Hala Aldosari, PhD, Saudi Arabia/USA, is a scholar-activist best known for advocating for women’s rights and protection from violence in Saudi Arabia. Her writing, speaking, and activism focuses on ending the country’s oppressive male-guardianship law and reforming family law. She was part of the protest to end the driving ban in Saudi Arabia; founded Aminah, an online resource center to promote full citizenship rights of Saudi women; and hosted a radio show for women’s rights. Hala’s activism and extensive writing for international media draw from her research on women’s health, women’s rights, and violence against women in Saudi Arabia. Currently, she is at the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS) as its Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow conducting research on successful initiatives of women’s rights in the Arab countries and will use her fellowship to establish an advocacy organization to advance women’s and human rights in Saudi Arabia. Hala was previously a scholar in residence at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University, where she examined the intersection of reproductive health and women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. In 2018, she was awarded the Alison Des Forges Award by Human Rights Watch for her extraordinary activism. Hala is part of the steering committee for the Every Woman Treaty to end violence against women and girls. For this podcast, she is joined in conversation with FiLiA’s Sadia Hameed.

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