In the News
Mahnaz Afkhami has been featured in the news in print media, social media, and on television and radio.
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Suicide of Iran Shah’s son, Alireza Pahlavi, caps life of sorrow in exile
Mahnaz Afhami speaks to Christian Science Monitor regarding the suicide of Alireza Pahlevi, the youngest son of the late shah of Iran. Like Afkhami, Pahlevi was living in exile in the US and was deeply affected by the Iranian revolution. Afhami states: “It’s a matter of loss of identity, loss of connections.. And all the time seeing something really unusual and strange, which was the religious theocracy unfolding inside the country.”
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KQED Interview: Women in the Middle East
Mahnaz Afkhami speaks to KQED Public Radio on the revolutionary role of women in the Middle East. She is joined by Isobel Coleman, senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Council on Foreing Relations, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of books including “Infidel” and “The Caged Virgin.”
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CNN’s Amanpour: Panel Discussion with Activists on Women’s Rights in the Middle East
For International Women’s Day, Mahnaz Afkhami is interviewed by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on a panel of women’s rights activists. Afkhami discusses the importance of including women in political positions, the progress made in the Middle East, and hope for the future. Afkhami states: “There are many, many more women in power, in politics, in high-value decision-making. Many, many women, younger women, are working… So we have come a long way”
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BBC Persian TV Hard Talk [Be Ebarate Digar]: An Interview with Mahnaz Afkhami
BBC Persian TV’s Enayat Fani interviews Mahnaz Afkhami who looks back on the advancing of women’s rights in Iran, elaborating on the Family Protection Law. “Iran’s Family Protection Law which was ratified some forty years ago is still far ahead of the laws of other Middle Eastern countries,” says Afkhami, adding that the first thing Ayatollah Khomeini did after the 1979 Revolution, even before drafting the constitution or forming a government, was negating this law. “Iran is one of the most backward countries in terms of rights and laws”, she notes, “yet, in terms of women’s roles as individuals or independent groups, this country is one of the most developed ones.”
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Female Scholars in Exile Form Legion of Longing
Mahnaz Afkhami talks to Women’s e-News about life in exile, finding solidarity with other women in her 1994 book, “Women in Exile”, and building a new home in the US. “Exile, Afkhami says, imposes an inevitable wresting with the identity question: ‘Who am I?’”
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Iranian Women Campaign To End Discriminatory Laws Against Them
VOA News interviews Mahnaz Afkhami on Iran’s One Million Signatures Campaign, which seeks to change discriminatory laws against women. “Afkhami says the activists and their followers are extremely resilient, courageous, and inventive. ‘The reason the world heard so much about what was happening in Iran during the election is because of the sophisticated use of text-messaging, cell phones, Facebook, and other technologies, which are largely the domain of the young and are so helpful in bypassing government limitations,’ Afkhami said.”
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Face to Face with Mahnaz Afkhami
Voice of America’s “Rou dar Rou” (Face-to-Face) features Mahnaz Afkhami who sheds light on different periods of her life in Iran and the United States, beginning from when she was a university professor who founded the Association of University Women to the time she served as Secretary General of the Women’s Organization of Iran and Minister for Women’s Affairs. “Women should be present at all levels of decision makings to become empowered,” says Afkhami, “Being present at a table where decisions are made — even if you are alone, even if it requires a lot of efforts to make your voice heard — is very important.”
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Learning Center Conducts Workshops on Empowerment of Women
VOA news interviews Mahnaz Afkhami on her work empowering women to be leaders through the Women’s Learning Partnership. In the article, Afkhami discusses the transnational nature of the partnership, the importance of horizontal leadership, and the need to provide women with a comprehensive set of skills to succeed.
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Executed But Not Forgotten: Iran’s Farrokhroo Parsay
NPR interviews Mahnaz Afkhami about Farrokhroo Parsa, the Minister of Education in Iran from 1968 to 1977. Ms. Parsa was charged with corruption after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and executed on charges of corruption. In the interview, Afkhami discusses the role that Ms. Parsay played as both her personal mentor and as a pioneer for women’s rights in Iran.
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‘I Was Iran’s Last Woman Minister’
In an interview with the BBC World Service, Mahnaz Afkhami discusses her role as Minister of Women’s Affairs in Iran, Farrokhroo Parsa, and the future of women in Iran. “I have no doubt that women are going to win…history is moving in a different direction,” says Afkhami.
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