Head of the Mona Unit of UWI’s Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS), Dr Leith Dunn has been named among the top 100 most influential persons globally in the areas of Gender Policy and Equality for 2019.

Dr Dunn was among the top 100 specialists selected from over 9000 nominations, including politicians, civil servants, academics and activists from all over the world. She is the only person from the Caribbean included on this year’s Top 100 list.

Nominations were considered by an international panel assembled by the EU-linked NGO called ‘Apolitical’. She was selected in the category of Academics, with other categories being in the areas of Government and Politics, Advocacy, Young Leaders and International non-government organizations (NGOs).

The selection panel from the Apolitical Network indicated that the list “celebrates the hard work being done on gender policy globally, and recognises high-profile icons and unsung heroes whose work is indispensable to creating a fairer world for everyone.”

Selection criteria for placement on the top list included past achievements that have affected change, national and international perception of the nominee’s influence or potential influence, significant speaking engagements as an indicator of profile in the field, and feedback from expert nominators.

Dr Leith Dunn has been an activist and scholar on issues of gender mainstreaming and women’s rights for over two decades. At UWI Mona she has led in the development of a gender policy, and was appointed Gender Focal Point for the campus in 2012.

As a leading lecturer and researcher, she presents academic papers on gender and development issues locally and globally, and appears frequently in national and regional media discussing those issues.

She earned her PhD from London School of Economics and Political Science, has also been active in international governance. She is a former Assistant Representative in Jamaica for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and was also Project Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean for the British charity Christian Aid.

Among others named on this year’s ‘Gender Equality Top 100 List’ are United States Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Former US First Lady, Michelle Obama; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet; Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde; Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi; former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gilliard, Executive Director of FEMNET, Memory Kachambwa and Co-founder, The Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates.

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About The UWI

For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.  For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)