Women in Science, titled „Barriers at the road of scientific development of women in Serbia, and how to eliminate them” was held on the 19th of November 2020. The conference gathered more than 50 academics. Prof. Dr Dragica Vujadinović presented the results of the research into the views on gender equality of the academic staff of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Prof. Dr Tanasije Marinković presented key solutions contained in the Draft Regulation on the Prevention of and Protection Against Sexual Harassment at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, while Prof. Dr Ljubinka Kovačević examined in her talk the key measures proposed in the Draft Action Plan for Achieving Gender Equality at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.
