The Mona Academic Conference 2003 will serve as an avenue for the examination and discussion of issues which are of vital interest and importance in the evolution of the gender discourse in the Caribbean and the wider world community. The perspectives and visions to be shared have the potential to expand the knowledge base on gender issues, inform policy and interventions at various levels, in response to the varied and multidimensional challenges in which gender is the central focus.
Issues that warrant further attention in the programme of teaching, research and outreach include, among other things:

• the intersection and articulating of gender with socio-economic-status, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and gender ambiguities
• masculinities
• globalization and macro-economic policies and
• gender and nation/citizenship and Caribbean feminisms and world religions.
  
  All of these issues are of concern to Caribbean peoples and relevant policies need to be informed by the scholarship emanating from the field of Gender Studies.
  In an effort to begin the exploration of some of these areas, the sub-themes around which the Conference programme is organized are:
  
• Feminist Scholarship and the Society
• Pushing the Boundaries
• Bridging Epistemologies
• Setting new agendas