Dalia Leinartė (born October 25, 1958) is a member and former Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Professor at Vytautas Magnus University, and Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. In 2018, Apolitical selected her as one of the 100 most influential people in gender policy around the world.[1]
Professor Dalia Leinartė | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women | |
| In office 2017–2018 | |
| Member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women | |
| Assumed office 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 25, 1958 |
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Alma mater | Vilnius University |
| Occupation | UN expert, historian, author |
Education
Leinarte was born in 1958, Trakai, Lithuania. In 1981, she graduated from Vilnius University and earned her PhD in History at Vytautas Magnus University in 1996.[2] She was a Fulbright Scholar at State University of New York at Buffalo.[2][3] In 2005, she won an International Scholarship of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).[2] In 2009, Leinarte became full professor at Vilnius University.
Career
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Leinarte became actively involved in the promotion of women's rights and gender equality. Leinarte and her colleague are the first academics to have founded a non-governmental organization for women in Lithuania.[4] The same organization, "Praeities Pėdos" (Traces of the Past), is also among the first Lithuanian organizations to introduce the notion of "women victims of trafficking".[4] Until 2017, she was Director of the Gender Studies Center at Vilnius University, and since 2000, she is a consultant of the Inter-Ministerial Commission on Equal Opportunities of Women and Men, Lithuania. Leinarte drafted the Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Adopted, at the Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing 1995 and participated in drafting the reports of Lithuania to CEDAW.[4]
In 2007–2009 Leinarte was Visiting Professor at Idaho State University.
In 2012, Leinarte became the first expert from Easter European country to be elected to the CEDAW Committee.[5] After serving two years as Vice-Chair, she was elected as Chair of the CEDAW Committee in 2017.[2]
Since 2014 she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.[2]
Since 2018 she is Chair of the CEDAW Committee's Working Group on General Recommendation Trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration.
Books
Dalia Leinarte. Family and the State in Soviet Lithuania: Gender, Law and Society
“In this book, Dalia Leinarte presents the first detailed study of family policy and gender relations in Soviet Lithuania. Based on both meticulous archival research and sensitive oral history, the work is an impressive achievement. It effectively integrates political, legal, social, and cultural perspectives to produce an analytical survey that is wide-ranging, perceptive and insightful. It is a story of legal principles betrayed, intractable contradictions between policy intentions and outcomes, moral confusion and controversy, and everyday struggles for sufficiency and security. Engagingly and accessibly written, it will be of the greatest interest to scholars and to students at all levels in Soviet and East European studies, social history, women's history and gender studies.” ―Nick Baron, Associate Professor of History, University of Nottingham, UK
“Written by a leading feminist scholar, this meticulously researched and clearly written book explores gendered Soviet family policies and the ways they were experienced. Drawing on a wealth of material, including archival sources, letters and newspapers, it traces the construction of “a New Soviet Woman” in Lithuania and related issues, such as Soviet marriage and divorce, battles with tradition, and the Soviet understanding of gender equality. This outstanding, path-breaking work is essential reading for anyone interested in gender issues in the USSR.” ―Dovile Budryte, Professor of Political Science, Georgia Gwinnett College, USA
Dalia Leinarte. The Lithuanian Family in its European Context, 1800-1914. Marriage, Divorce and Flexible Communities
The book investigates marriage and divorce in Lithuania in the period from 1800 to 1914 focusing on the interaction between authorized marital behaviour and independent individual choices. Lithuania was incorporated into Russia in 1795 and was part of the Tsarist Empire until 1918. How did then under often very restrictive laws and policies – manorial rights and serfdom up to 1861, pervasive role of the Catholic Church and absence of civil marriage and divorce, in addition to deep rooted customary practices - women and men manage to normalize and solve the problems of their family life? The book reveals that it was possible through the adoption of unofficial, and often illegal, solutions. Women and men at all levels of the nineteenth-century Lithuanian society employed unsanctioned marital behavior, such as cohabitation, bigamy and levirate, among others, in order to respond to the external obstacles that had an impact on their family life, including transmission of inheritance and household structure. The book asks if the history of cohabitation followed different paths in Western and Eastern Europe? Was cohabitation in Western Europe caused by inability to meet the costs of a wedding, while in Eastern Europe cohabiting couples could not comply with the exigencies of official marriage law?
Reviews: Virgil I. Krapauskas, Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 49 (03), July, 2018; Jolita Sarcevičienė, Lithuanian Historical Studies, vol. 22, issue 1, 2018, p. 187-19
Dalia Leinarte. Adopting and Remembering Soviet Reality. Life Stories of Lithuanian Women, 1945–1970
Following the Second World War, Soviet ideology gained exceptional power over historical memory in the newly incorporated Baltic States – Lithuania included. There, the Soviets erased collective memory by renaming cities and streets, transforming peasant farms into Soviet kolkhozes, and passing off Soviet rituals for Lithuanian national traditions. Not only did the Socialist State change the toponomy and geography of pre-war Lithuania, it also strove to shape the values, beliefs and identities of the Lithuanian people. Though the regime was doomed, its influence on the subjective experience was substantial.
Adopting and Remembering Soviet Reality: Life Stories of Lithuanian Women, 1945–1970 consists of ten interviews and two introductory essays: “Conducting Interviews in the Post-Soviet Space” and “Women, Work, and Family in Soviet Lithuania”. The book recounts the experiences of Lithuanian women in the postwar years, during the so-called “Khrushchev Thaw” and the beginning of the “Stagnation Era”. It explores the strategies these women used to reconcile the demands of work and family, as well as their perceptions of gender roles, marriage and romantic love in Soviet society.
Reviews: Diana T. Kudaibergenova, Ab Imperio, vol. 4, 2014, p. 425 – 427; Timothy Ashplant, Aspasia, vol. 6, 2012, p. 206-208; Aili Aarelaid-Tart, Journal of Baltic Studies, 42:4, 2011, p. 564-567; Amanda Swain, SLOVO, Vol. 23 No. 2, Autumn, 2011; Irene Elksnis Geisler, Oral History Forum, vol. 31, 2011; Krapauskas Virgil, Lituanus, vol. 57, issue 3, 2011, p. 81; Andrea Peto, Baltic Worlds, October 2011, p. 36-37; Illès Polgari, Seminaire Histoire de la Famille, avril 2011
Awards and honors
- (2019)The Cross of Officer of the Order for Merits to Lithuania, bestowed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.[6]
- (2018) Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS), Honorable mention for her book The Lithuanian Family in Its European Context, 1800-1914: Marriage, Divorce and Flexible Communities[7]
- (2018) Gender Equality Top 100. The Most Influential People in Global Policy[1]
- (2012) Women Inspiring Europe Award (European Institute for Gender Equality)[4]
- (2010) Vilnius University Rector’s Scientific Excellence Award[8]
- (2005–2006) American Association of University Women, Research Scholar grant
- (2002-2003) FULBRIGHT Scholar grant, State University of New York[8]
- (1998) International Women’s Solidarity Award, Norway[8]
Books and selected articles
Books:
- Family and the State in Soviet Lithuania: Gender, Law and Society. London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
- The Lithuanian Family in its European Context, 1800-1914: Marriage, Divorce and Flexible Communities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
- Adopting and Remembering Soviet Reality: Life Stories of Lithuanian Women, 1945–1970. Amsterdam, New York: Brill, 2010
Selected articles:
- Dalia Leinarte. Cohabitation in imperial Russia: the case of Lithuania // The History of the Family 17(1): 16-3, 2012
- Dalia Leinarte. Nationalism and family ideology: The case of Lithuania at the turn of the 20th century, 2006
Chapters, edited books
- Cohabitation in Europe: a Revenge of History? Introduction & eds. Dalia Leinarte and Jan Kok. New York: Routledge, 2017
- Dalia Leinarte, Kelly Hignett, Melanie Ilic , Corina Snitar and Eszter Zsofia Toth. Women’s Experiences of Repression in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, London: Routledge, 2017
- The Soviet Past in the Post-Soviet Present, Introduction and eds Melanie Ilic, Dalia Leinarte. New York: Routledge, 2015
Weblinks
Official website: https://dalialeinarte.com/
References
- ^ a b "Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People In Global Policy". Apolitical. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Biographical data form of candidates to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women" (PDF). UN Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "Professor Dalia Leinarte - Lucy Cavendish". Lucy Cavendish College - University of Cambridge. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Dalia Leinartė". European Institute for Gender Equality. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ "Profesorė Dalia Leinartė Tarnybai pristatė CEDAW komiteto darbą | Lygybė". Profesorė Dalia Leinartė Tarnybai pristatė CEDAW komiteto darbą | Lygybė (in Lithuanian). Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentės apdovanotų asmenų bazė. http://grybauskaite1.lrp.lt/ew/lt/prezidento_veikla/apdovanojimai/apdovanojimai_256.html | Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ "Three Books Receive AABS Honorable Mentions | AABS". aabs-balticstudies.org. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Prof. Dalia Leinarte - Candidate of the Republic of Lithuania to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)" (PDF). Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations in New York. Retrieved June 12, 2019.