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The ‘In Visibility’ interview series celebrates the inspiring feminists who fight for gender equality and the elimination of violence against women.

Faiza Jama Mohamed is Africa Regional Director of Equality Now. She has more than 20 years of experience working with international organisations and has been instrumental in building several women’s organisations with a focus on promoting peace, gender equality and advocacy for women’s rights. Prior to her current position, Faiza was an active member of the women’s movement in Somalia. In 1998, she received the Hundred Heroines Award in recognition of her activism in support of the human rights of Somali women. In 2008, she was awarded the Hunger Project’s Africa Prize for Leadership for Sustainable End of Hunger. Faiza serves on numerous committees and boards dealing with women’s rights issues and closely supports the work of the African Union Commission.

Her mantra: “Always be optimistic! Obstacles or challenges are temporary and they can be overcome with determination and persistent effort!”

What is one reading, film, artwork you would recommend to others interested in supporting action to achieve gender equality?

Equality Now’s report on rape laws, “The World’s Shame – The Global Rape Epidemic” which will be out soon. It is an analysis of surveys on laws on rape and sexual assault from 82 jurisdictions and shows how laws around the world are failing to protect women and girls from sexual violence.

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What do you think has been the most important legal case addressing violence against women?

Maria da Penha’s Case.

[Editor’s note. Maria Da Penha Maia Fernandes v. Brazil (2001) is a case concerning women’s rights to: equal protection under the law without discrimination, a fair trial, justice and judicial protection – as well as state obligation to prevent, punish and eradicate violence […]

The ‘In Visibility’ interview series celebrates the inspiring feminists who fight for gender equality and the elimination of violence against women.
 

Rahela Sidiqi is chair of the London Refugee Women’s Forum, right to Information Advisor for South Asian Countries and serves as a Trustee at Women for Refugee Women.  She is the founder of Asian Middle East Women and Youth Society (AMEWYS) and Farkhunda Trust. She has strong experience in building solidarity to advocate and fight against social injustice. Previously, Rahela spent 5 years as Senior Advisor to Civil Service Commission in Afghanistan, and worked at leadership level with non-governmental organisations for 15 years. She has a masters degree in Social Development and Sustainable Livelihood from Reading University. 

She is also a poet and storywriter.

What is one reading, film, artwork you would recommend to others interested in supporting action to achieve gender equality?

My advocacy didn’t arise from reading books, but from the incredibly difficult environment of my country, Afghanistan, where early and forced marriage is common and where women find it difficult to access education. When you stand back and observe your own society and find those invisible constraints that hold women back, it becomes hard not to support action to achieve gender equality.

I believe that female performance in the arts, mainly poetry and theatre, can be a great catapult to achieving gender equality, especially in a context like Afghanistan. My experience has been that when women are asked to role-play, to recite poetry, to publicly read the verses, they are given the space to examine their surroundings, express their feelings and even develop difficult but important solutions.

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What are the top cases from around the world – global, regional and/or national – that you believe have been paramount to tackling violence […]

The ‘In Visibility’ interview series celebrates the inspiring feminists who fight for gender equality and the elimination of violence against women.
 

Professor Christine Chinkin FBA is founding Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE. She is a leading expert on international human rights law, and in particular the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). She co-edited the seminal book ‘The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: A Commentary’ and authored the chapter on violence against women and girls. She was scientific advisor to the Council of Europe Committee that drafted the Convention on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the ‘Istanbul Convention’), the most far-reaching international treaty aimed at tackling violence against women and domestic violence.
 

What is one reading you would recommend to others interested in supporting action to achieve gender equality?

There are too many great articles and books written by academics, activists and practitioners. I think the ground-breaking piece by Charlotte Bunch in 1990 ‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights’ is still one of the best; it opened the way for rethinking and reconceptualising human rights in a way that was and continues to be meaningful for women.

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What are the top cases (1-3) from around the world – global, regional and/or national – that you believe have been paramount in tackling violence against women?

It is too difficult to identify the top three cases. Over the past decade or so there have been a string of influential cases that have provided the legal framework for tackling violence against women. Instead, I will select a case from each of the regional human rights systems.

In Europe: […]