The First Female Ambassador in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The First Female Ambassador in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Author : Voice of America (Persian)

Ensuing the appointment of Marzieh Afkham as the ambassador to Malaysia — the first female ambassador in post-revolutionary Iran — Voice of America interviewed Mahnaz Afkhami about the significance of this matter. Comparing Afkham with the first female ambassador in Iran’s history, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, Mahnaz Afkhami noted that Dolatshahi had worked for years in women’s organizations,…

EPOCA Interview: Mahnaz Afkhami on How the Struggle for More Rights in Iran Has Yielded Gains

EPOCA Interview: Mahnaz Afkhami on How the Struggle for More Rights in Iran Has Yielded Gains

Author : Renato Machado, EPOCA

In an interview with Brazilian magazine, EPOCA, Mahnaz Afkhami speaks about Ghoncheh Ghavami in Tehran, who was arrested for trying to watch a volleyball game as a woman. The interview addresses Afkhami’s prominent role as a women’s rights activist living in exile.  “In the episode of the game of volleyball, Afkhami believes the incessant media…

At the UN, Twenty Years of Backlash to ‘Women’s Rights Are Human Rights’

Author : Barbara Crossette, The Nation

Since the seminal Cairo Conference in 1994, anti-feminist actors have pushed back against progress made in women’s rights on the global stage. In The Nation, Mahnaz Afkhami provides insights into the rise of fundamentalist, conservative, and populist movements that are fueling this backlash, and illuminates the role of American wars in the Middle East in…

Suicide of Iran Shah's son, Alireza Pahlavi, caps life of sorrow in exile

Author : Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor

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…

Reflections on Women’s Security in Iran

Author : Mahnaz Afkhami, Gozaar Forum on Human Rights and Democracy in Iran

The late Mhabub ul Haq, the founder of the UN Human Development Report, captured the essence of human security when he said, and I quote, “In the last analysis, human security means a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an ethnic tension that did not explode, a dissident who was…