Gender equality depends on democratic and gender-sensitive governance. This is because women, who feel, or are marginalised from the public sphere and administration may not consider themselves empowered to take action or participate in governance. The relationship between the concepts of gender and governance can be viewed as governance of gender and gender governance (Kronsell, 2010). The governance of gender is related to the way in which values that permeate governance reflect traditional gender regimes. On the other hand, gender governance concerns governance in policy areas that, in the first instance, directly deal with women's issues. Gender governance is about attempts to change gender regimes by inserting new policies, procedures, and values through global and multilevel governance. It studies, for example, the representation of women in electoral bodies and parties, theorizes representation in political bodies, and looks at the organization of welfare politics. The Gender and Governance conference is a joint effort on behalf of the University of Helsinki and the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, to discuss and debate current policy issues in a variety of contexts and locations. The speakers address issues such as gender and public administration, welfare policies, life/work balance for women, and possibilities to provide gender equity in relation to the current backlash against gender in the EU and Russia. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!