Keeping Focus on Afghanistan and Iran To Secure Women's Rights

Keeping attention on women’s rights when such stories fade from the headlines was one of the key takeaways from an evening focused on Afghanistan and Iran.

"Journalism is like a weapon," Rukhshana Media founder Zahra Joya said at "Fighting for Women’s Rights: Afghanistan and Iran" at the University of California, Berkeley.

"I believe in the soft power of words."

On March 23, 2023, Joya joined Jane Ferguson, PBS NewsHour correspondent and Pulitzer Center grantee, and Arezou Rezvani, reporter and senior editor for NPR’s Morning Edition, at the event. Geeta Anand, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, also participated.

The Pulitzer Center and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism organized the event with support from the PIMCO Foundation.

One of the biggest challenges in Afghanistan is getting girls into schools, said Ferguson.

Another is public health for women, Rezvani said, adding that girls education and health are tied together.

If girls cannot go to school past age 11, there will be fewer female doctors in a country where male doctors may not treat women and girls.

Watch the conversation in the video above.