The first Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) national convention was held in 2007, with 500 women who attended the convention. Networks grew in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, and so on. Within a few years, the group grew to almost 20,000 members, with chapters in 15 states.
“We felt the desperate need for a Muslim women’s voice at the national level,” said Soman. Soman saw deep-rooted discrimination against Muslim women in several places: within the Muslim community, within the Indian state, and globally.
The BMMA is based on the values of the Indian Constitution as well as the Quran, both of which, Soman says, have given Muslim women equal rights. BMMA brings together Muslim women in India–from different areas and backgrounds–to address areas where religious and political leadership has failed.
Founder and chairwoman of Woman Journalists without Chains, Tawakkol Karman is a Yemeni journalist and activist who has devoted herself to the fight for journalistic freedom for Yemen–a fight which has proven to be difficult, particularly due to the Yemeni government’s adamant opposition to the group’s cause. For her efforts, Karman was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 2011.
In response to her crusade, Karman has faced continuous death threats and harassment. These threats of violence have also been extended to her family. In spite of meeting legal requirements, Karman and WJC have been denied a newspaper license.
Karman has produced the Semi-Annual Press Freedom Report which indicates an increase in violence against Yemeni journalists. She also led journalists in weekly sit-ins to protest a ban on news alerts through SMS. In an extension of this model, every Tuesday, in the capital city of Sana’a, Karman leads men and women alike in rallies protesting governmental policies and drawing attention to journalists who have been imprisoned for voicing their opinions.
However, Karman is not opposed to the Yemeni government specifically, but rather State Security which uses subversive tactics to block groups like Karman’s from operating fully.
Despite the resistance Karman faces in her quest, she nonetheless continues to pursue her goal of journalistic freedom in Yemen.
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Tawakkol Karman
Jila Baniyaghoob is a freelance reporter, working in Iran. As a journalist, Baniyaghoob faces numerous ramifications for her reporting and has been arrested, beaten, and imprisoned on numerous occasions.
Baniyaghoob began to pursue journalism at the daily newspaper Hamshahri as a journalism student at the University of Allameh Tabatabayi. Beginning from there, she has worked for various newspapers and has been threatened or fired many times for her reporting on government and social oppression, particularly on how they affect women.
While working for Sarmayeh newspaper, Baniyaghoob started a section on women’s economy, which incorporated interviews with experts on the gender issues of economics. However, the section was canceled in 2008.
From 2001-2002, Baniyaghoob travelled throughout the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. She has written about women and refugees she encountered, covering issues like social and legal discrimination. She is a founding member of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality, which seeks to alter the discriminatory laws against women in Iran.
Baniyaghoob has also published a book, Journalists in Iran, which related the hardships experienced by Iranian journalists, particularly women. The book includes stories of some of her own experiences. She is also working on a new book, Women in the Unit 209 of Evin, which is founded on her firsthand observations during her own incarceration of women prisoners in Evin Prison in Tehran. Baniyaghoob plans to have the book published outside of Iran.
Photo From
http://www.iwmf.org/blog/2009/10/10/jila-baniyaghoob-2009-courage-in-journalism-award/
Hatoon Al Fassi is a historian at Riyadh’s King Saud Univerity and a crusader for women’s rights. Her areas of expertise include women’s history, women’s issues and Islamic rights, civil reform issues, history of the Arabian Peninsula, Ancient history, heritage preservation, and consumer’s rights.
She is a columnist for al-Riyadh Newspaper. She has had notable media appearances, including being interviewed by Frontline, and featured in a piece by Reuters.
In 2004 campaigned for women’s right in the suffrage in Saudi Arabia. In 2005, she joined the team to write the First Gulf Human Development Report, and was in charge of the section on women and development.
Al Bahar is CEO of the largest financial institution in Kuwait, the National Bank, which has well-established franchises in all business segments. The Bank has an international network of branches, subsidiaries, and representative offices located in international and regional financial centers. It is the highest-rated bank in the Middle East, according to many major rating agencies.
Al Bahar has studied at top institutions in the United States, Singapore, and Canada, and has her expertise in privatization, project finance, bond issues, and private placements.
El-Bakry is Deputy Editor at the official journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, which offers in-depth coverage and analysis of economic and business development in Egypt. Distribution is almost 10,000 copies per month.
El-Bakry’s highest degree is the Masters of Art, which she received at the American University in Cairo.
Ayoubi received her MBA from Harvard Business School, and is the CEO of Rubicon Group Holding, a multi-media company, which is also a non-profit social entrepreneurial organization that addresses homelessness, poverty, and living conditions for the disabled. Through Rubicon, Ayoubi has created jobs in two social purpose businesses, Rubicon Bakery and Rubicon Landscape.
Ayoubi was a Founding Member of the Jordan Chapter of the International Women’s Forum, and has received numerous awards in the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.
Maha Abouelenein received her degree in International Business and Marketing, and her Masters of Communications at Minnesota State University. She specializes in strategic communications, public relations and campaign management, as well as US politics and bridging understanding with Arab cultures, media, and government.
She was a member of the Young Arab Leaders.
