Political Economy; Gender Politics; International Organisations
Background & Qualification
BSc Hons Estate Management (1995), University Central England; MA International Relations (2011), Dublin City University. 17 years management consultancy in Australia, UK and Ireland. Founding member Ireland for Europe: civic campaign for Nice Treaty referendum rerun 2002. Co-founder Women for Europe: civic campaign, Lisbon Treaty referendum rerun 2009. Board member European Movement Ireland. Co-founder Women for Election: supporting women to get elected to political office. Winner Social Entrepreneurs Ireland 2011.
Doctoral Research
The impact of IMF Programmes upon women
Research Overview
As one of the world’s most influential organisations, the IMF has enormous capacity for influencing the policy direction of countries participating on its programmes. Researchers from across the social sciences have been engaged in explaining the effect of IMF programmes on a diverse range of outcomes, however, within this existing literature there is a noticeable absence of a gender focused, quantitative, cross-country examination of the effect of IMF programmes on women. It is this gap in the literature that this PhD project attempts to close. Substantial research points to IMF being an agent of economic liberalisation and the IMF itself has often affirmed the benefits of liberalization. Research has also borne out that that economic liberalization and economic growth has yielded positive outcomes for the socio-economic status of women in advanced industrialised democracies over the last one hundred years. Economic growth theory and research suggests that liberalisation has reduced gender inequalities and thus provides the theoretical framework for the expansion of research and the positing of further questions examining the relationship between liberal economic models and the socio-economic status of women set in the context of IMF conditionality.