Lauryn Oates, PhD
Lauryn Oates is currently Executive Director of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, which was founded in 1998 to advance the human right to education and make educational opportunities accessible to women and girls in Afghanistan. Their award-winning programs include Afghanistan's first and only open educational resource (OER) initiative, the Darakht-e Danesh Library, winner of a presidential citation from the American Library Association and the successful adult literacy education program Afghanistan Lowalee (Afghanistan Reads), recognized as a Literacy Best Practice honouree by the United States Library of Congress, among many others. She is also an Adjunct Professor at UBC, and teaches graduate students in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University. She has worked as a consultant with UNICEF, the World University Service of Canada, Global Rights, the Nike Foundation, Action Aid, USAID, and Womankind Worldwide, among others. She holds a BA Honours in International Development Studies from McGill University, an MA in Human Security and Peace building from Royal Roads University, and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from the University of British Columbia. She’s the recipient of a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded by the province of BC. The Right to Learn - Why Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, and Its Consequences, Should Matter To All Of Us
Lauryn Oates is currently Executive Director of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, which was founded in 1998 to advance the human right to education and make educational opportunities accessible to women and girls in Afghanistan. Their award-winning programs include Afghanistan's first and only open educational resource (OER) initiative, the Darakht-e Danesh Library, winner of a presidential citation from the American Library Association and the successful adult literacy education program Afghanistan Lowalee (Afghanistan Reads), recognized as a Literacy Best Practice honouree by the United States Library of Congress, among many others.
She is also an Adjunct Professor at UBC, and teaches graduate students in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University. She has worked as a consultant with UNICEF, the World University Service of Canada, Global Rights, the Nike Foundation, Action Aid, USAID, and Womankind Worldwide, among others. She holds a BA Honours in International Development Studies from McGill University, an MA in Human Security and Peace building from Royal Roads University, and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from the University of British Columbia. She’s the recipient of a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded by the province of BC.
The Right to Learn - Why Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, and Its Consequences, Should Matter To All Of Us
Lauryn Oates works to achieve social change and empowerment through equitable access to high quality education, focusing on those to whom the right to education is denied. This presentation will describe the current human rights crisis facing women and girls in Afghanistan, with a focus on their loss of the right to education. Background to what led to the current situation will be provided, but importantly, there will be discussion of what opportunities still exist to uphold the right to education, and how global citizens can support the ongoing struggle by women and girls to restore their right to learn.
This event is part of the Fall 2023 Speaker series.
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