Center for Women's Global Leadership Gets New Executive Director

From The Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

March 26, 2009 The Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) is pleased to announce the hiring of Radhika Balakrishnan as its new executive director. She will begin her duties on September 1, 2009, and will join the faculty as a full Professor in the Rutgers Department of Women's and Gender Studies as her academic affiliation. Dr. Balakrishnan comes to CWGL from Marymount Manhattan College, where she is a professor of Economics and International Studies. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from Rutgers University. Previously, she was a program officer in the Asia Regional Program of the Ford Foundation. She is currently the Board Chair of the U.S. Human Rights Network and the treasurer for the board of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. She is a prominent figure in the areas of women/gender, human rights, and development. Her publications include: Rethinking Macro Economic Strategies from a Human Rights Perspective with Diane Elson and Raj Patel, 2009; Why MES with Human Rights: Integrating Macro Economic Strategies with Human Rights, 2005; The Hidden Assembly Line: Gender Dynamics of Subcontracted Work in a Global Economy, 2001; and Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World's Religions, co-edited with Patricia Jung and Mary Hunt, 2000. She is currently working on a project applying human rights norms to evaluate and construct macro economic policy in the U.S. and Mexico. Citing her attraction to CWGL's work, Radhika stated, “My interests have always been to combine academic research with policy advocacy on women's rights issues with a focus on economics. For me research serves as a means to develop the capacity of activists around the world to respond to various challenges and to create new linkages and contexts for collaboration between disparate groups of change agents, seeding new dialogues and partnerships.” As Radhika begins her tenure at CWGL, founder and current executive director, Charlotte Bunch will begin her transition to a new role as Senior Scholar to the Global Center. In addition, Charlotte remains a Professor on the Rutgers faculty in Women's and Gender Studies, and will continue her work in the global women's movement. Charlotte commented, “I am excited about Radhika's coming leadership at CWGL, and believe that her activism and scholarship will provide an important evolution of the work we have done over the past twenty years. I will be working with her and the staff to ensure a smooth transition and to continue CWGL's vital role in the women's human rights movement.” CWGL was founded at Rutgers University in 1989 to develop and facilitate women's leadership for women's human rights and social justice worldwide. It has several affiliations within Rutgers including as a unit of the 8-member Institute for Women's Leadership consortium and as part of the School of Arts and Sciences International Programs.