Valeria Esquivel to Join UNRISD as Gender Research Coordinator

UNRISD is pleased to announce the appointment of Valeria Esquivel to lead the Institute’s research programme in the area of Gender and Development. In her new role, she will be responsible for conceptualizing, developing and managing research on gender-related issues of concern for the UN system and other stakeholders within the framework of the UNRISD Research Agenda. She will take up her post in August 2014.

“I am thrilled at the prospect of joining UNRISD, and the UNRISD community in Geneva”, she said, when the appointment was confirmed. “The Gender Programme has produced international comparative research of outstanding quality and of great influence in shaping gender equality agendas. I hope to rise to the challenge and steer it to continue to do so in the future".

Valeria Esquivel has been an Associate Professor of Economics at the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento in Argentina since 2012. In the same year she also entered CONICET, the Argentine National Research Council, as an Adjunct Researcher in recognition of her research and publications and, in particular, her work on Care Workers in Argentina.

She will bring a valuable set of assets to UNRISD, including an academic career steeped in a multidisciplinary approach, an extensive publications record, and networking skills that span the academic and policy spheres. As an internationally recognized feminist economist, she works across the fields of labour markets and social policy, notably on issues of unpaid work, time-use and care. Her extensive networks in the Latin America region and beyond include memberships in the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), the International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR) of which she is a member of the Executive Board, and Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). Her experience in the international sphere includes consultancies for, among others, ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, WIEGO and Oxfam International, as well as participation in expert groups including, recently, “Structural and Policy Constraints in Achieving the MDGs for Women and Girls” organized by UN Women in 2013, and “Women’s Economic Empowerment, Labour Markets, Entrepreneurship and Inclusive Growth” convened by IDRC and DFID in 2012.

After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires, Valeria Esquivel continued her postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom, obtaining her Master’s degree and PhD in Economics from the University of London.


Photo: Esteban Widnicky