Sheryl Sandberg, former Chief Operating Officer of Meta and founder of LeanIn.org — an NGO dedicated to empowering women and girls — told a Stanford audience that the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and sexual violence against women drew her back to the spotlight with a message for the world:

“What is at stake is actually important for all of humanity,” she said at a Nov. 19 film screening of her documentary, Screams Before Silence. The event was hosted by the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program, housed at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and Hillel at Stanford.

The film included eyewitness accounts from released hostages, survivors, and first responders. During the Hamas attacks on Israeli towns and at the Nova Music Festival, women and girls were raped, assaulted, mutilated, and killed. Released hostages have revealed that Israeli captives in Gaza have also been sexually assaulted.

Yet, as Sandberg noted, the atrocities have received little scrutiny or attention from human rights and feminist groups, international organizations, and others. Some denialists have even said Hamas’ sexual violence never took place or that it was invented by Israel itself — an echo of 9/11 denialism and antisemitic conspiracy theories. So, Sandberg undertook the challenge of creating a 60-minute documentary, which has now registered almost three million YouTube views while also being screened around the world.

‘Make people see this’

Sandberg interviewed survivors and witnesses and survivors and traveled to the site of the Nova Music Festival, where 364, mostly young revelers, were murdered in the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history. She viewed hundreds of photos of dead bodies of women who displayed clear signs of sexual abuse and harm.

She noted that even war has rules of law and that what she discovered while making the film was often incomprehensible, tragic, and heartbreaking.

Rape should never be used as an act of war, she said, and silence is complicity. “We know we have to keep fighting and trying to make people see this.”
 

Mona Tajali, a scholar of gender and politics, has been a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law since 2023. Her research interests include women’s political participation and representation in Muslim countries, with a comparative focus on Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey, as well as the institutionalization of women’s rights in semi- or non-democratic contexts. This fall, Tajali brings her extensive expertise to Stanford's undergraduates through a new course, FEMGEN 202: Global Feminisms. Tajali previously designed and taught this course as an associate professor of international relations and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Agnes Scott College, a historically women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta.

"Global Feminisms" is designed to explore the diverse and often conflicting ways in which feminists around the world advocate for gender equality. The course promises to provide students with an interdisciplinary framework to critically engage with feminist theories and practices on a global scale. Rather than merely surveying the various feminist movements, FEMGEN 202 aims to equip students with the analytical tools to understand and research feminist activism across different cultural and political contexts.

The course begins with foundational concepts such as intersectionality, othering, and postcolonial feminism. These concepts are crucial for understanding the historical power dynamics and hierarchies that have shaped feminist discourses, particularly in non-Western contexts. Tajali’s course also delves into the complexities of religiously inspired forms of feminism, including Islamic feminism, challenging students to think beyond traditional Western feminist paradigms.

Tajali’s course is particularly timely as the global feminist movement continues to navigate the challenges of building solidarity across borders. Students will be encouraged to consider how feminists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives can work together to address common concerns, despite sometimes having opposing views on how best to improve the status of women.

Tajali’s academic journey has been marked by a deep commitment to understanding and advancing women’s rights in complex political contexts. Tajali is the author of several significant works, including Women’s Political Representation in Iran and Turkey: Demanding a Seat at the Table (2022) and Electoral Politics: Making Quotas Work for Women (2011), both of which are accessible as open-access publications. Her co-edited volume, Women and Constitutions in Muslim Contexts (2024), was also published this year, applying a gendered lens to the study of national constitutions of several Muslim countries. Her research has been further published in both academic and popular outlets, among them the Middle East Journal, Politics & Gender, The Conversation, and The Washington Post.

Beyond her academic contributions, Tajali has been an active participant in transnational feminist networks. She is a long-term collaborator with Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), a global solidarity network that advocates for women’s rights in Muslim contexts. Since 2019, she has also served on the executive board of WLUML, further bridging the gap between academia and grassroots activism, and currently directs their Transformative Feminist Leadership Institute.

As Tajali brings her expertise to Stanford this fall, students will have the unique opportunity to engage with global feminist issues through the lens of a scholar deeply immersed in both academic research and practical advocacy. "Global Feminisms" promises to be a transformative course that not only broadens students’ understanding of feminism worldwide but also prepares them to contribute thoughtfully to the ongoing global conversation about gender equality.

What does women’s representation look like under autocratic governments? In a recent research seminar series talk, CDDRL Visiting Scholar Mona Tajali, who is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Agnes Scott College, explored the complexities of this issue in the contexts of Iran and Turkey. 

Tajali’s talk underscored the gap between women’s political participation and representation. Voter turnout rates for women match those of men, and they are quite active in political organizations and in mobilizing for political causes. However, rarely do they reach the highest level of government. It is clear that structural factors, at times more than cultural or religious factors, are impeding women’s accession to senior government posts. 

Women in Iran and Turkey, from across different ideological currents, have long been demanding greater representation and calling for a level playing field. While there has been some progress in enhancing women’s representation, Tajali reminded us that nominal representation does not always lead to meaningful power or influence. Contradictory politics intervenes, with parties sometimes treating women as politically expedient tokens.

But, despite the impediment women face in formal politics, there are many examples of feminist movements making meaningful advancements. The Turkish movement KADER ran a campaign highlighting those parties who were truly responsive to women’s demands, not just those paying lip service. This was effective in putting pressure on mainstream parties to better represent the women in their electorate. In Iran, an online campaign was launched to change the male-dominated face of parliament. It identified misogynist candidates and incumbents with a poor record in their stances on women’s rights. 

However, the state has little tolerance for women critical actors seeking to challenge the status quo. The Council of Guardians in Iran and male party leadership in Turkey have disqualified and prevented many women from running for office. There has been an uptick in the harassment and intimidation of outspoken women in the parliament, not to mention the crackdown on feminist groups. This backlash has undermined collaboration among women activists who do hold political office.

As the confidence in electoral politics wanes, an important shift is happening with a demand for bottom-up political change. Groups are coming together to discuss their grievances despite the authoritarian contexts in which they are operating. The feminist movements are becoming bolder, clearer, and less censored in their demands. From journalists to students, women are engaging in courageous acts of defiance, many of which carry very real consequences.