The 2015 speaker was Margaret “Peg” Snyder. Her lecture, “Four Decisive Decades: The Birth and Growth of a Global Women’s Movement,” marked the fortieth anniversary of the first global women’s conference in Mexico City and the subsequent founding of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), as well as the formal founding of the African Studies Association’s Women’s Caucus. Margaret “Peg” Snyder is founding director of UNIFEM, now expanded as UN Women. She served as director from 1978-89. Her many contributions to development work include co-founding the African Centre for Women, UNECA, and serving as its director from 1971 to 1978, co-founding the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund, and serving as treasurer of the Green Belt Movement International. After UN retirement she was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University (1992-93) and a Fulbright scholar in Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University (1995-96). Her authored or co-authored books include Transforming Development: Women, Poverty and Politics (a history of UNIFEM), African Women and Development: A History, and Above the Odds: a Decade of Change for Ugandan Women Entrepreneurs. Her PhD is from the University of Dar es Salaam. Peg Snyder has been a long-time supporter of the Women’s Caucus, and the Women’s Caucus’ annual Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize is co-named in her honor.

Next year’s luncheon speaker will be announced later this year.