In 2025, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the furthest from achieving gender parity, with a Global Gender Gap score of 61.7% according to the World Economic Forum.
Despite targeted efforts and incremental progress in select areas, women across the region continue to face entrenched institutional, legal and cultural barriers that limit their full participation in public, political, and economic life.
While women in many MENA countries outnumber men in university enrollment, these educational gains have not translated into commensurate representation in the workforce and leadership roles. Female Labour Force Participation remains among the lowest in the world, and political representation remains limited, with several countries maintaining minimal or no female presence in national legislatures. Legal codes, particularly those governing personal status, continue to restrict women, and enforcement of existing protections is often inconsistent or absent.
Despite these structural impediments, women have made notable strides in entrepreneurship, health, technology, media, and civil society, highlighting areas of resilience and opportunity, and reinforcing the need for comprehensive reform, gender-based policymaking, sustained investment in women’s leadership, legal equity and economic inclusion.
Launched in 2022 and directed by award-winning author and historian Dr. Nina Ansary, the WLI promotes a nuanced understanding of women’s rights and gender equality issues in the Middle East and North Africa region through inclusive engagement between scholars, activists, thought leaders, and policymakers.
To mark the two-year anniversary of the brutal killing in “morality police” custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini 16th September, igniting the Woman. Life. Freedom movement, we honor and commemorate her memory and enduring legacy, its profound impact on the global community and the struggle for freedom, human rights and democracy in Iran.
This fellowship is dedicated to supporting emerging female scholars, policymakers, leaders and advocates who are committed to driving change in Iran and across the Middle East and North Africa region, advancing the cause of women’s rights, gender equality and social justice.
The objective of the fellowship aligns with the vision of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum Women’s Leadership Initiative contributing to broader regional foreign policy objectives, including but not limited to highlighting the egregious and dire human rights situation for women and girls in Iran and Afghanistan, systemic and institutionalized gender-based oppression and crimes against humanity with impunity.
Dr. Nina Ansary is an award-winning Iranian American historian, author, and women’s rights advocate whose interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the history of women’s rights in Iran and the broader implications of institutionalized gender discrimination.
Born in Tehran and educated in the United States, she received her Master of Arts and Ph.D. from Columbia University, where her academic work laid the foundation for her first book, Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran. Based on her doctoral research, the book shatters stereotypical assumptions and reveals the unexpected ways in which Iranian women have advanced their rights, particularly in the post-revolutionary period. The book received numerous literary awards, including the Eric Hoffer Award and the International Book Award in Women’s Issues.
Her second book Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality, examines the systemic exclusion of women from recorded history and the persistent fight for equal rights. The book garnered multiple awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Book Award and the Indie Book Award in Women’s Issues.
Dr. Ansary is active in international efforts to advance women’s rights and has served as a UN Women Global Champion for Innovation and a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is currently the Director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative and a member of the Advisory Board at the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum.
A frequent guest on media outlets, she has appeared on CNN, BBC, Fox News and Larry King, and her work and commentary have been featured in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Time, Teen Vogue, and the Yale Journal of International Affairs.
Dr. Ansary is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Columbia University’s Outstanding Alumni Award, and the Barnard College Columbia University Trailblazer Award.
To contact Nina Ansary, please send an email to nina@ninaansary.com or connect with her on:
X/Twitter (@drninaansary)
Instagram (@ninaansary)
Facebook (facebook.com/ninaansary)
