In the New Tunisia, Women's Rights Are in Play

Author : Barbara Crossette, WeNews

While the status of women in Tunisia has historically been the highest in the Arab world, Mahnaz Afkhami emphasizes the need to ensure that women’s rights are upheld in the new government following the Arab Spring.  As stated in this piece in Women’s eNews, Mahnaz Afkhami “knows how tenuous women’s rights can be and how…

Mahnaz Afkhami Testifies at U.S. Senate Hearing "Women and the Arab Spring"

Author : U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Mahnaz Afkhami testified at a US Senate Hearing on November 2, 2011, on the subject of women and the Arab Spring. “It is therefore of utmost importance for women’s equality in these countries undergoing radical transformation that the United States give its explicit support for women’s full and  equal participation in national reform processes,” Afkhami…

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…

Executed But Not Forgotten: Iran’s Farrokhroo Parsay

Author : Liane Hansen, NPR

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 Inspiring Women

Author : Francesca Donner, Forbes

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…