Challenging the Architecture of Human Relations

Author : Open Democracy

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…

At the Crossroads of Tradition & Modernity: Personal Reflection

Author : Mahnaz Afkhami, The Johns Hopkins University Press

I have spent most of my adult life defending and promoting women’s human rights. I came to this field through English literature, largely innocent of theories of feminism. By the time I encountered these theories formally in the 1970s as secretary general of the Women’s Organization of Iran (WOI), I had already experienced their essence…

A Vision of Gender in Culture

Author : Mahnaz Afkhami, World Bank

My task is to talk about a vision of gender in culture to an assembly that wishes to integrate culture in its policies to achieve sustainable development. The reason why the World Bank is interested in this proposition, I assume, is two-pronged: On one hand, you cannot have long-term sustainable development if half the population…