ATGENDER

Elections GA

 

 

Dear members and prospective members of ATGENDER

 

The first general assembly of our brand new association ATGENDER will be held in Brussels on February 19, 2010.

With this message from the founding board we want to inform you about the agenda of the ATGENDER 2010 General Assembly and about the procedures for electing the next ATGENDER board.

 

The founding of ATGENDER took place on September 30, 2009 and was the result of three organizations (WISE, AOIFE and ATHENA3) deciding to work together. The temporary board consists of the representatives from the three organizations in the founding committee, along with two invited members with particular experience and expertise. The founding committee had the responsibility of setting up the organization and making ATGENDER legally official. This has happened and now the first tasks at hand for the founding board members are the setting up membership procedures, organizing internal communication tools (newsletter and website) and preparing the elections of the board that will be in charge of launching the full range of ATGENDER activities.

 

We propose to organize the elections of the first official ATGENDER board in May/June 2011, which, if the application for the ATHENA4 Transversal Impact project is successful, will coincide with the first plenary meeting of this new phase of ATHENA.

The advantages of this timetable are:

1. On September 30 2010, after one full year of official functioning of ATGENDER, we hope to have solved all membership issues (payment, requests for reduced fee) and it will be clear how many members are entitled to run for a seat on the board and to vote.

2. Between September 30 2010 and January 1 2011, there will be time for an election committee to be appointed, for candidates to be nominated and for the members’ ballot to be organized.

3. This will allow us to send out lists of candidates before the 2011 ATGENDER general assembly and to make it possible for all ATGENDER members to elect the board.

4. Since the statutes of ATGENDER require that some of the (temporary) board members must stand down in an election year, this time schedule will enable us to find candidates for the vacated seats in the board, whilst ensuring at least some continuity during the first months of ATGENDER. 

The board invites candidates for the election committee to be nominated during the 2010 ATGENDER General Assembly in Brussels. Although final appointments can only be legal when the membership fees of the candidates have been paid, we would like to invite active participation from ATGENDER members in the election process.

 

Until June 2011, the ATGENDER founding board will focus on setting up the structure of ATGENDER as described in the Declaration of Intent, signed by the three founding organizations and known to all those who pledged their support. In practical terms, this means:

• setting up an ATGENDER office that will administrate membership

• setting up ATGENDER newsletter

• setting up ATGENDER website with information for members

• exploring possibilities of ATGENDER electronic discussion lists (continuing on from WISE-L and EF-L)

• supporting and co-organising the 8th European Feminist Research Conference

• supporting the ATHENA4-TI application

• inviting members to propose ATGENDER working groups and providing working groups with logistical support

• making a budget based on income in the first year of full ATGENDER membership

• supporting the publication and dissemination of the Gender Studies Tuning Report

• offering channels for dissemination for ATGENDER members who apply for grants in the field of gender studies, documentation, research and education.

• exploring the possibilities of combining reduced gender studies journal subscriptions with ATGENDER membership

• preparing the Board elections in 2011. 

At the ATGENDER general assembly 2010, the founding board will report on its activities until now and present plans for the future. We will invite members and prospective members to propose working groups that will start working within ATGENDER.

A detailed agenda for the AGM will be available in Brussels and on the ATGENDER website.

We look forward to seeing you all in Brussels.

 

 

 

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