Short Biography of Award Recipient Gisela Burckhardt

She is a consultant, trainer, chairwoman of FEMNET, and author: A brief overview of the key milestones in the life of Gisela Burckhardt, the 5th recipient of the Anne Klein Women’s Award.

1. Independent development policy consultant and trainer

• Extended stays abroad in Nicaragua (1981–84) for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Pakistan (1985–86) on behalf of the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and Ethiopia (1999–2001) for the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV).
• For over 20 years, she has undertaken numerous short-term assignments as a development policy consultant in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

2. Chair of the Board of FEMNET e.V.

• FEMNET representative to the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). Within the German CCC, she leads the campaign targeting discount retailers, focuses on the situation of workers in Bangladesh and India, and is responsible for the area of CSR and government regulation.
• The Clean Clothes Campaign is a platform of various organizations (unions, NGOs) that advocate for the improvement of working conditions for textile workers worldwide (through urgent actions, such as in the case of the fires in Bangladesh and Pakistan in late 2012; through public relations work and pressure on German companies—as well as through dialogue with them—to ensure they fulfill their responsibility for human rights in the supply chain).
• Visits to textile factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Turkey, and Romania

3. Author (here is a selection)

• Burckhardt (ed.) (2010) The Discounters’ Whitewashing – Lawsuit Against Lidl’s Misleading Advertising
• Burckhardt (ed.) Corporate Social Responsibility—Myths and Measures, 2nd edition, 2013, Springer Gabler
• Burckhardt (2013) Cheap Clothing—and Its Price. In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 1/2013
• Burckhardt (Nov. 2012) Social Indicators in Sustainability Reports—Voluntary, Reliable, Good? In: WISO-Diskurs, Friedrich Ebert Foundation
• Burckhardt (2014) Deadly Chic. Luxury Brands, Cheap Fashion—Produced Under Inhumane Conditions
• Burckhardt (2015) From Primark to Hugo Boss: Unscrupulous Business Practices in *Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik* 1/2015