16 Facts About Meenakshi Gopinath

Meenakshi Gopinath is an Indian educationist, political scientist, writer and a former principal of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi.

Meenakshi Gopinath is the founder and incumbent director of the Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace, a non governmental organization promoting peace and socio-political leadership among the women of South Asia and a former member of the National Security Advisory Board, the first woman to serve the Government of India agency.

Meenakshi Gopinath has served as a member of the selection panel of the Lokpal, a legal body which has jurisdiction over the legislators and government officials of India.

Meenakshi Gopinath is a co-editor of the International Feminist Journal of Politics, the leading journal of feminist international relations and global politics.

Meenakshi Gopinath did her graduate studies at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi, rated by many as one of the premier centres of higher education in India, an institution she would later head as the Principal for a number of years.

Meenakshi Gopinath started her career as a member of faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru University but subsequently joined her alma mater, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and served the institution as its principal from 1988, till she superannuated from service in 2014.

Meenakshi Gopinath established the Centre for Peacebuilding at the college, reported to be the first such initiative at the undergraduate level of education in India.

Meenakshi Gopinath's contributions in Track II diplomacy in the Indian subcontinent involves Neemrana Peace Initiative and Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy and she is a member of both the organizations.

Meenakshi Gopinath is the first woman to be appointed to the NSAB where she served for four years till 2008.

Meenakshi Gopinath is a member of the governing councils of Coexistence International of Brandeis University and International Steering Committee of the Global Action for the Prevention of War, USA.

Meenakshi Gopinath is married to Rajiv Mehrotra, a renowned writer and film-television personality, and the couple lives in New Delhi.

Meenakshi Gopinath published her first book, Pakistan in Transition - Political Development and Rise to Power of Pakistan People's Party, a study on Pakistan polity, in 1975.

Meenakshi Gopinath published another book, Dialogic Engagement, a report of the proceedings of the Third Conflict Transformation Workshop, held in New Delhi in 2004.

Meenakshi Gopinath has published articles and has delivered several keynote addresses at seminars and conferences related to peace initiatives; Rescripting Security: Gender and Peacebuilding in South Asia, an address at Aberystwyth University, Florida in April 2009, A Bridge Not Far, a speech on WISCOMP's involvement in peace in Kashmir at Nanyang Technological University in October 2010, and Bryn Mawr's Commencement Address at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania in May 2013 were three such events.

Meenakshi Gopinath received another award, the same year, Qimpro Platinum Standard Award, for excellence in education.

Meenakshi Gopinath is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education and the Mahila Shiromani Award and the Delhi Citizen Forum Award.