Iraq
Women's Rights
Hijri 1389-Present (AH); Common Era 1969-Present (CE)
Zainab Salbi is co-founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a grassroots international humanitarian and development organization that helps women in war-torn areas rebuild their lives, families, and communities. Since 1993 Women for Women has provided 250,000 women rights awareness training, vocation skills education and access to income generating opportunities so they can contribute politically and economically to their societies. The organization has also worked with community leaders to improve women’s rights and socioeconomic opportunities. The organization has disbursed over $79 million in direct aid, micro credit loans, and other services. Ms. Salbi is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Bill Clinton honored her work in Bosnia in 1995, and she was named Time Magazine’s “Innovator of the Month” and received Forbes’ Trailblazer Award. She also earned the 2010 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award. Salbi has served on the Board of Directors for WITNESS, an international human rights organization, and as part of the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Group, which was formed with the goal of bringing more women into peace and security endeavors. As co-author of the best-seller Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam, she recounts the experience of growing up in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. In her second book, The Other Side of War: Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope, Ms. Salbi tells the stories of female war survivors.
