Network Members

Afghanistan

Ms. Naheed Sarobi
Ms. Naheed Sarobi is the Director for the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) in the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF), Office of Policy. She commands respect in the Afghan Government, even though she is in a Ministry that has no female leadership. Ms. Sarobi started her position in the Ministry of Finance as an intern after finishing her Masters degree in Germany. She initially worked in support of a government-wide effort to prioritize the national strategy for development and good governance, to develop an effective accountability mechanism and to advance donor coordination in a fluid, chaotic aid environment.  She subsequently took on the role of national technical advisor to the governance team, working directly with key-line ministry staff and the Senior Minister for Afghanistan. She was soon promoted as Director of ANDS, a key position within the government.

Azerbaijan

Ayten Shirinova
Ayten Shirinova is a well known political activist and former candidate for parliament from Azerbaijan.

Bahrain

Wajeeha Al-Baharna
Dr. Wajeeha Al-Baharna is a renowned human rights and women’s activist in the Middle East and been campaigning for women’s empowerment for the past ten years. In 2001, Dr. Al-Baharna founded the Bahrain Women’s Association for Human Development (BWA). Dr. Al-Baharna has launched open discussions on cultural, political, social, economic, environmental and judicial discrimination against women in the Arab and Islamic communities. She coordinates the Nationality Campaign in Bahrain, and is a member of the Family Law Committee. Dr. Al-Baharna serves on numerous Boards, including the Innovation Cultural Society (Al- Tajdeed), the Arab Women’s leadership Institute in Jordan, and Bridging the Gulf Foundation (Netherlands).

Mona Almoayyed
Mona Almoayyed, who is the managing director of Y K Almoayyed & Sons, ranked 12th on the Forbes Arabia magazine's 2008 list of 50 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen. Mona leads one of the oldest business conglomerates in Bahrain. She is the first woman to be elected to the Board of the Bahraini Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Being the key leader of a family business that employs several thousand employees has only bolstered her desire to champion the rights of Bahrain’s migrant labour force.

Mona is renowned as a women's rights campaigner and champion of the rights of migrant workers. She is the chairwoman of the Bahrain Business Women's Society. The Society’s mission is to empower women to take leading roles in public and private companies and to lobby government officials to promote women to be in leading positions in different ministries.

Mona has lobbied Shaikh Mohamed bin Essa Alkhalifa, Chief Executive Officer of the Economic Development Board for a quota for women in the different ministries and boards of public companies. As of today only 2 percent of board members in Bahrain are women.  It is expected that there will soon be a minimum of two women on the Boards belonging to the Chamber of commerce in Bahrain.  
You can read more about Mona’s trailblazing work below.

• http://www.bahrainembassy.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document.home&id=233
• http://www.marcopolis.net/womens-rights-in-bahrain-and-migrant-workers-rights-in-bahrain.htm
• http://www.arabianbusiness.com/mona-almoayyed-346787.html
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2356895.stm
  

Bangladesh

Ferdous Ara Begum
Ferdous Ara Begum is an expert member on the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination agaisnt Women (CEDAW) Committee. She served as former joint secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, Bangladesh and as a member of the Board of Directors Gramen Bank, the bank that pioneered microcredit for women.

Fawzia Feroze
Fawzia Feroze is the President of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association. She argued the recent landmark public Interest Litigation on behalf of BNWLA which led to the High Court recommending that the sexual harassment guidelines recommended by BNWLA be adopted by the State.

Salma Ali
Salma Ali is the Executive Director of BNWLA. She has helped to draft many gender-sensitive laws including the draft domestic violence law, anti-acid throwing law in Bangladesh and has spear headed several ground breaking initiatives on anti- trafficking against women.

Egypt

Moushira Khattab
Hon. Moushira Khattab is the Minister for Family and Population, Egypt and Vice Chair of the U.N. Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She has served as an Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs in Egypt as well as the Ambassador of Egypt to Czech and Slovak Republic and Ambassador to South Africa where she received the Order of Good Hope from President Nelson Mandela.

Fatma Khafagy
Dr. Khafagy was a past member of the National Women’s Committee in Egypt (1994-2001) and is a women’s and children’s rights expert in Arab and South Mediterranean countries.

Jordan

Rana Khalaf al-Hajaya
Rana Khalaf al-Hajaya, a female engineer, is the first mayor of Hassa in Jordan. She was elected in 2007 at the first mayoral election in Jordan. USA Today writes that this is unprecedented for an area considered a Bedouin tribal hub, where men traditionally dominate politics.

Eman Basheer Al Hussein
Dr. Eman Basheer Al Hussein of Jordan is a Professor of Education at Al- Balqa University. Dr. Hussein was a Councilor on the Greater Salt Municipal Council. Dr. Hussein is also head of the Jordanian National Forum for Women, Amman Governorate Branch and a highly renowned trainer and facilitator for women running for elections at the municipal and parliamentary levels.

Indonesia

Melli Darsa Esq.
Melli Darsa is the Founding and Managing Partner of Melli Darsa and Co., one of Indonesia’s leading commercial firms which services international and Indonesian clients on Indonesian and cross border transactions. She and her firm have handled Indonesia’s most high profile securities, corporate finance and merger and acquisitions deals. She is currently serving as the head of Permanent Committee for Capital Markets of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry for the period 2009-2014.

Rita Kalibonso
Rita Kalibonso is a senior lawyer and public health specialist. She drafted the chapter on Reproductive Health in the draft Public Health Law of Indonesia.

Siti Musdah Mulia
Dr. Musdah is the first woman to receive a research professorship from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the first to do her dissertation on Islamic political thought. Musdah has written numerous scholarly works centering around women’s roles in Islamic culture. She is a recipient of the International Women of Courage award from U.S. foreign minister Condoleezza Rice. As a senior researcher at the Religious Affairs Ministry and an adviser to the minister, her meticulous examination of gender bias in the Islamic law and drafting of a replacement counter law has spread new ideas about the critical reinterpretation of the Koran.

Iran

Haleh Esfandiari
Haleh Esfandiari is the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In her native Iran, she was a journalist, served as deputy secretary general of the Women's Organization of Iran, and was the deputy director of a cultural foundation. She has taught at Oxford University (Persian language) and Princeton University (Persian language, contemporary Persian literature and the women's movement in Iran.) Her memoir, My Prison, My Home, based on her arrest in 2007 by the Iranian security authorities and subsequent 105 days in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison, was published in September 2009.

Lebanon

Myriam Kairouz Aucar
Myriam Kairouz Aucar is a partner in one of the largest law firms in Lebanon. She has worked on multiple programs on women and development and women’s political participation.

Libya

Wafa Taher Bugaighis
As the head of the International Department at the National Transitional Council (NTC) Executive Office in Benghazi, Ms. Wafa Taher Bugaighis is leading new strategies, outreach programming and NTC educational planning efforts in the Eastern district of Libya. Ms. Bugaighis took on this responsibility during the Libyan Revolution and responded to the emergency needs of the crisis, starting to plan for the country’s “liberation phase” on the public education front. In her position, Ms. Bugaighis is charged with developing a modern curriculum that meets the new generations’ needs and exposes students to contemporary classroom methodologies. Prior to the start of the Revolution, she managed a private school in Benghazi.

Malaysia

Zarizana Abdul Aziz
Zarizana Abdul Aziz is Deputy Chairperson, Bar Council Human Rights Committee and partner of a law firm in Penang, Malaysia. She helped draft the Gender Equality Bill for Malaysia. Her work at Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) questions the discrepancy between Islamic finance, fiqh and financial markets, and the way Islamic laws are deemed immutable when it involves women. Zarizana is also deeply concerned not only with the impact of the law on Muslim women, but also on non-Muslim women.

Morocco

Najat Zarrouk
Dr. Najat Zarrouk of Morocco is an internationally renowned public administrator. She was recently appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon to the UN global panel on the Committee of Experts on Public Administration. She served for 17 years as the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Morocco. In July 2003, she was appointed to the position of Director for Legal Affairs, Studies, Documentation and Cooperation and later Director for Training of Administrative and Technical staff of the Ministry of Interior.

Pakistan

Asma Jehangir
Asma Jahangir is Pakistan’s foremost human rights lawyer and is Chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan which she helped found in 1986. She was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions and later served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Religion or Belief. She is renowned for her work on religious freedoms, child labour, bonded labour, minority rights and violence against women. Asma Jahangir is the recipient of several awards, including the American Bar Association International Human Rights Award in 1992, the Martin Ennals Award and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1995 and the U.N. Millennium Peace Prize for Women.

Khawar Mumtaz
Ms. Khawar Mumtaz has a long and distinguished career in the field of environment, gender issues and human rights. Educated at the University of Karachi, Ms. Mumtaz obtained her M.A. in International Relations and has been working in the international arena ever since. She has served as a member of the National Core Group for Beijing follow up; the UNFPA Advisory Panel on Gender Development; Steering Committee of the International Irrigation Management Institute and was the regional councilor for West Asia and Member Bureau of the IUCN. Recently, Ms. Mumtaz was the Chair of the Pakistan National Committee of IUCN Members and is currently the Senior Coordinator of Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre and the Project Director of the Women and Sustainable Development Program of Shirkat Gah, an NGO in Pakistan dedicated to women’s rights which combines advocacy and capacity-building. Ms. Mumtaz is a widely published researcher and writer. She has recently co-authored the Pakistan Poverty Assessment National Report and won the Prime Minister’s Award for her co-authored book, Women in Pakistan: Two Steps Forward One Step Back? Ms. Mumtaz has also helped shape national and international policy in the area of women’s employment, reproductive health and the environment, through reports to the UNDP, FAO, IUCN and UNICEF. 

Palestine

Lily Feidy
Dr. Lily Feidy, Secretary General of MIFTAH, is a professor at the Department of English at Birzeit University. Dr. Feidy also served as the Director General for International Relations and cultural relations at the Ministry of Higher Education in Palestine. She serves on many Boards including the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and the American-Palestinian Peace Organization.

Soraida Hussein
Soraida Hussein is a longtime women’s rights activist in Palestine.  She was one of the co- founders of the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling.  Currently, Soraida is a board member for the Palestinian musical institution “Al- Kamanjati,” and is an assembly member of the Women and
Family Affairs Center based in Nabulus. With other academics and in collaboration with Cardiff

University, she prepared an undergraduate curriculum for the class, Law and Women in Palestine at Palestine’s Al Najah University.  She holds a post- graduate degree in Law in Development from the UK’s Warwick University.  Soraida is fluent in Arabic, English and Spanish and has published widely and is known as a leading women’s rights trainer. In 2004, the Canadian Board of Films produced the movie, “Soraida: A Woman of Palestine.” This movie documented her personal and public struggle living as a Palestinian woman living under occupation.

Zahira Kamal
Hon. Zahera Kamal is the General Director of Palestinian Women’s Research and Documentation Center, a UNESCO project. She was the first Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Palestinian Cabinet and established the first Gender Planning and Development directorate at the ministry of Planning. She is a board member of several organizations, including the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling, Palestinian Business Women's Association-Asalla and the International Women's Commission for Just Peace between Palestinian and Israeli people. She was one of the three women in the early 1990’s negotiations with Israel. From 1992 to 1997, she served as coordinator of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee. Ms. Kamal was a founding member of the Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action and has also served on the boards of several women's organizations including Jerusalem Link and the Jerusalem Center for Women. Ms. Kamal has written a number of articles and studies on Palestinian women, women’s empowerment, peace and the Israeli Palestinian conflict, women and citizenship and enhancing the role of women. She received a bachelor’s degree in physics and chemistry from Ain Shams University, Cairo, and high diplomas in education from Jordanian University and Leicester University.

Saudi Arabia

Nadia Ahmed Al- Hazza
Nadia Ahmed Al- Hazza of Saudi Arabia is a Computer Engineer and has worked for Saudi Aramco for twenty five years. She graduated from California State University in 1986 and received her Masters Degree from Hull University in the United Kingdom in 1998. Nadia and a group of Saudi activists were invited by the Saudi National Dialogue Committee to discuss the role of women in relation to rights within the family and access to employment and education opportunities, and the right to drive.  They were recognized by King Abdullah for their ongoing achievements and for setting a powerful example of women’s leadership.

Tajikistan

Dilbar Turakhanova
Dilbar is a well known lawyer and was a legal expert on the EU Project on Support to Civil Service Reform and Good Governance in Tajikistan. She was responsible for provision of legal advice to the Department of Civil Service under the President of Tajikistan in drafting legislation on civil service and its better enforcement, November 2008 – December 2009. She also helped to draft the law on gender equality.

Turkey

Selen Lermioglu Yilmaz
Selen Lermioglu Yilmaz focuses on increasing women's political participation through her work in KA-DER (The Association for Support and Training of Women Candidates.) She has been an active member of WINPEACE (Women's Initiative for Peace between Greece and Turkey) promoting peace between the two countries and proposing grassroot methods for peace. Her work is supported by the UNDP in implementing UN SCR 1325. She has held various posts in women's platforms which worked on reforming Civil Code (2000-2001); Penal code (2004-2005) and acted as the coordinator of the Women's Platform for a New Constitution (2008). Since 2008 she has been working in Cyprus as a consultant in an EU funded Technical Assistance project called The Civil Society Support Team.

Ms. Monia Ammar obtained her law degree from the University of Economic and Political Sciences of Tunis. In1987 she joined the judiciary and is currently the Magistrate Councilor to the Court of Cassation and the General Coordinator of Human Rights and Representative of the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, as a  specialist on human rights and humanitarian international law.

In February 2010, she was elected a President of the Committee (Commission) of the Arabic woman of the International Humanitarian law. Besides her activities bound to the education of human rights and humanitarian international law within schools and national institutions of specialist training.

Monia Rais Mghirbi
Senior Officer Mghribi works at the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment and has committed to increasing the ranks of Tunisian women in the fields of science, technology, and engineering and actively seeks opportunities to foster mentoring relationships with female Tunisians in those fields of study in local universities.  She heads the interdepartmental committee charged with combating unemployment and synchronizing Tunisia’s educational system to the actual job market. She has published several articles in Tunisian national newspapers and magazines and published several studies on projects within the Ministry related to a National Qualifications Framework project. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she received a B.A. in Civil Engineering with honors and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She then attended the University of California at Berkeley.

Anware Mnasri
Ms. Anware Mnasri has been a judge at the Administrative Court since 1999. She has extensive experience as a public speaker and most recently presented a paper entitled “The jurisdiction of administrative courts in actions for abuse of power” at the Law School at the University of Sfax. Ms. Mnasri presented a paper entitled “The application of the Administrative Court: Rules of competition” at a seminar on the promotion of the law on competition and prices organized by the Ministry of Commerce in Tunisia in collaboration with the Arab Center of Development of the Rule of Law and Integrity (ACRLI). She is an active member of several associations targeting women, including the Tunisian League of Women Voters, the Tunisian Association of Magistrates and the Association Thala-Solidarity, which works to alleviate poverty in the interior. Mnasri considers herself a strong advocate of social justice and gender empowerment.

Yemen

Nafisa Hamoud Al-Jaifi
Dr. Nafisa Hamoud Al-Jaifi is an advocate for women’s and children’s health in the Yemeni government and civil society.  A practicing pediatrician and Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Sana'a University, Dr. Al-Jaifi also has served as the Secretary-General for the Yemeni Higher Council for Motherhood and Childhood since 2005.  In this role, she has led efforts to develop new laws and regulations in Yemen to protect women and improve women’s health and worked on projects related to children in armed conflict, child abuse and protection against violence and trafficking. In addition to the Higher Council, Dr. Al-Jaifi is the Chair of the National Safe Motherhood Alliance and Vice Chairperson of the Yemen Pediatric Association. Dr. Al-Jaifi has officially represented Yemen in over 30 delegations and conferences, including as a member of the Yemeni delegation to the United Nations Committee on Child Rights. She was previously the Director for the World Bank's Child Development Project. Dr. Al-Jaifi holds degrees in Medicine, Chemistry and Science from Cairo University and a Doctorate in Medicine from Pediatrics Medical Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.