Education

Hajiya Binta Abdulhamid was born on March 20, 1965, in Kano, the capital of Kano State, in northern Nigeria. She attended primary school and girls’ secondary school in Kano and Kaduna State. Thereafter she attended classes at Bayero University in Kano, where she received a degree in Islamic Studies. While she initially wanted to be a journalist, in 1983 she was encouraged to take education courses at the tertiary level in order to serve as a principal in girls’ secondary schools in Kano State. While other women had served in this position, there had been no women from Kano State who had done so. She has subsequently worked under the Kano State Ministry of Education, serving as school principal in several girls’ secondary schools in Kano State. Her experiences as a principal and teacher in these schools have enabled her to support girl child education in the state and she has encouraged women students to complete their secondary school education and to continue on to postgraduate education. She sees herself as a woman-activist in her advocacy of women’s education and has been gratified to see many of her former students working as medical doctors, lawyers, and politicians.

Keywords: academia and women's studies, education, reform of domestic/family roles

Media: Name Pronunciation Audio, Transcript, Video, YouTube Video

Norie Ape is a Samoan-born, Auckland-raised and now Wellington-based Digital Product Manager (or ‘technology explainerer’) at Te Pukenga [New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology] specifically within the Building and Construction Industry Training Organization [BCITO]. In this role, Norie works alongside cognitively diverse technology teams and connects with the people who use digital services to design, build and implement digital solutions that enable better outcomes in vocational education in Aotearoa [New Zealand] with particular focus on Māori, Pasifika, and disabled learners & employers.  In March 2023, Norie attended the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in New York as the New Zealand Government NGO Delegate to provide high-level advice on the priority theme of “innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” and liaise with non-governmental organizations across Aotearoa. Norie has experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and is passionate about increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika Women in Tech and leveraging a multi-stakeholder approach between government, civil society and private/industry to connect and collaborate to utilize technology for positive outcomes. Within New Zealand Norie is a member of P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A Inc, National Council for Women, InternetNZ, Digital Equity Coalition Aotearoa, TechWomen NZ, United Nations Association of New Zealand & Pacific Data Sovereignty Network & Pasifika in IT. 

Keywords: indigenous issues, politics and the law, education

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015) was an activist and writer. A daughter of Chinese immigrants, she moved to Detroit and worked in grassroots projects together with her partner, James Boggs. They founded Detroit Summer, an intergenerational multicultural youth movement, and wrote in the Michigan Citizen newspaper. She published her autobiography, Living for Change, and among others, received the distinguished Alumna Award from Barnard College, the Chinese American Pioneers Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and a lifetime achievement award from the Anti-Defamation League. A plaque in her honor is at the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY. The GFP staff were saddened by Grace's death in 2015. Read the NYT obituary to learn more about her remarkable life, spanning a full century, as a human rights activist.
Keywords: gender and health, community activism, education, intersectionality, politics and the law
Media: Transcript (English), Video, Bibliography, YouTube Video, Name Pronunciation Audio

Chen Mingxia, born in 1948, is a researcher at the Institute for Legal Research of the China Academy of Social Sciences, and was one of the leaders who initiated an anti-domestic violence project that developed into the first large scale women's NGO in China, Stop Domestic Violence. She headed this first national women's network.
Keywords: feminist conferences, education, gender-based violence, reform of domestic/family roles
Media: Transcript (English, Mandarin), Video (English, Mandarin), Bibliography, YouTube Video (Mandarin, English Dubbed), Name Pronunciation Audio

Sabrina Othman Faraji is an entrepreneur, fashion designer and activist working to promote welfare of rural women through women economic empowerment programs such as tailoring courses. She has a diploma in Business Management & Public Administration from the State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania.  In her work, Faraji encourages entrepreneurship skills among women living with HIV, and recruits some of the trained women into her own enterprise (Kanga Kabisa). She also coordinates the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and many community-based activities (e.g. Marathon, beach clean-up, women empowerment workshops, hand-made crafts exhibitions for the annual Women’s Panorama of the Zanzibar International Film Festival.  Faraji is the recipient of several awards including Business Woman of the Year by Zanzibar Ministry of Trade, Best Social Venture Award by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and Outstanding Community Service Award by the Zanzibar International Film Festival.

Keywords: education, community activism, reform of domestic/family roles

Media: Transcript (Swahili, English), YouTube Video (Swahili, English)

Gao Xiaoxian, born in 1948, is Secretary General of the Shaanxi Research Association for Women and Family. Working as an official in the Shaanxi Provincial Women's Federation, Gao has been a pivotal figure in establishing this influential non-governmental women's organization, and has also been involved in rural development projects.
Keywords: feminist conferences, gender and health, academia and women's studies, education, rural women and land reform
Media: Transcript (English, Mandarin), Video (English, Mandarin), Bibliography, YouTube Video (Mandarin, English Dubbed), Name Pronunciation Audio

Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova, born in 1963, had dual degrees in social work and sociology. She is a professor of sociology at the Higher School of Economics at the National Research University in Moscow, Russia, where she is a leading research fellow and the editor of the Journal of Social Policy Studies. Her professional research interests include social policy, sociology of professions, gender and disability, family and children, and qualitative research methods.
Keywords: academia and women's studies, art/writing as activism, education
Media: Transcript (English, Russian), Video (Russian), YouTube Video (Russian, English), Name Pronunciation Audio

Li Huiying, born in 1957, is Professor of Sociology and assistant Director of the Women Research Center of the Central Party School, providing training for senior level Chinese Communist Party officials. She has succeeded in incorporating courses on gender studies in the official curriculum and runs feminist workshops for faculty nationwide.
Keywords: feminist conferences, academia and women's studies, education, politics and the law, reform of domestic/family roles, rural women and land reform
Media: Transcript (English, Mandarin), Video (English, Mandarin), Bibliography, YouTube Video (Mandarin, English Dubbed), Name Pronunciation Audio

Matilde Lindo (1954-2013) was a feminist leader, teacher, sociologist and activist who focused on issues of violence and discrimination against women and racial discrimination within Nicaragua. She was a proud representative of the black population from the Rosita Mines region. She helped to start a radio program that aimed to raise awareness about violence against women as a violation of women's rights and lead the Network of Women Against Violence during the later years of her life. The GFP staff note with sadness the death of Matilde in 2013. A public obituary celebrating her life and detailing her dedication to women's rights can be found here (Spanish).
Keywords: feminist conferences, gender and health, education, intersectionality
Media: Transcript (English), Video, Bibliography, YouTube Video, Name Pronunciation Audio

Marjorie Mbilinyi was born in New York in 1943 and became a Tanzanian citizen in 1967. She studied at Cornell University (BSc Child Development); Stanford University (MA Ed) and University of Dar es Salaam (PhD). She is a gender activist, scholar and feminist committed to the promotion of gender equity and social justice through policy analysis, writing, organising and mentoring. She is a co-founder of several feminist organizations and activist networks in Tanzania and Africa, including the Feminist Activist Coalition, and Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa, (GERA) Accra, HakiElimu; Women Dignity; Tanzania Participatory Research Network and African Participatory Research Networks; and she was the co-founder and first convenor and director respectively of Women’s Research and Documentation Project (WRDP) and Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP), where she became the Principal Policy Analyst and provided leadership for transformative feminist movement building, participatory gender budget processes and participatory action research at grassroots and national level. Mbilinyi taught at the University of Dar es Salaam. She introduced gender and feminist studies and participatory pedagogy and research methodology in graduate and undergraduate courses, through supervision of independent research theses at MA and PHD level, and numerous writings and research.  Mbilinyi is author of many publications. 

Keywords: art/writing as activism, education, intersectionality

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Prof. Ruth Meena (known as Dada Ruti) was born in Moshi in 1946; she is a feminist, human right activist, scholar and author of several publications on gender and women empowerment. She was the first female Tanzanian Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and served 27 years at University of Dar es salaam, after serving 9 years at both teachers colleges and secondary schools.  In 1991 she coordinated the Gender Program for East and Southern Africa under SAPES, based in Harare, Zimbabwe, forming a network of scholars that produced a book titled Southern Africa, Conceptual and Theoretical Issues. She is a co-founder and the first chairperson of the board of Environmental and Human Rights, Care and Gender Organization, an active member of the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) co-founder and member of the Board of Trustees of the Women Fund-Trust, (WFT-Trust).  In 2013 she actively engaged in the women’s rights movement in demanding incorporation of women’s rights in the constitutional review process.  She has published, authored or co-authored and edited various books, reports, journal articles, and papers on gender, women empowerment and feminist discourses. 

Keywords: academia and women's studies, education, politics and the law

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Yamileth Mejía was born in 1967, joining the national Literacy Campaign as a girl and receiving her teacher training in Cuba in 1984. She is one of the nine feminists formally accused by the Government of Nicaragua for supporting the rights of an eleven year-old girl who had been raped to obtain an abortion. At last contact, she was working for the Project for Comprehensive Services to Victims of Gender-based Violence funded by the Spanish Cooperation Agency.
Keywords: community activism, education, gender-based violence, reproductive rights, reform of domestic/family roles
Media: Transcript (English, Spanish), Video (English, Spanish), Bibliography, YouTube Video (English, Spanish), Name Pronunciation Audio

Penina O. Mhando Mlama was born in Morogoro in 1948; she is a scholar, gender activist, analyst and practitioner of popular theatre in Tanzania, a playwright. She studied at University of Dar es Salaam (BA (Hons) Education), MA Theatre in Education and PhD. Mlama joined the department of theatre arts at the University of Dar es Salaam upon graduating. She is one of the few female writers published in Swahili language in the period from the 1970s to the early 1990s. She was the first female Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic at the University of Dar es Salaam. She pioneered several initiatives to increase admission and performance for female students at the University of Dar es Salaam, and was the co-founder of the TUSEME1 (speak out) empowerment model for gender equality for both primary and secondary schools. She joined the Forum for African Educationalists (FAWE) as an Executive Director and founded and led a progressive program on supporting access, retention and performance for girls. 

She has published her plays as well as many scholarly works, including works aimed at supporting activists.

Keywords: academia and women's studies, community activism, education

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Hyeladzira James Mshelia was born on October 9, 1993, and has a Bachelor’s degree (B.SC) in Environmental Biology, which she has used to develop targeted programs and interventions on environmental sustainability and climate action. She is a Gender, Inclusion, and Environmental specialist and a Programs Associate at Connected Development, with technical and programmatic management skills in designing and implementing gender equality, environmental and climate related projects, policy influencing, and WASH campaigns in Africa. Hyeladzira is part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, a global network of activists and influencers who advocate for climate crisis and justice. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum; a Global Shaper with the Abuja hub where she operates as the grants manager and co-chairs the “Abuja Dialogue Series” aimed at policy development from community/stakeholder engagement, mobilization, and dialogue. Hyeladzira additionally has experience in developing communication interventions through data storytelling and strategic use of program-related information advocacy.

Keywords: education, environment

Media: Transcript (English), YouTube Video

Samanta Picciaiola was born in 1976. She received her research doctorate in Italian studies at Sorbonne Paris IV and the University of Florence and a degree in philosophy from University of Bologna. She has worked full time as a public primary school teacher since 2005. She is an activist for the rights of LGBTQ+ people. 

Keywords: community activism, education, gender-based violence

Media: Transcript (Italian, English), YouTube Video (Italian, English Subtitles)

Natal'ia L'vovna Pushkareva was born in 1959 in Moscow. A historian by training, at last contact she was the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pushkareva is considered to be a principal founder of the field of women’s studies in Russia and served as a collaborator for the Russia portion of the Global Feminisms Project, conducting the majority of the interviews.
Keywords: academia and women's studies, reform of domestic/family roles, education
Media: Transcript (English, Russian), Video (English, Russian), Name Pronunciation Audio

Iara Amora dos Santos, born in 1984 in Fortaleza, Ceará, is a project supervisor at the Center for the Working Woman, an NGO in Rio de Janeiro that supports working class women in understanding their rights. Iara received her B.A. in Law from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and has a degree in Women and Human Rights from the Law School at the University of Chile.
Keywords: education, politics and the law, reproductive rights, gender-based violence
Media: Transcript (Portuguese, English), Video, YouTube Video (Portuguese, English Subtitles), Name Pronunciation Audio

Dr. Rebecca Stringer studied Art History and Criticism and interned at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection before completing a Ph.D in Political Science at Australian National University. Her research examines theories, meanings and politics of victimhood in modern and neoliberal times, and her book Knowing victims: Feminism, agency and victim politics in neoliberal times (2014) examines the neoliberal transformation in how we talk about and conceptualise victimization. Rebecca’s other publications trace the dynamics of victim politics in contexts including Indigenous policy in Australia, the government of drug use, rape law, and the rise of precarious academic work, and her current projects examine the origins of victimology and the visual culture of victimhood. Rebecca teaches and supervises in the areas of feminist theory and critical victimology at the University of Otago. She has been a visiting fellow at the University of Alberta, the University of Sydney, and Flinders University, and has presented her research at conferences and events in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, North America, the UK, and Europe. 

Rebecca was co-editor, with Hilary Radner, of Feminism at the movies: Understanding gender in contemporary popular cinema (2011), and with Damien Riggs she co-edits the book series Critical perspectives on the psychology of sexuality, gender, and queer studies, which publishes scholarship challenging the way psychology has traditionally thought about bodies, identities, and experience, with a focus on sex, gender, and sexuality. 

Keywords: academia and women's studies, education, politics and the law

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Ruth Vanita, born in 1955, is an author and professor at the University of Montana, where she teaches courses in the Humanities, Literature, and Women's Studies. She was formerly a reader in English at Miranda House and the English department, Delhi University. She is one of the founding co-editors of Manushi, India's first feminist journal.
Keywords: education, gender-based violence, LGBTQ rights, community activism, academia and women's studies
Media: Transcript (English), Video, Bibliography, YouTube Video, Name Pronunciation Audio