In Iran

WLP’s collaboration with Iranian activists and scholars is rooted in long-term support for feminist organizing under conditions of legal restriction and political repression. Partners include scholars, lawyers, journalists, and educators who are actively engaged in advancing women’s rights and documenting gender inequality. 

WLP has worked with Iranian partners to translate and adapt leadership and human rights education materials into Persian, and to facilitate workshops, trainings, and online learning spaces for activists inside and outside Iran. These collaborations have supported both in-country and diaspora-based organizing efforts focused on legal reform, public education, and movement sustainability. 

More recently, WLP and Iranian partners have collaborated on initiatives focused on women’s economic rights and barriers to labor market participation. This work examines how legal discrimination, economic exclusion, and overlapping social and political pressures shape women’s access to employment, entrepreneurship, and economic decision-making in Iran. Through coalition-building, research, and dialogue, the initiative supports rights-based approaches to expanding women’s economic participation and civic engagement. 

WLP also supports Iranian feminist networks by providing access to international advocacy platforms, peer learning exchanges, and connections with global women’s rights organizations. Through these networks, Iranian activists have expanded the visibility of their work and strengthened transnational solidarity with women’s rights and democracy movements worldwide.

Organizational Programs and Activities

• International Advocacy and Participation: Through WLP support, Iranian activists have participated in global forums including the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Women Deliver conferences, and World Movement for Democracy convenings, contributing to international feminist dialogue. 
• Training and Capacity Building: Iranian partners have facilitated numerous WLP-supported trainings inside Iran and through regional Training-of-Trainers (TOT) programs held outside the country, focusing on leadership, advocacy, and human rights education. 
• Digital Advocacy and Security: Partners have led online trainings on social media use, digital organizing, and security strategies for activists operating in restrictive environments. 
• One Million Signatures Campaign: Iranian feminist activists have played a leading role in the One Million Signatures Campaign, a nationwide public education and advocacy effort calling for the repeal of discriminatory laws. The campaign has received international recognition while also facing significant state repression. 
• Economic Rights and Civic Participation: WLP collaborates with Iranian activists, legal experts, and civil society actors to examine barriers to women’s economic participation and advance dialogue on labor rights, legal equality, and inclusive economic opportunity. These efforts support coalition-building and public engagement around women’s economic justice in Iran. 
• Knowledge Production and Translation: Iranian partners have translated and adapted WLP training materials and documentaries into Persian, and have contributed to widely circulated publications documenting feminist activism in Iran, including translated works on the One Million Signatures Campaign.