Tahmina Sobat

Tahmina Sobat is a women’s human rights lawyer from Afghanistan. She obtained a law degree from the Herat University of Afghanistan in 2015. Through the FPJRA scholarship, she earned her LLM degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame in 2020. She received a master’s degree in Gender and Women Studies through the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota. Her doctoral research is titled “The Role of Grassroots Feminism in Demilitarization and Peace-Building in Afghanistan.” This research is highly interdisciplinary and draws on international human rights law and a transnational feminist approach. Her research will offer a new perspective on the US counterterrorism strategies and Afghan women’s advocacies for inclusion in the peace process and peace negotiations.

Tahmina has also had a very successful career outside academia. She started her professional experience working as a Monitoring and Evaluation Deputy for the Women Empowerment Program at Zardozi Organization. In 2017, she was as an Ombudsperson at the Independent Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan. She has done extensive research in legal analysis of women’s rights, including women’s harassment in the workplace in Afghanistan; Women’s Role in Peace-building: A Case Study of Afghanistan; and a book review: “A Woman’s Place: US Counterterrorism Since 9/11,” published at Feminist Pedagogy Journal.