Brown Bag Lunch Series

Speaker: Mala Kumar, international development professional and Author of The Paths of Marriage

In the fields of international development, human rights, and humanitarian cooperation, LGBTQI employees in the United Nations system can face substantial risks in connection to their sexual orientation or gender identity. This can involve assignment to host countries where local conditions are hostile to LGBTQI staff and their families, which can involve threatened or actual physical, psychological, and/or emotional injury. In many such cases, LGBTQI employees face the difficult decision of having to either endure homophobic hostility in the workplace or forego professional advancement opportunities that would otherwise be available to non-LGBTQI employees. Mala Kumar, an international development professional, explores these challenges, as well as ideas for the development of possible solutions, based on her own personal and professional experiences. 

Mala Kumar is an international development professional who focuses on information communications technology, the intersection of which is known as ICT4D. She is also an internationally recognized author of the novel, The Paths of Marriage. Mala has worked for several agencies of the United Nations, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF in New York and throughout Africa. Mala holds a B.S. in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech (2007) and an M.A. in International Affairs from The New School (2010).

Kosher pizza will be served.

Photo credit: Tom Page/Creative Commons

Brown Bag Lunch Series