The 12th International Forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development took place in Istanbul in October, 2012, where Mahnaz Afkhami spoke on conservative religion, political regimes, and women’s rights in the MENA region.
Tag: Women’s Rights
The Word on Women-Cultural Barriers to Women as Peace Builders
At a conference entitled “Breaking Barriers: What will it take to achieve security, justice, and peace,” Manhaz Afkhami highlighted the threat of fundamentalism to human rights, peace, and women’s rights. “The characteristics of fundamentalism – fear of rapid change, modernity, an individual’s place in society, science, evolution, and all of the ramifications of those new…

Victories Over Violence: Ensuring Safety for Women and Girls
[tm_pb_section admin_label=”section”][tm_pb_row admin_label=”row”][tm_pb_column type=”4_4″][tm_pb_accordion admin_label=”Accordion” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [tm_pb_accordion_item title=”Overview”] Victories Over Violence: Ensuring Safety for Women and Girls A Practitioner’s Manual 2012/Women’s Learning Partnership Mahnaz Afkhami & Haleh Vaziri Published in English, Persian, French, and Spanish; available online at www.learningpartnership.org/vov Violence against women and girls is both a global and local societal ill– global…
Fighting for Women's Rights: An Interview with Mahnaz Afkhami
In an interview with Dutch human rights NGO, Arseh Sevom (Third Sphere), Mahnaz Afkhami discusses her work in pre-revolution Iran, women fighting for change in the2009 Iranian Green Movement, and her fight for gender equality in exile.
In the New Tunisia, Women's Rights Are in Play
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…
Women Could Promote Rights Through Islam
US News & World Report interviewed Mahnaz Afkhami and Melanne Verveer on Muslim values and women’s rights. While some places in northern Africa have seen gains in women’s rights, Afkhami cautions that progress can be revoked under conservative leadership.
Mahnaz Afkhami Testifies at U.S. Senate Hearing "Women and the Arab Spring"
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…

Women In Iran: From the Pahlavi era to the Islamic Republic
This article, penned by Mahnaz Afkhami, addresses the activities of Women’s Organization of Iran before the 1979 Revolution. Afkhami, who was the Secretary General of this non-profit organization, elaborates on its activities in early 1970s. The main focus of those activities – undertaken by women volunteers in 400 branches of this organization nationwide – was…