VU professor elected to UN gender equality committee

Professor Dalia Leinartė, director of Vilnius University's Gender Studies Center, was elected to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at a UN session in New York on Tuesday.

The Social Security and Labor Ministry said 24 candidates were running for 11 positions in the committee, which had never included a Lithuanian member so far.

Prof. D. Leinartė is an expert in gender equality and enjoys recognition in Lithuania and the rest of the world, heading and coordinating various projects, known for her academic activities in areas of women's rights, gender equality and family history. She has authored and edited six monographs and other publications.

In 2010, Leinartė participated in the drafting of the UN Security Council resolution on women, peace and security cooperation plan, she has been a member of the task force on gender equality of the Community of Democracies since 2010 and a rapporteur on gender equality at the European Union (EU) and international conferences.

The committee's mandate is very specific: it watches over the progress for women made in those countries that are the states parties to the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The committee monitors the implementation of national measures to fulfill this obligation.