The aim of this international conference organized by the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Centre of Central European Studies (the collectiv department of the Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and CEVRO Institut College) and the Anna and Jaroslav Krejčí Research Endowment Fund is to delimit and define the space for women to assert themselves in public affairs and politics during the last three decades of the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, under the First Czechoslovak Republic and Austrian Republic. The conference is organized under the auspices of Mrs. Miroslava Němcová, the chairwoman of the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament of the Czech Republic.

Outline of papers
Individual papers should be conceived in a way that allows for comparisons to be made within the framework of the 1890-1918 and 1918-1938 periods. Individual women should be chosen to match the issues and questions to be dealt with by our conference.

1890-1918
We expect papers to be on subjects involving a comparison of programme tasks within the women's movement (e.g. education, nationality and social issues, labour law and civil law matters) in individual crown lands of the Empire. Readers should keep in view the kind of conditions (cultural, social, political, legal and the like) in which individual women's movements operated; how and why they succeeded or did not succeed in achieving their aims, the effects of accomplished tasks and the response to women's activities within society.

What did women's politics look like at a time when there was no such profession as "female politician"? Within this time and space was a feminist the equivalent?

1918-1938
Papers should focus on female politicians and their activities in national parliaments and trace the transformation process undergone by former women's movement activists under the First Czechoslovak Republic and Austrian Republic.
For example:

To 1918 from 1918
Activist politician
Activist municipal or state administration worker
woman working in the legal profession or court service

Were Czechoslovak and Austrian female politicians merely the colleagues of male politicians, or were they feminists purely engaged in defending women's interests? Were female deputies and senators bound by party discipline or was it possible to create the conditions for the formation of a "women's lobby" across the political party spectrum? The focus should also be on the participation of female politicians in issues under debate involving social problems, marital rights and family law, labour law affairs and the like.