Summary

Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) founder and President Mahnaz Afkhami speaks with host Lili Sadr of Voice of America's Zan-e Emrooz (Today's Woman) about the evolution of the global women's movement through grassroots mobilization and technological innovation, and the role of WLP in spreading ideas, knowledge, and curricula for activists.

They begin with a discussion of Parvin Ardalan, a longtime women's rights activist and founding member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, who at that time was prohibited from leaving Iran to receive the Olof Palme Prize in Sweden in honor of her achievements and activism. Afkhami comments that Parvin and the activists working with her learned how to successfully mobilize grassroots populations and to connect them with international movements. This activism founded on widespread peaceful and horizontal mobilization, fighting for rights rather than for political power, also influenced the green movement in Iran.

From the United Nations Conferences in Mexico to Beijing, the women's movement has grown and evolved with greater use of technology, cross-regional communication and exchange, and increased ability for women to create content to influence global dialogues.

The discussion also focuses on WLP's work, giving an overview of the materials available through its web site and playing a segment of a documentary in which individual Partners discuss the function and benefits of the collective Partnership. Afkhami speaks about the Moroccan movement for reform of family law, and WLP's new Persian translation of the Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb.

Runtime: [00:49:52]

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