Tabasum Wolayat
Afghanistan
Social Anthropology (MPhil), 2014
St Hilda's College, Oxford
Funding: Louis Dreyfus
Coming from an Uzbek-Afghan family, Tabasum has experienced oppression and discrimination against minorities first-hand. Against the law of the Taliban regime, she opened a secret home school for girls, teaching them how to read and write. Her keen interest in different cultures and in particular the role of women-led her to study within the Women’s Studies Programme at Middlebury College, US, from which she graduated in 2012. She has worked to raise awareness of gender and gender inequality issues on the BBC’s Afghan Women’s Hour, and along with friends, Tabasum runs a project called Young Women for Change, which raises awareness and tries to create a safe environment for women in Afghanistan.
As a Weidenfeld Scholar, she organised the 2013 Weidenfeld Debate in Oxford on ‘Women in Afghanistan post-2014 – What is the West’s Responsibility’. In 2015, Tabasum was appointed Director of Admissions and Enrolment Management at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, she was the first Afghan to hold this position since the University was established. Tabasum has been an outspoken advocate for the education of Afghan youth and hopes to become a leader in higher education in Afghanistan.
Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Higher Education at Old Dominion University, Virginia, USA.
