Brenda Gael McSweeney
Nationalities: United States, Ireland
Education: Ph.D., Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy; M.A., Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy; B.A., Smith College
Areas of Expertise: Gender and International Development; Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Issues in West Africa and India; Poverty Eradication
Course Taught: HS 283f: Gender and Development
Website: www.gaels.net
Brenda Gael McSweeney served with the United Nations for thirty years in leadership positions. In Burkina Faso she oversaw UN Development Programme (UNDP) activities and carried out action research on women and development. After three years in policy at UNDP’s New York Headquarters, Dr. McSweeney headed the United Nations in Jamaica and The Bahamas, and UNDP cooperation with the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman and Bermuda. She led the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program as Executive Coordinator with oversight of 4,000 UNV specialists from over 130 countries engaged in grassroots development, humanitarian activities and peace-building worldwide. She served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative until mid-2003 in India, where the Government designated gender equality as the UN focal theme.
McSweeney at Boston University
Brenda was a Fulbright Scholar in Paris, and the recipient of prestigious awards from the Governments of Jamaica, Burkina, and Germany, also from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She teaches gender and international development at Boston University’s Women’s Studies Program. She serves on the Advisory Board of UNDP’s Regional Programme for Africa, leads a UNESCO/UNITWIN (University Twinning) on Gender, Culture and Development with Indian universities and NGOs, and launched a Women’s History Group in her Boston community.
Brenda currently manages Women’s History Initiatives in Boston, Burkina Faso and India. She is analyzing the impact of technology on workloads and female education in Burkina, and livelihoods programs in India. She is a “gender mainstreaming activist,” teaching Gender and Development. She is affiliated with the Sustainable International Development program at Brandeis’ Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
Update (January 2011): Brenda traveled to India and was the Chief Guest at an International Seminar on Gender Equality in Patiala, Punjab. While there, she updated her gender case study in Shantiniketan, West Bengal with Krishno Dey and Chandana Dey. This has just been e-published on UNESCO’s UNITWIN website. Her next adventure will be a WSRC research initiative in Ireland.
Update (May 2011): Brenda, in her capacity as initiator and Co-Coordinator of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture, and People-Centered Development, has been invited to become a member of the Advisory Board of the newly-created Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender!
Representative Publications
McSweeney, Brenda Gael, ed. “Another Side of India: Gender, Culture, and Development.” Paris: UNESCO, 2008.
McSweeney, Brenda Gael, ed. “Women’s History Initiatives.” Paris: UNESCO, 2010.
For More Information
Boston University Faculty Web Page
UNESCO/UNITWIN on Gender, Culture and Development
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This information was re-posted by permission from the Women’s Studies Research Center. The original profile can be viewed here.
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