The Feminifesto Podcast

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Dr. Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi. Dr Eleanor is a medical doctor, gender ,human rights expert and public speaker with a European Union Masters in Human rights and Democratisation (EMA) from Venice, Italy. She is a Fellow of the African Arts and Culture (FAAC). Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi is founding Co- Chair, Steering Committee of Every Woman Treaty, a coalition calling for a Global treaty to end Violence Against Women and Girls. Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi is also the International President of the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA), the first Nigerian to rise to this position in its one hundred year history.

Mary Kaldor is a Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit in the LSE Department of International Development. Professor Kaldor also directs the unit’s largest research project, the Conflict Research Programme (CRP), an international DFID-funded partnership investigating public authority, through a theoretical lens of the political marketplace and the concept of civicness, across a range of countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Meenakshi Gopinath is currently Founder and Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), an initiative that seeks to promote the leadership of South Asian women in the areas of peace, security and regional cooperation. She is also Chair, Board of Governors, Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Principal Emerita of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi where she served as Principal for 26 years from 1988-2014. She has been a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), India. Dr. Gopinath was the first woman to serve as member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India. She is a member of multi-track peace initiatives and people-to-people dialogues in South Asia. She has authored among others Pakistan in Transition, and co-authored Conflict Resolution – Trends and Prospects, Transcending Conflict: A Resource book on Conflict Transformation and Dialogic Engagement and has contributed chapters and articles in several books and journals on Gandhi, the politics of Pakistan, the arts Conflict Resolution, Gender and Peace Building et al. Her interests include issues of human rights and gender, conflict transformation and Buddhist and Gandhian philosophy. She also headed the Task Force of the SAKSHAM Report of the University Grants Commission that initiated several policy reforms on Gender Equity on Higher Education Institutes in India

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Dr Toni Haastrup. She is a Senior Lecturer in International Security at the University of Kent and is interested in the gender dynamics and processes of change within regional security institutions. Dr Toni's current research examines the practices and implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the African and European Unions. In addition to teaching on international security issues, she is also Editor in Chief of the Journal of Common Market Studies and co-convener of UACES Research Network, Gendering EU Studies. Dr Toni is a graduate of University of California, Davis (BA), University of Cape Town (MA), and the University of Edinburgh (PhD).

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Soon-Young Yoon, the Chair of the Board at the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), UN Representative for the International Alliance of Women, Immediate Past Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York and first Vice-President of the Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN. In those capacities, she helps to organize the world’s women in support of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. In 1995, she served as the UN Liaison for the NGO Forum held in parallel with the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, an event that hosted more than 30,000 NGO participants. Ms. Yoon is a Board Member of the Global Advisory Council at the Harvard AIDS Initiative and the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University. A former columnist for the EarthTimes newspaper, she works as a senior advisor/consultant for the World Health Organization. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Michigan and earned a certificate in computer graphics from the Pratt Institute of Art.

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Lisa Shannon, the Cofounder and CEO of Every Woman Treaty. She is an American author, human rights activist and scholar known for initiating campaigns in the international women’s movement, including founding Run for Congo Women and cofounding the first sexual violence crisis center in Mogadishu—Sister Somalia—in partnership with Fartun Adan Abdisalan, as well as the successful 45,000 Penny Congo Conflict Minerals Campaign against technology giants Intel, Apple, and Hewlett Packard. Lisa was an Associate and former Fellow of the Carr Center for Human Rights, and a former Gleitsman Fellow with the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. She holds a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Georgetown University. She is author of the award-winning book A Thousand Sisters: My Journey Into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman (Seal Press, 2010) and Mama Koko and the Hundred Gunmen: An Ordinary Family’s Extraordinary Tale of Love, Loss, and Survival in Congo (Public Affairs, 2015).

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Sharanya Sekaram, who identifies as a feminist writer, researcher, and activist. Based in Sri Lanka, she works primarily as an independent consultant in the gender space. She is passionate about the democratization of information and resources, as well as access to networks and spaces. In 2018 she co-founded a feminist collective called Everystory Sri Lanka. Sharanya holds an LLB (Hons) and a Masters in Conflict and Peace Studies, and she is also currently reading for a Post-Graduate Diploma in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colombo.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Japleen Pasricha. Japleen smashes the patriarchy for a living! She is the founder-CEO & editor-in-chief of Feminism in India (FII), an award-winning digital intersectional feminist and bilingual media platform. She is also a TEDx speaker and was recognised as a Young Innovator in 2018 by World Summit Awards. Japleen has Masters and M.Phil degrees in German Studies and used to be a German language lecturer at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Amity University, Noida. Prior to starting FII, she worked with multiple women’s rights NGOs in India like Breakthrough India and Point of View. She has also worked with Freedom House, a non-profit based in the USA, on a research report and advocacy campaign on gender-based violence online. She has represented FII at various international platforms like UN CSW, Rights Con, IGF, Amnesty Int, UN HRC, Stockholm Internet Forum, to name a few. She was featured by The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in a book on ‘Women in Tech’ for her work at FII and facilitated by Maneka Gandhi and Ministry of Women & Child Development, GoI as Web Wonder Woman. She has also been recognised by the Swedish Foreign Minister for her work on the gender gap on Wikipedia. Currently, Japleen oversees the strategic vision and growth at FII. She likes to garden, travel, hike, swim and cycle and is slowly moving towards a sustainable lifestyle.

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, a second-generation Fiji Island feminist working on the intersection of gender, media, communications, and peace by supporting the development and production of appropriate and accessible media.Currently she is the Chairperson and Gender Liaison of the Board of Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), the co-chair of Global Fund for Women Board of Directors, and a member of the Feminist Alliance on Rights, coordinated by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL).Sharon was a member of the UN Women-convened Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) on UNSCR1325+10 (2009-2010), the first UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group (2012-2014) and the High Level Advisory Group for the Global Study on UNSCR1325+15 (2014-2015). Between 2010 and 2012 she coordinated civil society input into the development of the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (2012-2015) as well as the GEAR campaign.She is a co-founder of FemLINKpacific, which emerged from the women-led Blue Ribbon Peace Vigil initiative in Fiji in 2000. Through her leadership FemLINK has developed a program infrastructure applying peacebuilding practice and a people’s communications for development approach to a regional women’s community media network. This has included supporting women’s participation and leadership at all levels of decision-making, including disaster risk reduction and humanitarian crises. The media network now supports the development and management of a range of media initiatives including the Pacific’s first women-led community radio network FemTALK 89FM as well as the innovative inter-operable Women’s Weather Watch information-communication system.

Eliza Garnsey is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in International Relations at the University of Cambridge and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College Cambridge. Her research focuses on art and visual culture in international relations and world politics, particularly in relation to human rights, transitional justice and conflict. Eliza’s current project focuses on visual jurisprudence; developing a new theory of art and justice.Eliza’s book, entitled The Justice of Visual Art: Creative State-Building in Times of Political Transition, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. The book demonstrates that there are aesthetic and creative ways to pursue transitional justice — ways which have the capacity to address identity divisions and exclusions in nations emerging from conflict.Eliza completed her PhD in International Relations at the University of Cambridge, where she was awarded the 2017 Lisa Smirl PhD Prize for best doctoral thesis in Politics and International Studies. She holds a Masters of International Affairs from the Australian National University, a Master of Studies in Art History and Visual Culture from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Art Theory (Honours) from the University of New South Wales.During our conversation, Eliza also mentions the following: Remain by Hoda Afshar: https://theartsjournal.net/2020/03/03/garnsey/ The Blue Dress by Judith Mason: https://16daysblogathon.blog/2020/12/02/day-ten-south-africas-blue-dress-art-as-an-alternative-record-of-sexual-and-gender-based-violence/ Freemuse: https://freemuse.org/about-us/ Phka Sla Dance ECCC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-6yTphGDuI

Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Nikita Jain, a journalist covering conflict, politics, women and civic issues among other things. She has pursued her undergraduate degree from Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), Delhi, and has a post-graduate diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. This episode was recorded on January 14, 2021.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Dominique Vidale-Plaza. Dominique worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2011 to 2019 in different capacities, focused on women and child protection and holistic (medical, psychosocial, legal + socio-economic) response to SGBV. She has worked at Panzi Hospital and Foundation under 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate: Dr. Denis Mukwege and is currently based in the Hague, managing international holistic-care projects, with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation. From 2012 – 2016 Dominique started a grassroots organisation focused on ensuring and advocating for access to quality health care for women and girls in rural communities. Though the organisation itself closed formally, she continues to engage and work with actors in rural DRC and elsewhere. She has worked with the UN peacekeeping mission and also UNICEF as a protection specialist and advisor and then later on as a freelance consultant with NGOs and international agencies, supporting project design, monitoring and evaluation. Dominique is passionate about working with local actors to strengthen their capacities to respond to the needs and priorities of their communities and working alongside women, girls, minority groups and survivors of sexual violence to seek justice for themselves and others.

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Rosemary Kalapurakal, the Director a.i. of the Sustainable Development Cluster (Inclusive Growth) of UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, and is the Lead Advisor on 2030 Agenda. Previously, she was the Deputy Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Manuela Lavinas Picq, a Loewenstein Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor in Political Science at Amherst College. She is a professor of International Relations at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador. Her research tackles Indigenous politics and sexuality in world politics and Latin America. She is the author of Vernacular Sovereignties: Indigenous Women Challenging World Politics (University of Arizona Press, 2018), Sexualities in World Politics (with Markus Thiel, Routledge 2015) and Queering Narratives of Modernity (with Maria Amelia Viteri, Peter Lang 2016). She has held research positions at Freie Universität (2015), the Institute for Advanced Study (2013), and the Woodrow Wilson Center (2005). Her publications appear in scholarly journals like Latin American Politics and Society, Cahiers du Genre and International Political Science Review. She contributes to international media outlets.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Dr J Ann Tickner, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the American University. She is also a Professor Emerita at the University of Southern California where she taught for fifteen years before moving to American University. Her principle areas of teaching and research include international theory, peace and security, and feminist approaches to international relations. She served as President of the International Studies Association from 2006-2007. Her books include, A Feminist Voyage Through International Relations, Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War Era, and Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving International Security.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Laura Sjoberg, an American feminist scholar of international relations and international security. Her work specializes in gendered interpretations of just war theory, feminist security studies, and women's violence in global politics. She served as the Homebase Editor for the International Feminist Journal of Politics (with Cynthia Weber and Heidi Hudson), from 2011 until 2017. She also held an editorial position at the International Studies Review, from 2015 until 2017, and an associate editorial position with the International Studies Review, from 2013 until 2015.

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Aditi Mukund, the founder and creator of Women in International Relations, a platform that seeks to amplify the voices of women in international relations, security, peace & conflict, and foreign policy; with a focus on India and the developing world. At present, she works at COVINTS, an Indian defense company, where her current roles include geopolitical risk analysis and the administration of the company’s academic and research center. She has a Master’s degree in International Studies, a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media with a major in Journalism, and a BA in English Literature and Psychology. Her areas of interest are interdisciplinary, and encompass non-traditional security, geopolitics of the global south, gender in international relations and development, and climate change & sustainability. 

We're two years old, and so much of our work has been possible because of our listeners and the amazing women we've been able to feature on the podcast. Listen to our special anniversary episode to know what three amazing women - Kamla Bhasin, Visaka Dharmadasa, and Laura Sjoberg - envision for a future of sustainable peace.

In this episode, Vaishnavi and Kirthi speak to Sahar Zareen Bandial, an Advocate of the High Courts based in Lahore, Pakistan. Sahar practices in a different range of areas. She has a keen interest in gender and law, and legislative drafting. Sahar co-authored the Anti-Rape Bill, which was passed into law as the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences Relating to Rape) Act in 2016, and the Punjab Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill, introduced before the Punjab Assembly in 2019. She has consulted for different government departments on legislative work, and also regularly writes on the subject of women’s rights and legal reform in various daily publications. Sahar has been involved in legal education for several years and is currently teaching as Adjunct Faculty at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, LUMS.

In this episode, Kirthi and Vaishnavi speak to Mandy Sanghera, an award winning philanthropist, a community consultant and global campaigner, often referred to as a global catalyst. In addition to being an international human rights activist and motivational Tedx speaker from the UK, Mandy has traveled world over, empowering and motivating others. With over three decades of experience, Mandy is an expert in various development-related fields. She has been driving innovation, building strategic partnerships, promoting advocacy and programming in the areas of human rights, gender equality, accountability and social justice globally. Mandy has helped hundreds of individuals and now reaches thousands through social media and her generous amount of worldwide TV appearances and public speaking engagements.