An outspoken defender of women’s rights in Islamic societies, Ms. Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. She escaped an arranged marriage by immigrating to the Netherlands in 1992, and served as a member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006. In parliament, she worked on furthering the integration of non-Western immigrants into Dutch society, and on defending the rights of women in Dutch muslim society. In 2004, together with director Theo van Gogh, she made Submission, a film about the oppression of women in conservative Islamic cultures. The airing of the film on Dutch television resulted in the assassination of van Gogh by an Islamic extremist.  At AEI, Ms. Hirsi Ali will be researching the relationship between the West and Islam; women’s rights in Islam; violence against women propagated by religious and cultural arguments; and Islam in Europe.

-Member of parliament, VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy), the Netherlands, 2003-2006

-Researcher, Wiardi Beckman Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2001-2002

-Interpreter and adviser, Office of Intercultural Communication, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1995-2001

 

Education
M.A., Leiden University, the Netherlands

Articles and Short Publications

Cut and Run Won't Do Symposium Does the Free Market Corrode Moral Character?

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Books

Infidel The Caged Virgin

Events

Transatlantic Law Forum: Citizenship in Europe and the United States The Suicide of Reason Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Media Appearance

Defiant Infidel

Speaking Engagements

Coming to America The Role of Journalism Today Ladies First

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Related Links

Media Respond to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel