Student Spotlight: CGA students contribute to an international meeting on "Gender Apartheid"

Students in the CGA Summer course ‘Gender and Development’ were invited by the UN Women Kabul country office to travel to a UN ‘Expert Group Meeting’ in July (24 - 27) in Istanbul on the topic of: ‘International Strategies and Tools to Address the Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan’.  The students were invited in recognition of work they had done to develop an annotated bibliography on the topic of ‘gender apartheid’, a new concept in international law and diplomacy, which is increasingly being used to describe the situation of state-sponsored extreme misogyny in Afghanistan under the de facto Taliban authorities.

Two students, Marta Saavedra and Sara Zabihi, were able to attend the Istanbul meeting, where they assisted with rapporteuring and they provided inputs to the final report.  Marta Saavedra describes the experience: “Throughout the enriching sessions, we actively engaged as team members, aiding the reporters. [Participation included] meaningful discussions with extraordinary women and absorbing a wealth of knowledge from their profound expertise”.  According to Sara Zabihi: “The meeting exemplified how a diverse range of perspectives is essential to addressing global challenges and I feel fortunate to have witnessed such an important multilateral discussion in action. I left Istanbul feeling incredibly inspired by the accomplished practitioners we heard from”.  The preparation, rapporteuring, and report support work is an example of direct, real-time engagement by CGA students in contemporary policy challenges central to global affairs.  

Learn more about the Global Gender Studies concentration within our MS in Global Affairs program here.