Director of the Division of Gender Equality, UNESCO
Saniye Gülser Corat is the Director of the Division for Gender Equality in the Office of the Director-General at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. She was the pioneer in making gender equality a priority at UNESCO and has been with the Organization since September, 2004. She has a wealth of experience in academia, international development and the private sector, and she is also a TEDx Speaker. Before taking up her position at UNESCO, Ms. Corat pursued a dual career as a professor at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa and as a senior international development advisor for the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), International Development Research Centre, Status of Women – Canada, Asian Development Bank, several UN agencies (UNDP and UNCTAD) as well as for a select number of civil society organizations, planning, managing and evaluating programs and projects in over 30 countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Corat was also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an international development consulting company in Canada for almost 10 years.
She holds a B.A Honours degree from Boğazici University (Istanbul, Turkey), M.A. degrees from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). She pursued doctoral studies at the Political Science Department of Carleton University and post-graduate degrees from Harvard University Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.