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: Women’s Rights
Trespassing With Fatema
Fatema and I began our work together in 1984 as contributors to Robin Morgan’s Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women’s Movement Anthology. She wrote the Morocco chapter and I, Iran’s. We stayed in touch through the Sisterhood Is Global Institute that Robin founded with the seventy writers of the book, but we did not meet…
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…
A Personal Remembrance of Fatema Mernissi
Fatema Mernissi, the Moroccan sociologist widely known as a pioneer in Middle Eastern Women’s studies, passed away this week. It is difficult for me to speak of her – a friend, ally, and colleague of over two decades – in the past tense. I first met Fatema at the Middle East Studies Association Conference in…
A Night to Celebrate Courageous Refugees and Migrants
In October, 2015, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service honored Mahnaz Afkhami with the Walk of Courage Award for her commitment to walking alongside and raising the voices of migrants and immigrants. The keynote address was delivered by Enrique’s Journey author, Sonia Nazario.

EPOCA Interview: Mahnaz Afkhami on How the Struggle for More Rights in Iran Has Yielded Gains
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…
Mahnaz Afkhami on Women in Iran
Kambiz Hosseini (known as Iran’s Jon Stewart) interviews Mahnaz Afkhami about women’s issues before and after the 1979 Revolution in Voice of America’s Poletik (episode 57). Afkhami points out that women’s awareness was raised after the revolution; however, what they lost was tremendous: “Iran used to be the center of women’s activities on a global scale…