WASHINGTON, D.C.—February 23, 2021—The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) is pleased to announce that Rangita de Silva de Alwis will be affiliated with the Institute as a Hillary Rodham Clinton Fellow on Gender Equity 2021-2022.
Rangita is a renowned international women’s rights expert.
She is Senior Adjunct Professor of Law and Global Leadership and served as the Associate Dean of International Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School where she teaches international women’s rights and a policy lab on AI and bias, among other courses. She started the Global Women’s Leadership Project and Women, Law & Leadership Lab at the University of Pennsylvania under the auspices of UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to map the laws that regulate the status of women in the family.
“I’ve been familiar with Rangita’s impressive work for many years,” said Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, GIWPS Honorary Founding Chair. “Moreover, her commitment to advancing women’s rights has been recognized globally. I’m delighted that she will bring her considerable talents to Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security as an HRC Fellow.”
Rangita’s honorary appointments have included: Distinguished Advisor to Under Secretary General of the UN Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka; Leader-in-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program (2019-2021); Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and member of the World Bank High Level Task Force on Technology for Access to Justice. She previously served as the inaugural director of the Women in Public Service Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and inaugural director of the Women in Public Service Institute founded by Secretary Clinton at Wellesley College.
Rangita has published extensively on international women’s rights, including providing guidance on law reform and gender policies to governments and international organizations.
“Rangita is a proven leader in the field of human rights,” said Ambassador Melanne Verveer, GIWPS executive director. As we have just marked the 25th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women and its emphasis on women’s rights as human rights, it is especially fitting that we will have Rangita with us to engage with us on this topic even more significantly.”
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Sarah Rutherford
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Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace & Security seeks to promote a more stable, peaceful, and just world by focusing on the important role women play in preventing conflict and building peace, growing economies, and addressing global threats like climate change and violent extremism. We engage in rigorous research, host global convenings, advance strategic partnerships, and nurture the next generation of leaders. Housed within the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, the Institute is headed by the former U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer.