Activism
Leadership and political participation
At 17, Afkhami joined a trade union and successfully challenged a breach of her rights as a worker when an employer laid her off temporarily then rehired her to avoid paying for the vacation she had earned. She credits this incident by giving her the belief that organizing could bring about social change. In 1975, Afkhami was asked to join the cabinet of the Iranian government and became Minister of Women's Affairs. The post had not existed in Iran before and the only other person holding such a position was Françoise Giroud in France. In 2001, Afkhami published ''Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women'' to encourage women to be leaders in their families, communities, and countries. It has been translated into 20 languages. In 2010, she published ''Leading to Action: A Political Participation Handbook for Women''. The manuals have been used for training around the world, reaching thousands. Afkhami and her sister Farah Abrahimi were featured in the PBS series ''Destination America'' in 2005. At the time Afkhami became Minister of Women's Affairs, her sister was a leader in the students' movement demanding the overthrow of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.Gender equality
In 1969, two years after returning to Iran as a professor of literature and Chair of the Department of English at the National University of Iran, Afkhami was drawn into Iran's women's movement and founded the Association of University Women. In 1970, she became the secretary general of the Women's Organization of Iran (WOI). She remained there for ten years, during which time she worked for Iranian women's rights. While Afkhami was Minister of Women's Affairs, Iran's legislation granted women equal rights as regards divorce; raised the minimum age of marriage; supported women's employment with maternity leave and childcare provision; and built upon the family laws of 1967. Afkhami has served as a member of Iran's High Council of Family Planning and Welfare and on the boards of trustees of Kerman University and Farah University for Women. She has written that "[w]omen's empowerment is a process, a holistic approach that involves raising consciousness, building skills and reforming unjust laws that limit women's education, their employment, their participation in decision making and, above all, their opportunities for economic independence."Exile and involvement in the international women's movement
When Iran's Iranian Revolution, Islamic Revolution began in 1979, Afkhami was at the United Nations in New York negotiating the establishment of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). She was charged '':wikt:in absentia, in absentia'' with "Corruption on Earth and warring with God." She has never returned to Iran, living instead in exile, although she has said she would like to return to help rebuild Iran if its political system changed. She contributed the piece "A future in the past, the prerevolutionary women's movement" to the 1984 anthology ''Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology'', edited by Robin Morgan. In 1994, she publisheCulture, Islam and universality of rights
Afkhami believes that religion and feminism are not incompatibleIranian Women's Movement
Looking back on the changes which occurred in Iran just before the revolution, Afkhami said: "It seems to me that our main mistake was not that we did not do other things which we should have done. Our main mistake was that we created conditions in which the contradictions related to modernity, progress, equality, and human rights, especially women's rights, increased and the reaction to our work put perhaps too much pressure on the country's social fabric." She has publicly supported the Iranian One Million Signatures campaign to end discriminatory laws against women by promoting a book written by Iranian activist Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani. She believes that the movement is a new phase within a century-long cause. Afkhami's life and work in the women's movement in Iran, breaking with tradition, and living in exile are the topics of the 201Speaking engagements (selected)
Chicago Council on Global Affairs,Biography
Mahnaz Afkhami was born in Kerman, Imperial State of Iran, Iran in 1941, the eldest of three children. Her early childhood was spent in Kerman, Iran in a complex that housed a large extended family of Sheikhi Shi'ite Islam, Shi'ite Muslims. When she was 11, her mother divorced her father and they moved to the United States. She later attended the University of San Francisco and the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 1967, Mahnaz returned to Iran as a professor of literature at the National University of Iran. She worked there until 1978. Since then, she has lived in the United States, residing in Maryland with her husband, Gholam Reza Afkhami. They have a son and two grandchildren.Chronological overview
* 2000– Founder and President of Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace * 1996–99 President of Sisterhood Is Global Institute * 1992–96 Executive Director of Sisterhood Is Global Institute * 1989–96 vice-president of Sisterhood Is Global Institute * 1981– Founder and Executive Director of Foundation for Iranian Studies * 1979–81 Consultant on Women and Development, Palo Alto, California * 1976–78 Minister for Women's Affairs, Government of Iran * 1970–79 Secretary General of the Women's Organization of Iran * 1968–70 chairman, English Department, National University of Iran * 1967–68 Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Iran * 1966–67 Lecturer, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado * 1965–66 assistant editor, Abstracts of English Studies, Boulder, ColoradoOrganizations founded or co-founded
* 2006 Global Women's Action Network for Children (with Marian Wright Edelman, Melanne Verveer, and Madeleine Albright) * 2006 Women Leaders Intercultural Forum (with Mary Robinson, Lisa Anderson, and ) * 2001 Gender at Work (with Kumi Naidoo, Aruna Rao, and Joanna Kerr) * 2000 Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace * 1989 Sisterhood Is Global Institute * 1981 Foundation for Iranian Studies * Unknown South Tehran Development Program * Unknown Association for Exceptional Children, Iran * Unknown Association for English Professors in Iranian Universities * Unknown University Women's Association of IranHonors
* Lifetime Achievement Award, Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, New York, NY (October 15, 2015) * Walk of Courage Award, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Baltimore, MD (October 28, 2015) * TrustWomen Hero Award 2015 (shortlist nominee)Bibliography
Afkhami has published a large number of articles and books, with a particular focus on women's human rights, Muslim women, as well as the Iranian women's movement.Books
* 2022 ''The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women's Movement''. The University of North Carolina Press. * 2015 ''Beyond Equality: A Manual for Human Rights Defenders'' (co-authored), Women's Learning Partnership, Bethesda, Maryland * 2012 ''Victories Over Violence: Ensuring Safety for Women and Girls'' (co-authored), Women's Learning Partnership, Bethesda, Maryland * 2010 ''Leading to Action: A Political Participation Handbook for Women'' (co-authored), Women's Learning Partnership, Bethesda, Maryland * 2002 ''Toward a Compassionate Society'' (editor), Women's Learning Partnership, Bethesda, Maryland * 2001 ''Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women'' (co-authored), Women's Learning Partnership, Bethesda, Maryland * 1998 ''Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies'' (co-authored), Sisterhood Is Global Institute, Bethesda, Maryland * 1997 ''Muslim Women and The Politics of Participation'' (co-edited with Erika Friedl), Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York * 1996 ''Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies'' (co-authored with Haleh Vaziri), Sisterhood Is Global Institute, Bethesda, Maryland * 1995 ''Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World'', Syracuse University Press and I.B. Tauris * 1994 ''Women and the Law in Iran (1967–1978)'' (compilation with introduction), Women's Center of the Foundation for Iranian Studies * 1994 ''Women in Exile'', University Press of Virginia * 1994 ''In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Postrevolutionary Iran'' (edited with Erika Friedl), Syracuse University Press and I.B. Tauris * 1992 ''Iran: A PreCollegiate Handbook'' (with Charlotte Albright), Foundation for Iranian Studies * 1978 "Notes on the Curriculum and Materials for a Women's Studies Program for Iranian University Women"Chapters (selected)
* "Women's Human Rights in Iran: From Global Declarations to Local Implementation", in ''Women and Girls Rising: Progress and Resistance Around the World'', edited by Ellen Chesler and Terry McGovern. Routledge Global Institutions, New York and UK, 2016. * "Foreword: Sunlight , Open Windows, and Fresh Air: The Struggle for Women's Rights in Iran", in ''Shirin Nehsat: Facing History'' by Melissa Ho, Smithsonian Books, 2015. * "Rights of Passage: Women Shaping the 21st Century," in ''The Future of Women's Rights: Global Visions & Strategies'', edited by Joanna Kerr, Ellen Sprenger, and Alison Symington. Zed Books, New York: 2004. * "Women, Information Technology, and Human Development," in ''Middle Eastern Women on the Move'', Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Middle East Project, 2003. * "Epilogue: Our Shared Human Values" in ''To Mend the World'' edited Marjorie Agosín and Betty Jean Craige. White Pine Press, New York, 2002 * "The Women's Organization of Iran: Evolutionary Politics and Revolutionary Change," in ''Women in Iran From the Rise of Islam to the Islamic Republic'', edited by Lois Beck & Guity Nashat. University of Illinois Press: 2002. * "Gender Apartheid, Cultural Relativism, and Women's Human Rights in Muslim Societies," in ''Women, Gender, and Human Rights: A Global Perspective'', edited by Marjorie Agosín, Rutgers University Press, 2001. * "Cultural Relativism and Women's Human Rights," in ''Women and International Human Rights Law'', edited by Kelly D. Askin and Dorean M. Koenig. Transnational Publishers, Inc., New York: 2000. * "Gender Apartheid and the Discourse of Relativity of Rights in Muslim Societies," in ''Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women'', edited by Courtney Howland. St. Martin's Press, New York: 1999. * "A Vision of Gender in Culture" in ''Culture in Sustainable Development: Investing in Culture and Natural Endowments'' edited by Ismail Serageldin, Joan Martin-Brown. From a conference sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Bank, 1999. * "A Woman in Exile," in ''A Map of Hope'', edited by Marjorie Agosin. Rutgers University Press: May 1999. * "Towards Global Feminism: A Muslim Perspective," in ''Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed'', edited by Diane Bell (anthropologist), Diane Bell and Renate Klein. Spinifex Press: 1996. * "Identity and Culture: Women as Subjects and Agents of Cultural Change," in ''From Basic Needs to Basic Rights, The Institute for Women, Law, and Development'': 1996. *"Middle Eastern Women and Human Rights," in ''Women, Culture and Society: A Reader''. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company: 1994.Articles (selected)
* "Women, Rights, and Security in Iran," (in German and English) in ''Der Tagesspiegel'', American Academy in Berlin, September 2008. * "Rights of Passage: Women Shaping the 21st Century," ''Occasional Paper No.7'', Association for Women's Rights in Development, October 2002. * "Human Security: A Conversation," in ''Social Research''. The New School, New York: Vol. 69, No. 3, Fall 2002. * "Our Shared Humane Values," ''In Touch'', Women of Washington, Los Angeles & Orange County, April 2001, Vol.8. No.4. * "At the Crossroads of Tradition & Modernity: Personal Reflection," ''SAIS Review'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, Summer-Fall 2000, Vol. XX, No. 2. * "Beijing and Muslim Women," in ''Muslim Politics Report'', Council on Foreign Relations: November/December 1995. * In Persian: "Evolutionary Politics and Revolutionary Change," ''Iran Nameh'', (Summer 1997). "What is Modern in the Contemporary Poetry of Iran," ''Jahan Now'', Tehran, 1972. "Influence of the Haiku on Modern American Poetry," ''Jahan Now'', Tehran, 1971.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Afkhami, Mahnaz 1941 births Living people Feminist studies scholars Shahid Beheshti University faculty Iranian democracy activists Iranian dissidents Iranian feminists Iranian human rights activists American feminists Proponents of Islamic feminism Iranian women's rights activists Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in the United States Iranian emigrants to the United States Rastakhiz Party politicians Women government ministers of Iran Iran Novin Party politicians People from Kerman Province 20th-century Iranian women writers 21st-century Iranian women writers 20th-century Iranian women politicians 20th-century Iranian politicians