Mahnaz Afkhami was honored alongside Shirin Ebadi at the Royal United Services Institute in London for her lifelong work to promote women’s human rights. The event was hosted by Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security and featured a panel discussion on human rights in Iran. “Mahnaz Afkhami…
Tag: Iran
PAAIA's 2019 Civic Engagement Forum: An Empowering and Successful First
Mahnaz Afkhami spoke at the inaugural Civic Engagement Forum, hosted by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA). The forum, which launched PAAIA’s new Civic Engagement Initiative, featured panels on a variety of topics including advocacy, political campaigns, and running for office as an Iranian-American woman. “We heard from inspiring leaders in and outside…
Why did the Shah send the Constitution to the Cabinet? (in Persian)
In an interview conducted by Radio Farda, Mahnaz Afkhami speaks about her time as the Minister of Women’s Affairs in pre-revolutionary Iran, including the obstacles she faced in addressing women’s issues. Afkhami also corrects the misconception that the Shah was the one and only decision maker for the country, saying his ministers were truly powerful…
Feminist Advocacy, Family Law and Violence Against Women: Introduction
Early in my tenure as Secretary General at the Women’s Organization of Iran (WOI),[efn_note] The WOI was founded in 1966 by a 5,000-member assembly of Iranian women from diverse backgrounds and regions, gathered through consultation, brainstorming, and negotiation. Its mission was “to raise the cultural, social and economic knowledge of the women of Iran and…
BBC: The History Hour: Women's Rights in Iran
Max Pearson’s The History Hour on the BBC World Service featured Mahnaz Afkhami on 17 Feb 2018. Afkhami was asked about her role as Iran’s first ever minister on Women’s Affairs: “It was a very interesting experience. There were 20 men and I was the only woman and I was very young….When I had meetings,…
Iran's New Crackdown on Women
In July, 2017, the Daily Beast covered the uptick in violence against prominent women’s rights activists in Iran. “Mahnaz Afkhami, who served as minister of state for women’s affairs under the pre-revolutionary government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and now runs the Women’s Learning Project in Bethesda, Maryland, says that in recent months, the Iranian…
Women’s Human Rights: From Global Declarations to Local Implementation
Introduction Since the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the effect of international conferences, laws, resolutions, and consequent documents on rights on the struggle for women’s human rights at regional, national, and local levels has been a matter of debate and controversy. In my view, they have been and…
1818 Society Bulletin-- Gender and Development
The 1818 Society – an organization of former World Bank Group employees – hosted Mahnaz Afkhami as a guest speaker to discuss the progress of international conventions on the status of women. “Looking ahead, the overall challenge is to reconstruct our 21st century society. Dr. Afkhami’s vision is that this can be achieved with both…