Mahnaz Afkhami

The Word on Women-cultural barriers to women as peace builders

Culture is not always worth preserving. This sentiment was echoed throughout the panels and workshops at "Breaking Barriers: What it will take to achieve security, justice and peace," a recent conference at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego. The three-day conference drew 150 delegates, mostly women, from nearly 50 countries to discuss working solutions for developing sustainable peace.

2012 Iranian-American Women Leadership Conference

Several hundred women gathered on June 23 on the campus of Georgetown University for the first-ever Iranian-American Women Leadership Conference held on the East coast. The Iranian-American Women Foundation (IAW) co-hosted the event along with the World Bank’s Persian Gender Network and the IMF Iranian Staff Club.

The Word on Women: MENA region tops agenda at AWID global women’s rights forum

“It takes a lot of hard work to change cultures of dictatorship to cultures of democracy. We need to develop strategies so we can work as quickly as possible…to try to avoid replacing one kind of dictatorship with another,” said Mahnaz Afkhami.