Tag: Gender Equality

8th March 2021 Colombo, Sri Lanka

UK In Sri Lanka: #ChooseToChallenge for Gender Equality

The UK Chooses To Challenge: How The British High Commission and British Council are championing gender quality in Sri Lanka? Each year, on 8 March, the world comes together to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). We advocate for women’s equality, honour the achievements of women and support female-focused organisations. This is all aimed at striving […]

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4th March 2021 Canberra

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by Vicki Treadell

British High Commissioner to Australia

UK in Australia: #ChooseToChallenge

Woman with arms in air

International Women’s Day is 8 March and this year the theme is #ChooseToChallenge. This theme really resonates with me, as a mixed race woman who was born in Malaysia –without any British ancestry – I think my presence alone can challenge some people’s expectations as to what a British High Commissioner should or could be. […]

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14th October 2020

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by Matt Field

British Diplomat

Visible Women

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) The campaign for local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina is about to begin. While there are many things we do not yet know about how those elections will run, we can be confident that women – as candidates, as decision-makers, and as […]

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15th July 2019

Danae Xanthi

British High Commissioner for a Day

Becoming UK High Commissioner to Cyprus for a day

While gender equality is improving in Cyprus, there is still more to do. Women in leadership positions in particular remain few. To promote gender equality and female leadership, the British High Commissioner in Cyprus Stephen Lillie welcomed a 17 year old young woman, Danae Xanthi, to shadow him for a day on 24 June to […]

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4th December 2018 Skopje, North Macedonia

How much is enough – can we end violence against women in Macedonia?

Changing the statistics by raising awareness: as part of the global conversations in these #16DaysofActivism to raise awareness to end the gender based violence, we have asked Marija Bashevska, gender equality advocate to tell us what kind of effort is needed to end violence against women. Marija is currently president of the think-tank Reactor-Reasearh in Action in Macedonia. She is […]

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20th March 2017 London, UK

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by Joanna Roper

FCO Special Envoy for Gender Equality

Addressing the barriers that hold back women

We recently celebrated International Women’s Day, a day when we can celebrate the achievements of women in history and around the world. It’s also a day when we look to address the barriers that hold back women. I was delighted to have been appointed to the new role of Special Envoy for Gender Equality. This […]

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20th June 2016 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Behind every successful woman…

In the months since the last Council session, Star Wars has come to dominate my home life. My son asks endless questions about the characters, while the rest of the family begrudgingly take turns to act them out. I’m most often cast as Jabba the Hutt while my Jedi son brandishes his light sabre and […]

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2nd November 2015 USA

Priya Guha

British Consul General to San Francisco

Having It All

Identity is complicated. As a British-Indian representing the UK overseas I had spent more time spelling my name than talking about gender.   But that changed in 2011 when I became the first female British Consul General to San Francisco. A year later, I had the privilege of joining some of the brightest young Americans at […]

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26th October 2015 London, UK

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by Baroness Anelay

Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights

Words into Action; Promoting Women’s Leadership

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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