My primary focus areas are women’s economic and political empowerment which has led me to conduct different studies analyzing the situation of women economically and politically. I am a board member of the international solidarity network- Women Living Under Muslim Laws where I participate in different regional plans for supporting and advocating women’s rights. Since April 2010, I work as MENA Regional Coordinator and Arabic Facilitator for the iKnow Politics Project. My work focuses on enhancing the accessibility of women working in politics to resources, connection and experiences from different regions in the world. I am also the women political participation advisor to Nazra for Feminist Studies, Egypt.

For me, feminism is about seeing women as human beings. This is of course contrary to the tendency within society to objectify women. I see my role as playing a critical role in challenging, confronting and overcoming obstacles that prevent women from accessing their basic rights and dignities, in both public and personal circles.

The greatest threat to women (and the feminist movement) is the increasing influence and power of militarism cooperating with fundamentalism. For women, the impact is the limitations and restrictions that are being called for in their private lives, and also attempts to inhibit their role and participation in public life.

In my own life, I have consistently striven, analyse and addressed the roots of fundamentalism. I have also stood up to defy arguments presented and personally adopted a life system that refute all the claims of fundamentalists and in so doing confronted their belief system.

For the feminist movement to advance, networking between different feminist groups in African countries is an important strategy. In addition to recruiting a new generation of young feminists who want to learn and benefit from the movement, I also believe that the movement would benefit from using the media either the traditional or new types to disseminate its messages and calls and try to break the stereotype of Feminists. I also think that the translation of the Charter into the different languages used in Africa will help it reach more groups on the continent who would be able to use it as an advocacy tool in different platforms.

I am always inspired by the daily struggle of women y to secure a stable income for their families and the hard work exerted by women to find a place for themselves in the public space whether it be in parliament, politics or other spaces that seem reserved for men.