Margaret C. Snyder

Margaret C. "Peg" Snyder (January 30, 1929 – January 26, 2021) was an American social scientist with a special interest in women and economic development, particularly in Africa. She was the founding director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which was absorbed into UN Women in 2011. She was also a co-founder of Women's World Banking and of the African Training and Research Centre for Women.

Biography Snyder was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1929. As a young woman, she attended the College of New Rochelle, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1950, and the Catholic University of America, where she received a master's degree in sociology in 1952. In 1953 she became dean of women for Le Moyne College in Syracuse, a position she held for eight years.

A sabbatical-year in Africa in 1961 changed the course of her career. Invited by the Kenya African Women's Association to work with African women in Kenya, she initially assisted the "Kennedy Airlifts" that brought students to American colleges in preparation for Kenyan independence in 1964. Kenyan women, led by Margaret Kenyatta (daughter of Jomo Kenyatta, who would be the nation's first president) then sought her assistance with planning a Kenya Women's Seminar to consult women from throughout the country about what roles women should play in an independent Kenya. After two national seminars, Tanganyika and Uganda were included in an East African Women's Seminar.

Snyder returned to Tanzania (the new name for the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar) in 1970 to complete her research while tutoring students. In 1971 she received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

In 1978 Snyder accepted a position with the United Nations, New York, to be the first director of the Voluntary Fund for the UN Decade for Women (VFDW), later renamed the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Once programs such as these were evaluated as effective, many were adopted or replicated by major funds including the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. Two types of activities pioneered by UNIFEM for the whole UN system were direct support to national non-governmental organizations rather than solely to governments, and creation of revolving loan funds owned by community groups. Initially administratively located in the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs,

Selected books Margaret Snyder is the author or co-author of several books, including: Margaret C. Snyder and Mary Tadesse. African women and development: A history. Witwatersrand University Press, 1995. . Margaret Snyder. Transforming Development: Women, poverty and politics - UNIFEM's First Fifteen Years. London: Intermediate Technology Publ., 1995. . Margaret Snyder. Women in African Economies: From Burning Sun to Boardroom. Fountain Publishers, 2000. . Margaret Snyder with Sarah Kitakule. Above the Odds: A decade of change for Ugandan women entrepreneurs. Africa World Press, NJ, 2011.

Chapters in books, and journal articles 'Unlikely Godmother: the UN and the Global Women's Movement' in Ferree, Myra and Aili Mari Tripp, Global Feminism. New York University Press, NY, 2006. Walking My Own Road: How a Sabbatical Year Led to a United Nations Career, Fraser, Arvonne and Irene Tinker, in Developing Power. The Feminist Press, NY, 2004. Women’s Agency in the Economy: Business and Investment Patterns and Research on Women 1986-2001: an Overview in The Women’s Movement in Uganda: History, Challenges and Prospects. 2002. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers. Women and African Development, bibliographic essay, CHOICE Journal of academic libraries. February 2000. Malcolm after Mecca: East Africa 1994, in Commonweal., 18 Dec. 1992.