About Shireen and her activism goals:

Born in 1974, Shireen holds an MA in Private Law from the Middle East University. She's a practicing lawyer and an active member in the Jordanian Women's Union; the Arab Organization for Human Rights; Al-Badia Women's Foundation; the Arab Legal Network; and the Women's Committee at the Lawyers' Union. She advocates for women in various civil rights issues under Jordanian law, including discrimination again women in Jordanian society.

Shireen has given lectures and held workshops to educate women about their rights, especially regarding the personal status law, violence against women, and labor law. She says, "My mission was to raise awareness about the law among women in remote areas; I've noticed that a large proportion of Jordanian women, no matter how educated they are, are still largely ignorant -- even 'legally illiterate' -- about their rights under the law."

She has worked to defend women in numerous cases.  For example, she writes, "There was a woman who was married to an alcoholic who would beat her and verbally insult her. She never dared to talk about this to anyone out of fear for herself and her children. Furthermore, she was afraid because she had no other source of income, so she decided to give in to reality and keep living with him for 18 years.  After attending some lectures and workshops, she decided to leave him and move to another house with her kids. And she started a small business that she and her children worked in, mainly depending on physical labor so she could provide for them. She went to the court seeking a divorce, and she got it."

In another case, "There was a young lady whose husband died and left her a fortune, but her husband’s family took it and left her almost nothing, under the pretext that the money was their son's, so no one but them had the right to take it. This is because of the culture of shame and the tribal society we live in, and because women are considered rebels if they demand their inheritance. After attending just one lecture, she found that the inheritance belonged to her too, so she went and demanded her and her children's rights in court, despite the opposition from those around her. The case is still in court."

Shireen is particularly interested in protecting the children of non-Jordanian women married to Jordanian men; she says, "Through my experience as a lawyer and the cases I've seen, I've noticed that many Jordanian men deny their non-Jordanian wives access to their children under the pretext that [their wives] are foreigners, or don't follow their husbands' religion. This effectively separates these mothers from their children, most of whom have lost contact with their children for years. Depriving small children of their natural right to be with their mother in an important time of their life negatively affects the children's personality."

What Shireen learned from her OAI experience:

Shireen states that through her OAI training, she learned skills for mobilizing an audience, gaining support, encouraging people to join her association, and targeting particular groups of people. She also widened her network, saying, "Through the OAI, I've met a number of activists who have been very supportive of my ideas and my cause." She states that she is doing a better job of creating an idea for a project, developing it, and building a work team.

The actions Shireen has taken as a result of her OAI experience:

"This training had a great effect on my life. Before, I had goals, plans, and visions; [but] they were all just thoughts. I knew achieving them would take a lot of time, but with Karen and Samer's help, I was able to translate these thoughts into reality.

"Through my work as a lawyer, I noticed that a lot of women, even highly-educated ones, don't know about the simplest of their rights. So my activism plan called for starting a legal aid unit to help women get their rights in Jordanian courts in accordance with international agreements, in addition to offering social and psychological help to women in need of it.

"The goal of the training was change, and this change really happened with me. After the training and with Samer and Karen's help, I conducted field studies and did strategies to translate my plan into reality. Now I am in the process of establishing a center to offer legal help and information about human rights."

Read the speech Shireen gave at the Jordanian program participants' graduation ceremony for more.