Mary Akrami

Mary Akrami is the director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center. ^[1] She represented Afghan civil society at the 2001 Bonn Conference. ^[2] In 2003 the Afghan Women Skills Development Center opened the first women’s shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan. ^{[3] [2]} That shelter provides legal advice, literacy classes, psychological counseling, and basic skills training to women who need them.^[1] Akrami is on call 24 hours a day at the shelter, and under her leadership some of the women there have denounced their abusers publicly and filed court cases against them, something almost unheard of before. ^[4] She has faced threats for her work. ^[1]

She received a 2007 International Women of Courage Award. ^[1]

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