6th December 2018 Skopje, North Macedonia
Last week I hosted a meeting with nearly twenty people who work in various organisations in Macedonia on human rights issues and the support they provide to the people who are on the margins of the society unable to fully exercise their rights. I was particularly pleased that we also had among the guests a […]
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13th January 2017 Colombo, Sri Lanka
A cross section of staff from the High Commission lighting the traditional oil lamp during New Year celebrations. The inaugural International ‘Parity at Work Day’ was celebrated on Wednesday in London. This new International Day champions workplace diversity, and recognises the importance that everyone – regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation – is given […]
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19th May 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia
I was on Facebook yesterday evening and I saw something that shocked me. It was a post which said that the World Health Organisation only took homosexuality off the list of mental disorders in 1990. I found it hard to believe that anyone over 25 years old has lived in a time when a global […]
8th March 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia
Today we are marking International Women’s Day. It is usually the day when we are reminded that women are today represented in a multitude of fields: community builders and advisers, soldiers, diplomats, homemakers, doctors, analysts and officials. Different countries have different policies and different gender representation, but there are some issues which are shared topics […]
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3rd November 2015 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Ms Stephanie Koh, a Shell Engineer, was selected to represent Brunei as a future woman leader to attend the Week of Women Summit in London 2015. Read her guest blog about her experience at the week long Summit. I am very privileged to have been nominated by Brunei Shell Petroleum Co. and selected by the […]
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26th October 2015 London, UK
I attended the United Nations General Assembly this year and was struck by the breadth of events designed to promote and protect women’s rights. There were celebrations to mark 20 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the best international blueprint for realising women’s rights. We also reaffirmed our commitment […]
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28th February 2014
Are women better at business than men? I found myself asking this question after visiting KAGIDER, the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey, here in Istanbul. KAGIDER is a fine organisation. A group of top women business types set it up in 2002. Its goals include developing entrepreneurship among women; strengthening women’s status economically […]
19th April 2013
The following is a guest blog by Simona Prete, Head of Communications. “Working for the British Embassy to the Holy See, I am privileged to meet and engage with remarkable women at the Vatican and in the Catholic network. Our Ambassador Nigel Baker noted on International Women’s Day: “the vital role played by women religious […]
11th May 2012 Washington DC, USA
Something I always dread happened the other day. A lunch guest bounced up to me enthusiastically and asked me how I felt about the President’s announcement. I was uncharacteristically but completely nonplussed. I’d been in back to back meetings all morning in Sacramento (hearing a rather different view from that of the Bay on economics and innovation […]
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7th March 2012 Washington DC, USA
My mother’s mother was born early in the 20th century in a small Welsh mining village. She was the third of 11 children and she left school – illegally – at 12 to work in a factory. This was not uncommon – indeed only her very youngest sister finished school. Married at 17, to avoid […]
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