Anika Rahman has spent her life and career fighting for women’s rights and dignity. Her passion was ignited by her childhood where she watched as her grandmother, mother and aunt struggled against the institutionalized sexism in their native Bangladesh. From them she learned courage, tenacity and the will to always fight for justice.
When she was eighteen, Anika came to the United States to attend Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She then went on to earn a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School. In reflecting on those years now, Rahman says that in the four years she spent at Princeton there were many people to admire, but not once did she have a professor who was a woman of color.
Upon graduation from law school, Anika joined the New York law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Following her passion for social justice, it wasn't long before she made the jump to nonprofit work. In 1993, Anika began her nonprofit career as the staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, the world's foremost legal organization for women's reproductive rights. She became the director of International Programs, where she developed a global program dedicated to helping women around the world fight for equality and legal protections. She also led the Center's policy team and gained important experience in the connections between advocacy, legal and communication strategies to effect change. While at the Center, Anika built her nonprofit management and fundraising skills growing a staff of 20 and raising an annual budget of $2.25 million.
In her work she saw first hand the broad and devastating impacts of discrimination and injustice. In 2004, Anika became the president of Americans for UNFPA (United Nation's Population Fund). The United Nations Population Fund is the world's largest funder of reproductive health programs and an anchor for women throughout the world as they strive for health access and equality. As the president of Americans for UNFPA, Anika honed her skills as a nonprofit executive and fundraiser. She focused on significantly expanding their fundraising, dramatically increased their resources during her tenure and negotiated a $37 million bequest for UNFPA and Americans for UNFPA. She was instrumental in raising awareness in this country of the global fight for women's rights and of America's critical role in it.
Where would the world be without the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? What body would have the moral authority to set the standard for nations everywhere? The answer: The United Nations.
Societies are living, evolving entities just like the people who comprise them. And when one or a few decide to change things – if they are very passionate, persistent and, one might argue, extraordinary – societies do change.
Motherhood is not fundamental to women. But even childless women have a stake in childbirth being safe because it’s such a strong indicator of the value a society places on women.
A new book on “50 Facts that Should Change the World” misses the fifty facts that could improve the lives of women.
Bill Hybels, conservative Christian and founder of a Chicago-area megachurch, recently indicated interest in “the plight of women in the developing world.”
This week Americans for UNFPA launches Lifelines, a new online community. We ask women all over the world to share their stories and then compare them with the stories of others. We believe it is these shared experiences that engage people in these global challenges, create lasting relationships and lead people to action.
By focusing exclusively on egregious and tragic examples of the most extreme cases of society failing women, we lose sight of the fact that, in many parts of the world, it’s bad for your health just to be a woman.
Americans for UNFPA’s International Awards for the Health and Dignity of Women showcase contributions from women in the developing world.
It’s tempting to think of early marriage as a solution to economic deprivation. But early marriage almost always means less education, limited opportunities and economic insecurity for the married girl.
Our democratic presidential candidates could have provided the votes to restore funding to UNFPA, but instead, they were out campaigning.
