Publisher's Synopsis
Never one to call herself a feminist, Dame Anne Warburton was, never the less, one of the 20th century's most significant female leaders who broke through the glass ceiling of prejudice in Britain's most conservative corner of the Civil Service, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to serve her country in one of the highest offices and ceaselessly strive to improve opportunities for all women throughout her life. Dame Anne was Britain's first female ambassador, appointed in 1976. She commanded great respect from all quarters, and secured the career pathways for women following in her footsteps. After a successful diplomatic career, she became President of Lucy Cavendish College (a young college for women, particularly those of mature age) at Cambridge University. In 1993, whilst presiding over Lucy Cavendish College, Dame Anne was asked by the Prime Minister, John Major, to lead a mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, then in the mist of a civil war resulting from the fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia. Her mission was to investigate reports of the systematic rape of Bosnian Muslim women and determine if they were part of an ethnic cleansing campaign. Dame Anne's substantive report on the atrocities became the keystone for UN Security Council Resolution 798 that recognized and condemned the rape of women in a conflict, determining these acts for the first time as war crimes and thereby opening the door to prosecution of the perpetrators. On home shores, Dame Anne served on the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Nolan Committee, designed to reduce sex discrimination in the work place and sleaze in politics, respectively. This book examines her life from childhood experiences as a wartime refugee in the United States, to those individuals who influenced her during formative years, her career before and after the Foreign Office and the various charities and interests that were fortunate to benefit from her support and attention. The book ends with eloquent and affectionate tributes from her friends, colleagues and family that testify to a long and useful life, in which Dame Anne always upheld a standard of excellence and absolute integrity.
