“Dressmaker of Khair Khana” Author at ICRW

Author and ICRW board member Gayle Tzemach Lemmon will discuss and sign her best-selling book, “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana.”

Author and International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) board member Gayle Tzemach Lemmon will discuss and sign her New York Times best-seller, “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on May 12 at ICRW in Washington, D.C.

Published in March, “Dressmaker” tells the true story of Kamila Sidiqi, a young Afghan woman who opened a small dressmaking business in Kabul while under Taliban rule. At the time, the regime severely restricted women’s lives; they were confined to their homes, banned from school and had to be escorted by a man if they ventured outside. It was in this environment that 19-year-old Sidiqi had to figure out how to support her five siblings after her father and brother were forced to flee Kabul. Her solution: She started a clandestine dressmaking business, which eventually grew to employ and provide a steady wage to 100 women in her neighborhood.

“Dressmaker” is Lemmon’s first book. After working for nearly a decade as a journalist at ABC News, Lemmon in 2004 left to pursue a master’s degree at Harvard Business School. She met Sidiqi while conducting research for case studies on women entrepreneurs in war zones including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Rwanda. Today, Lemmon is deputy director of the women and foreign policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Lemmon’s book signing will be the first of two ICRW events in which she will participate. On June 13, Lemmon will moderate a discussion at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the challenges to and opportunities for ending violence against women. The event is the second installment of ICRW’s Passports to Progress 35^th anniversary discussion series.

Lemmon’s May 12 appearance at ICRW is being co-hosted with Vital Voices, a global nongovernmental organization committed to advancing the status of women around the world.

To attend, please RSVP by May 10 to [email protected]. Copies of “Dressmaker” will be available for purchase at the event.

Gillian Gaynair is ICRW’s writer/editor.