Dr Georgina Waylen of the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom was a special guest of the African Gender Institute (AGI) last week, speaking to staff and students on her ongoing research into gender and transitions to democracy.

In her talk, Waylen, a respected authority on the topic of gender and the politics of transition within the Third World (notably Latin America), shared some thoughts from a book she is putting together on the subject. In this volume, she plans to find an analytical key with which to answer the question: what difference women do make to the processes of transition, and what impact do such transitions have on women and gender relations?

Although last week's stopover was her first at UCT, Waylen is familiar to a number of students and staff within the AGI. Two of her books - including the 1996 Gender in Third World Politics - appear on the reading list of the institute's graduate programme.

What do we know? Guest speaker Dr Georgina Waylen tackled the issue of gender and democratic transitions in a seminar of the African Gender Institute last week.

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