HEDY FRY (CANADA)

Dr. Hedy Fry was appointed the OSCE PA’s Special Representative on Gender Issues by PA President Petros Efthymiou in October 2010. 

As Special Representative, Fry follows the gender situation in the OSCE area and within the Organization. She regularly reports to the Assembly to keep the gender issue high on the agenda of OSCE parliamentarians. The Special Representative works in concert with the Gender Unit at the International Secretariat to develop best practices to promote gender mainstreaming within the OSCE, as well as in OSCE participating States.

Fry was elected to the Canadian parliament from Vancouver-Centre in 1993. From 1996 to 2002, she served as Canada’s Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women. Prior to being elected to Parliament, Fry was well-known in Canada as a panelist on the long-running national CBC television programme “Doctor, Doctor.” She previously practiced family medicine.

On 27 October 2022, Special Representative Fry launched the OSCE PA's informal gender network with an inaugural meeting that brought together a diverse group of parliamentarians for the first of a series of discussions on gender equality in the OSCE region. Through informal interactions among parliamentarians, the gender network aims to identify areas where gender progress has been made, along with the key obstacles preventing the more fulsome realization of gender equality in the OSCE region, as well as within the OSCE PA and other OSCE structures.

MANDATE:

• Follow the gender situation within the OSCE, including in the Institutions and Field Missions, and report to the President;

• Promote discussion of gender issues within the OSCE and in particular the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly;

• Develop, in co-operation with the Gender Unit at the International Secretariat, a more active gender profile of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly;

• Co-operate with the OSCE in the organization of relevant activities;

• Draft reports on specific issues.

Dr. Hedy Fry addresses the Opening Plenary Session, Annual Session 2023, Vancouver, 30 June 2023

Address on the Occasion of International Women's Day 2023

Address to the 19th Winter Meeting in Vienna, 21 February 2020

Report to the 27th Annual Session in Berlin, 10 July 2018