On this day in ...... 1939 (70 years ago today), Mary Shanthi Dairiam (right) was born in Malaysia. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English Literature from the University of Madras, India, and then, decades later in 1991, an M.A. in Gender and Development from the University of Sussex in England. (photo credit) She served as Executive Director of International Women Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific from 1993 to 2004, and since has been active in other NGOs, in governmental organizations, and in the U.N. system. A sampling: member of the CEDAW Committee, 2005-2008, CEDAW Committee Rapporteur 2007-2008; member of the Gender Equality Task Force of the U.N. Development Programme; member, National Advisory Council on Women, Malaysia. Her publications include The Practice of Child Marriage in South Asian Countries: A Gross Form of Gender Based Discrimination and a Violation of Human Rights (2006).
(Prior September 17 posts are here and here.)
