The 60th Session of the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW60) took place in March, 2016, at the United Nations in New York. Mahnaz Afkhami spoke on a panel of CSW60 attendees to share highlights from the UN session.
Tag: CEDAW
Will Washington Push for Women’s Rights?
Despite hope and change in the Middle East following the Arab Spring, many remain cautious regarding progress on women’s rights in the region. In an article with political news journal, Al Majalla, Mahnaz Afkhami stresses the importance of movement building and collaboration between women’s rights activists at the grassroots level.
Challenging the Architecture of Human Relations
In an interview with openDemocracy, Mahnaz Afkhami discusses the role of transnational women’s networks in promoting women’s rights around the globe. “We decided to establish a transnational women’s organization that focused on finding ways to dent if not immediately change this “architecture of human relations,” the way people relate to each other, make choices, and…
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…
Obama, Ahmadinejad, and the Women of Iran
This month, for the first time in 30 years, formal negotiations between the United States and Iran took place in a relatively positive atmosphere. As President Obama had promised during his campaign, dialogue took the place of diatribe. This is an important development. Why now and why during the term of the holocaust-denying, US-bashing President…
Women are Driving Iran Toward Democracy
The images from Iran in the last two weeks have stunned the world: hundreds of thousands of women and men marching peacefully, first in support of reformist candidates and later protesting the government’s version of the results. Women played a prominent role at every level in this movement; in fact what unfolded in Iran would…
Women Inspiring Women
Mahnaz Afkhami is interviewed by Forbes, where she speaks about women’s rights in Iran and across the Islamic world. The interview covers myriad topics including Iran’s One Million Signatures Campaign, the push to reform family laws, and activism in Iran. “It is impossible to impose an archaic form of government on an aware and connected…
Rethinking Women's Human Rights in the Middle East
I am privileged to speak here today, not only because it is an honor to be on the same forum with such distinguished colleagues, but also because of the issue that is the subject of the discussion. This, as I understand, is the first time that women’s human rights have been the subject of plenary…