Alanoud Alsharekh

Alsharekh was born in Kuwait.[1] She studied at Al Bayan Bilingual School and would have graduated in 1992 but could not due to the invasion of Kuwait.[2] She studied English literature at King's College London.[3] She earned her bachelor's degree in 1996, before moving to SOAS University of London[4] to study applied linguistics. She was supported by a scholarship from Kuwait University.[2] She returned to Kuwait pregnant with her daughter at the same time that the suffrage movement was starting.[2] When women lost their fight for full political rights in 1999, she returned at SOAS for her doctorate, focusing on comparative feminism and Middle Eastern studies.[2][5]

After completing her PhD she was appointed a research associate at SOAS.[6][7] She joined Uppsala University where she became interested in literature of the Middle East.[2] She has served as a visiting academic and senior consultant at Uppsala University, Whittier College[8] and Kuwait University.[3][6] She was appointed to the Kuwait National Security Bureau in 2008.

Alsharekh is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, where she leads a program called "Empowering Kuwaiti Women in Politics".[9] She is simultaneously director of the Ibtkar Strategic Consultancy. In this capacity she has worked to support women's rights both in Kuwait and overseas.[10] Ibtkar led the "Empowering Kuwaiti Women in Politics" program, which included a year of training for Kuwaiti women in political leadership.[11][12] Alongside training women in Kuwait, Ibtkar has run culturally sensitive training for Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Royal College of Art.[11]

Alongside her advocacy with Ibtkar, Alsharekh has served as director of the "Friends who Care" campaign for young girls who are at risk within the social care system of Kuwait.[13] She has worked as a gender consultant for both UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme.[13] She delivered a TED talk in Kuwait City where she spoke about her feminist activism.[14] Alsharekh is the founding director of the "Abolish 153" campaign, that looks to end honour killings[15] in Kuwait.[16][17] She is also head of department at the Arab Open University.[8] In 2018 she was made a non-resident fellow at The Arab Gulf States Institute.[18] She serves on the advisory board of the Global Diplomatic Forum.[19]

• 2013 Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Arab Prize in Social Science and Humanities Research for best publication in a foreign journal
• 2015 European Union Chaillot Prize for Human Rights[20]
• 2016 Ordre national du Mérite[10]
• 2019 Outstanding Arab Woman[21]
• 2019 BBC 100 Women[22][23]

• Alsharekh, Alanoud (30 March 2011). "Reform and Rebirth in the Middle East". Global Politics and Strategy. 53 (2): 51–60. doi:10.1080/00396338.2011.571010.
• Alanoud, Alsharekh (2012). Popular Culture and Political Identity in the Arab Gulf States. Saqi. ISBN 978-0863568626.
• Alanoud, Alsharekh (2005). Challenging Limitations: Conference on the Redefinition of Roles for Women in the GCC. Saffron Books. ISBN 1872843352.

• Abolish 153