On March 27, 2023, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Kazakhstan, Ms Kathy Leach, delivered a guest lecture on the topic “Women in Diplomacy” at NU. The meeting was held for the university community: students, faculty and staff. The lecture topic attracted much student attention, especially from the School of Sciences and Humanities. Ms Kathy Leach, in her lecture, shared her story of building a professional career in the diplomatic service, her life experience, and the challenges she faced because of gender stereotypes.
Ms Kathy Leach started her career at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 2000 as a Desk Officer in the European Union Trade and Development Policy Section in the Europe Directorate. During these years in the UK, out of more than 260 positions of Ambassadors, only about six were women. The country set itself to the task of equalizing the gender imbalance and began to take targeted measures to improve the situation and combat the prejudices of the past that women were less suitable for the diplomatic service. In an interview after the lecture, the Ambassador noted the unique role of women in mediation processes to achieve a lasting, positive world and advance sustainable development goals. The diplomat emphasized the involvement of the NU community in promoting gender equality and equal opportunities for all.
«The university environment is the perfect place to promote gender equality because it is where women and men study together on equal terms, where people are talking about the future, where people forming their ideas, so I think it’s a perfect place to entrench ideas about gender equality and think on how people are going to take on these ideas in their careers», the Ambassador said.
Ms Kathy Leach wished good luck to each student of NU and called them brilliant students who want development for themselves and their country and are working on it.
Ms Kathy Leach has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan and started her posting in August 2021. Previously she was Deputy Director, Constitution and Devolution, Europe Directorate in the FCDO. From 2012-15 Ms Leach served as Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia. She is married and has three children. She speaks Russian and French, has learnt Japanese and Armenian, and is currently learning Kazakh.
