Aneesa Ahmed

Aneesa Ahmed, is a Maldivian politician and women's rights activist who served as the Deputy Speaker of People's Majlis from 2004 to 2009.

Education Ahmed was one of the first people to do the Cambridge O-Level's in the Maldives. She studied as a Humphrey Fellow at Pennsylvania State University from 1985 to 1986.

Career

Early career Ahmed started working as a sister at the government hospital on 7 June 1973. She also served as the Minister of Health and a Minister at the President's Office.

Activism While serving as the Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs in Maldives, where she brought up the subject of domestic violence although it was taboo to do so. When the national radio of the Maldives began to feature religious scholars who claimed female genital mutilation was supported by Islam, she asked the government to intervene, and talked publicly about the harm caused by female genital mutilation. She was the second Maldivian woman to receive an International Women of Courage Award.

She also served as the President of the Family Protection Authority's board.