Events

Events

Mahnaz Afkhami is frequently engaged as a speaker on a range of topics, including human rights, participatory leadership, women and peace, women’s political participation, the global women’s movements, and the fight for women’s rights in Iran.

Women in Iran: Past, present, and future – A double book talk with Mahnaz Afkhami and Mona Tajali

Date: November 13 2022 Time:11:30AM PST Location: Online Description: Mahnaz Afkhami is the author of Women in Exile and editor of Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World. Her new memoir The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement explores her journey from English professor to the first and only Minister of Women’s Affairs in Iran, to her life in exile in the United States following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Other publications from Afkhami include Claiming Our Rights; Toward A Compassionate Society; and In the Eye of the Storm: Women and the Law in Iran. Afkhami’s publications have been translated in several languages and distributed internationally. She is the founder and president of the Women’s Learning Partnership, a global partnership of twenty autonomous women’s rights organizations in the Global South that promote women’s leadership and human rights that creates …


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Woman, Life, Freedom: Iran & Revolutions Led by Women

Date: November 7 2022 Time: 4:00PM EST Location:  Georgetown University Eric E. Hotung International Law Building 550 1st St NW Washington, DC 20001 Description: Join special guest Mahnaz Afkhami for a discussion on her new book and the Mahsa Amini protests. Learn how we can support the human rights movement in Iran. Dean William Treanor will introduce the program, the discussion will be led by Georgetown Law students and closing remarks will be given by Associate Dean Madhavi Sunder. Refreshments will be provided and book copies will be available for sale. Click here to view the event page


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YPO Live – Iran: Is It Difference This Time

Date: October 27 2022 Time: 11:00AM EST Location: Online Description: In a closed door session for the Young Presidents Organization, Mahnaz Afkhami joined a panel of Iranian leaders Paul Saulem and Afshin Molavi to discuss the history of organizing for rights and freedom in Iran.


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Mahnaz Afkhami’s The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement – with Azar Nafisi

Date: October 16 2022 Time: 3:00PM EST Location:  Politics and Prose 5015 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008 Description: In The Other Side of Silence, a skilled storyteller who has spent her life in two worlds, Mahnaz Afkhami shares her unexpected and meteoric rise from unassuming English professor to a champion of women’s rights in Iran; the clash between Western feminists and those from the Global South; and the challenges of international women’s rights work during the so-called war on terror. Her journey through exile shows what it takes to launch and sustain a worldwide grassroots movement: funding, an ever-expanding network, conferences, education, and decades of hard work requiring individuals and organizations to persevere despite ongoing wars, humanitarian disasters, and climate change. Told with humor, honesty, and compassion, Afkhami’s remarkable story illuminates the possibility of bringing opportunity and choice to women across the world. Born in Kerman, Iran, Mahnaz Afkhami …


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Digital Film Launch: It’s Up to Us

Date: Friday, June 12, 2020 Time: 11:00 am-12:30 pm Description: Around the world people are facing unprecedented challenges to their health, security, and human rights. The recent coronavirus pandemic has revealed that the current structures of power are unable to respond to current and new crises, and in fact often exacerbate these crises. WLP’s newest documentary, It’s Up to Us, explores the interconnected threats to human security, including conflict, climate change, economic inequality, discriminatory family laws, and gender inequality, and offers solutions based on human rights and equitable decision-making. The film screening is followed by a panel with women leaders who discuss the ways in which women are impacted and how women’s leadership can help solve the world’s most pressing issues. Panel of distinguished speakers moderated by Pat Mitchell, Editorial Director for TEDWomen The launch will be livestreamed and later archived for future viewing


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Gender, Families, and Climate Justice Panel and Discussion at SAIS

Date: November 5th, 2019 Time: 4:00- 6:00pm Location: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Kenney-Herter Auditorium, 1740 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington D.C, 20036 Description: Climate justice needs women’s voices, experience, and leadership. Women’s Learning Partnership is bringing together thought-leaders on climate justice and women’s rights to discuss the role of women and youth in confronting the climate crisis. Women have suffered the greatest from natural disasters, loss of arable land, and forced migration, and have been on the forefront of working towards sustainable solutions. Join us for a lively and thought-provoking discussion and poetry reading about the nexus between the fight for climate justice and addressing political, social, and economic inequalities. Keynote Speaker: Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Panel of distinguished speakers moderated by Musimbi Kanyoro, WLP Board Chair and Former President of Global Fund for Women “Lifelines: The Poetry …


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2019 International Trailblazer Award, Celebrating Iranian Women’s Leadership

Time: 6:00 PM Location: Royal United Service Institute, London, UK Description: “As Iran’s regime continues to provoke international debate, the country is going through one of the darkest moments in history with respect to human rights and, in particular, women’s rights. This event showcased the long tradition of Iranian women’s leadership and the diversity of ways women inside Iran and in the diaspora have been committed to women’s rights.” The 2019 Honorees are Mahnaz Afkhami, First Iranian Minister for Women’s Affairs (1975 – 1978) and Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate and Human Rights Champion. Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security, Nazenin Ansari, Managing Editor of Kayhan London, and Shéhérazade Semsar de Boisséson, CEO of POLITICO Europe, cordially invite you to a celebration of Iranian Women’s Leadership. Additional speakers include Executive Director of Justice for Iran, Shadi Sadr, BBC representative, Pooneh Ghoddosi and Lawyer …


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Feminist Climate Forum

Time: 1:15 PM Location: Livestream, New York City Description: The existential urgency of climate change and its impact on human survival requires mutual learning and global action. Women are most affected by environmental destruction and are best situated to provide solutions, yet least involved in decision-making. At this convening, Women’s Learning Partnership and the American University of Beirut, will bring together high-level thought leaders from women’s rights and youth organizations with academia, policymakers, interfaith communities, media, and the arts to initiate a much-needed intersectional conversation on the connections between climate justice, gender equality, sustainable development, and peace. The Forum is expected to result in individual and organizational initiatives to mobilize people – especially women and youth at the grassroots – to address the effect of climate change on the future of humanity. The dialogue will begin with opening remarks by Mahnaz Afkhami, President and CEO of WLP, followed by a keynote …


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Women Deliver 2019 Conference

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre East, 999 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 3C1, Canada Room 110  Description: Women Deliver is the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women. The conference incorporates keynote speeches, social enterprise pitches, workshops and fill festivals, among other interactive events. Notable speakers for the 2019 Conference will be Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde, Former Executive Director of the While House Council on Women and Girls, Tina Tchen, Co-Founder of the Malala Fund, Ziauddin Yousafzai. Mahnaz Afkhami will join a group of panelists from Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), Solidarity is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J),  the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Cepia Cidadania, to discuss how research-based advocacy can support the reform of laws and practices that perpetuate inequality.  The “Virtual Conference” is available here and the event will …


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