Advancing Women and Diversity in Global Democracies: Opportunities and Challenges

An educator, advisor and activist, Gabrielle Bardall Ph.D. has worked to advance democracy and human rights in over 60 countries worldwide over the past two decades. She has advised and trained diplomats, legislators and civil servants from Parliament Hill to Capitol Hill. Recognizing that "democracy" as we know it and support it around the world often replicates structures of oppression, she started her own consulting firm in 2019, Herizon Democracy (herizondemocracy.org) to bring feminist vision to international democracy assistance. She has advised the US National Security Council, State Department and NATO on feminist approaches to democracy support and offered testimony to Canada's Parliament. Bardall has worked with leading organizations in realizing this vison, including the Carter Center, the Council of Europe, International IDEA, the InterParliamentary Union, UN Women, the UN Department of Peace Operations, the UN Development Program and the United States Institute for Peace. In 2021-2022, Bardall served as Vice President of External Relations at Canada’s Parliamentary Centre. A prolific author and public speaker, she holds degrees from McGill University (BA), Sciences-Po Paris (MA) and l’Université de Montreal (PhD). She received the American Political Science Association’s Congressional Fellowship and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Doctoral Scholarship for her work in comparative democratization. Dr. Bardall lives on the South Shore of Nova Scotia with her husband and toddler twins.