News & Events Highlights
On 23 November 2010 the UNESCO Chair was launched with a seminar by Claire Short: 'What is gender equality in a global age?'
The lecture: UNESCO's central aspiration at its launch in 1946 was to "create a culture of peace". It has done good work since then, but never managed this. The UK could play a massively more useful role in the world, which would also serve our real interests, in working with others for a more just world order and a more sustainable use of natural resources. However, given the fixation of the political elite on massive weaponry and being America's best friend, as in the Iraq war, it is unlikely that we will make progress without new thinking. Given that women consistently have considerable doubts about war as a solution to foreign policy questions, I will ask whether, the now well established field of gender analysis might take the lead in rethinking our foreign policy.
The speaker: Clare Short is former Secretary of State for International Development in the Labour government from 1997. She has been a long-standing Member of Parliament for Ladywood, Birmingham. She was previously Shadow Minister for Women and made a major impact on Labour thinking on gender issues, including violence against women.
The chair: Sylvia Walby, UNESCO Chair in Gender Research at Lancaster University, introduced the lecture, UNESCO and the UNESCO Chair in Gender Research Group.