The Women’s Organization of Iran: Evolutionary Politics and Revolutionary Change

Author : Mahnaz Afkhami, University of Illinois Press

This article is an account of the women’s movement in pre-revolutionary Iran. The focus is on the activities of the Women’s Organization of Iran (WOI) and its interactions with the government, the court, the clergy, and other conservative forces during the two decades preceding the Islamic revolution. Much of the article, particularly where the story…

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…

Rethinking Women's Human Rights in the Middle East

Author : Mahnaz Afkhami, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company

I am privileged to speak here today, not only because it is an honor to be on the same forum with such distinguished colleagues, but also because of the issue that is the subject of the discus­sion. This, as I understand, is the first time that women’s human rights have been the subject of plenary…