Ramdas GS ’88 talks about gender equity issues

Kavita Ramdas GS ’88 spoke about gender justice in the global community before a largely female audience in Dodds Auditorium on Monday afternoon.

Ramdas is the former president and chief executive of the Global Fund for Women, a nonprofit, grant-making foundation that promotes women’s rights by funding women-led organizations worldwide.

Christina Paxson, dean of the Wilson School, introduced Ramdas as an “expert on women’s rights, social justice and international development.”

In opening her speech, Ramdas noted that March is Women’s History Month and cited several examples of female accomplishments and movements in history.

For example, she said, March 25 marked the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which led to the deaths of many immigrant women and sparked a labor movement led by women.

She also reminisced about welcoming the new year in her home village in India. Whereas in the past few people in the village received educations, today many girls attend school.

During her talk, Ramdas focused on globalism and gender equality. On globalism, she said that “though the term ‘globalism’ is sort of thrown around like salt on food, we rarely understand what the foundations are,” noting the importance of education in particular.

Statistics from the U.N. and the World Bank have demonstrated that women are among the best investments for educational resources, as they are more likely than men to attend school and to make significant contributions to family income, she added.

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However, she said, globalism can present unique challenges. “There are inherent risks in our pursuit of a global agenda,” she explained. “A truly liberal and global education might have to be one that is both feminine and feminist.”

During the question-and-answer session following the lecture, one student asked how to approach cultures that are intrinsically opposed to the education of women and whether citizens should work around such cultures or seek to change them.

In response, Ramdas explained that even in countries with more advanced women’s movements, these changes only came about with a great deal of effort. Even the University only opened its doors to women in 1969, she noted, but this development is reassuring because it shows that culture is not static.

“What makes it difficult is that we have a notion that we have evolved, we have arrived, so we must save other people,” she said. “There is a fundamental hypocrisy; meanwhile, in our own country, we act like we don’t have problems. Can you align yourself from a place that says, ‘We are struggling with issues in the United States, and we would like to work with you and we remember how hard it was?’ ”

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Ramdas also responded to a question about the role of men in the gender justice movement, noting her husband’s belief that “the problem with women’s liberation is that men don’t understand that when women achieve it, they will be liberated too.”

Ramdas earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Wilson School, which she described as the “place I associate with a time of great growth in my life.” She currently serves on the University’s Board of Trustees and is a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law.

The lecture was part of the Program in Leadership and Governance organized by the Gender and Policy Network.