Krishna Ahooja-Patel
Dr. Krishna Ahooja-Patel served for 25 years in the United Nations, including 10 years in the International Labour Office in Geneva, where she was editor of the journal Women and Work during the UN Decade for Women (1977-1986). From 1986 to 1990, she served as the deputy director of the UN International Institute of Research and Training for the Advancement of Women, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 1990, she was appointed to a prestigious chair of women's studies at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 1992, after working as a research scholar at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, she joined the International Development Studies Program at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, as a professor. In addition to this position, she is also director of the newly established Institute on Equity and Development at the Gujarat Vidyapith (India University of Learning) founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1922 in Ahmedabad. Her research focuses on women and employment, international migration, and development issues. Dr. Ahooja-Patel is not only a scholar but also an activist working with a number of international NGOs based in Geneva. She developed a program for the Woman's World Summit Foundation on priorities for women and children in development and disarmament and was president of the foundation and editor of its global newsletter Seventy-five Percent for five years. In 1998, she became the international representative of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, headquartered in Geneva, and since 2001, she has been the organization’s international president.