When being a woman might not feel safe ... with Kirthi Jayakumar - Episode 96

Kirthi Jayakumar is a feminist researcher and lawyer from Chennai, India. She founded and runs The Gender Security Project, one of the few WPS centres in the global south, which works at the cusp of gender, security, peace, and conflict through research, reportage, and documentation. Kirthi coded an app for survivors of gender-based violence called Saahas, which works as a web and mobile app. She taught herself to code and created a web app, a mobile app and a Facebook ChatBot to support survivors of gender-based violence across 196 countries, and to assist bystander intervention. Her areas of interest include gender studies, peace and conflict research, security studies, and international human rights and humanitarian law. Kirthi was a Commonwealth Scholar at CTPSR, Coventry University and graduated with an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies. She also holds an MA in Sustainable Peace in a Contemporary World from UPEACE and a BALLB (Hons.) from SOEL, Chennai. She also formerly founded and ran the Red Elephant Foundation, a civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality through storytelling, advocacy and digital interventions. Kirthi is a Vital Voices Engage Fellow, and a former Vital Voices Lead Fellow. In this podcast we talk about - The Gender Security Project - Gender violence and its ramifications - Peace building & Peace builder - Harmony through happiness