In his lecture – Gender, Security and Inter-generational Conflict in Muslim Societies Post 9/11 – Professor Ahmed will argue strongly that the governments of countries caught up in the war on terror need to work alongside western nations to help women regain and strengthen their public and private roles. This advance can be achieved only by confronting the barriers that continue to prevent women from fulfilling their potential and by bolstering women’s rights.

In his lecture, Professor Ahmed will discuss the daunting problems that many Muslim women encounter on a daily basis in war-torn countries where communities collapse as a result of conflicts that take men away from home and threaten the often fragile security of the families left behind. Many women live with the prospect of having to migrate at any moment, with no notice, in order to protect their children and this turmoil results in a collapse of formal education. Professor Ahmed is able to draw on a range of personal and professional experiences in tackling these issues. He grew up in a Muslim family in northern Pakistan and was educated in a Catholic boarding school. He studied history and then anthropology at university in the UK. Joining the civil service in Pakistan, he became an administrator in the tribal areas in Pakistan which border Afghanistan, an experience that gave him an insight into the different perspectives of people living in remote rural areas where clan loyalties remain paramount.