This document is a time-coded written summary in five-minute increments of an oral history interview. Full transcripts, audio recordings, and other oral history materials are available at the British Library Sound Archive, London, United Kingdom, and at the WLP office in Bethesda, MD. For more information, please consult our Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement Terms of Use. 

About the Interviewee*

Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran/USA) is the Founder and President of Women’s Learning Partnership and former Secretary General of the Women's Organization of Iran and Minister for Women's Affairs. She is Executive Director of the Foundation for Iranian Studies and serves on advisory boards for a number of national and international organizations. She has over three decades of experience working at government and non-government levels to advance the rights of women, particularly in the Middle East.

She has authored numerous publications, including Muslim Women and the Politics of Participation, and Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World. Among the training manuals she has co-authored are Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies; Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Muslim Societies; Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women; Leading to Action: A Political Participation Handbook for Women and Victories Over Violence: Ensuring Safety for Women and Girls A Practitioner's Manual.

*This brief biography was recorded concurrently with the subject’s interview for the WLP Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement.

About the WLP Oral History Project

The WLP Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement preserves stories and lessons of women’s rights activists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America who have left their mark on the struggle for women’s advancement. We have collected dozens of oral histories from 25 countries, and the project is ongoing. Since 2014, WLP has collaborated with the Sound Archive of the British Library to host the repository.

Read more ABOUT OUR ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

Read our Oral History Archive of the Global Women’s Movement Terms of Use.