Women, Power, and Progress: The History of Women’s Rights and the Ongoing Quest for Equality
Join us on March 13, 2025, for an insightful presentation by Dr. Nina Ansary, a leading expert on women’s rights and gender equality. With extensive research and advocacy on gender bias, women’s empowerment, and historical inequalities, Dr. Ansary has shaped global conversations on women’s rights.
The history of women’s rights is a long and intricate labyrinth marked by courageous battles, significant milestones, and formidable challenges. This journey spans centuries and encompasses diverse cultures, societies, and political landscapes, demonstrating a universal yearning for equal rights and opportunities.
Despite progress, women worldwide continue to face significant obstacles, including persistent wage gaps, disproportionate violence and harassment, barriers to education and healthcare in many regions and lack of representation in leadership and decision-making roles. “Women, Power, and Progress” provides a panoramic view of the roots and manifestations of institutionalized and systemic gender discrimination, illuminating the social, economic, and political trends that continue to obstruct the depth of human potential.
Dr. Ansary will provide insight and critical analysis of the repercussions of centuries of historical bias and how the global community can work together to create a more equitable future.
- WACC Private Reception Sponsorship and Underwriting (March 13, 2025) – Download Link
- WACC Speaker Series Sponsorship and Underwriting (March 13, 2025) – Download Link
Program Information:
Date:
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Check-In and Pre-Lunch Networking:
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Lunch & Presentation:
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location:
Hilton Charlotte Uptown
Cost:
$50 (WACC Member Rate) | $65 (Non-Member Rate) | $35 (Young Professionals of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte — YPWACC) | $35 (WACC Student Member / WACC Educator Member)
- Please call 704-687-7762 for credit card payments over the phone.
- Checks can be mailed to “World Affairs Council of Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., CHHS 227, Charlotte, NC 28223.
Biography:
Dr. Nina Ansary is an award-winning Iranian-American author, historian and women’s rights advocate. She is the director of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum Women’s Leadership Initiative at the University of Cambridge and former visiting fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace and Security.
Her best-selling books Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran and Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality garnered numerous awards – including the International Book Award in “Women’s Issues” and the Benjamin Franklin Book Award in “History.”
Ansary is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Barnard College, Columbia University Trailblazer Award, the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, and the Girl Up, UN Foundation Girl Hero Award. She has appeared on CNN International, Fox News, Larry King, the Today Show, CBS Radio, the BBC, and Sky News and been featured in a variety of publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Time Magazine, HuffPost, Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper, Teen Vogue and The Daily Beast. Ansary regularly presents her work at academic institutions and conferences, including Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge univeristies, as well as the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the World Affairs Councils of America, and the UN Women Commemoration of International Women’s Day.
Ansary holds a Master of Arts in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies and a PhD in History from Columbia University. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Iranian American Women Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum, an independent, non-partisan think-tank at the University of Cambridge.
She can be found on Twitter @drninaansary | Instagram @ninaansary | Facebook facebook.com/ninaansary