Women of Other Faiths
Using common values contained in their respective teachings, women of all religious traditions can work together and collaborate in many areas especially peace building and women’s empowerment. Collectively women of all faiths can learn from each other’s struggles and histories, while showing support for women’s religious leadership roles worldwide. Please contribute to this archive by suggesting women of all faiths to be featured through our recommendation form.
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Kavita N. Ramdas
I also think I do this work for my daughter. If I am inspired by my mother, I am also driven in some sense by the next generation. I believe very deeply that the choices we make and the opportunity to really achieve gender equality in the 21st Century are the kinds of decisions which our daughters will look back at and say, "I am able to do this because my mother was there, my mother did this, she stood up for it, she fought for it.
Known For: President & CEO, Global Fund for Women
Faith: Sikhism
Country: United States
About
Kavita N. Ramdas began her human rights career working with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1988 as a Program Officer for the Community Initiatives Program. In 1996, after she received her Master of Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, she took the position as president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women. This non-profit is the largest grant-making organization for international women’s rights, and since Ms. Ramdas has taken the helm, assets have risen from $6 million to $20 million, and the number of countries receiving grants has more than tripled. The Global Fund for Women promotes female leadership in creative development projects to improve local problems. In 2003, Kavita Ramdas pushed for the Fund’s first endowment campaign, “Now or Never”, which supports global women’s movements endangered by militarism, religious extremism, and oppressive gendered policies.
Ms. Ramdas serves on the Global Development Program Advisory Panel to the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, Council of Advisors on Gender Equity to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and the African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights Advisory Council. She has received several awards including the Council on Foundations Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking, 2010; Woman of Substance Award, African Women’s Development Fund, 2005; and 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Award, Women’s e-News, 2003.
