About the Author

Dr Tina Eftekhar is a spiritual leader of professional development specializing in gender, human rights, women’s empowerment and spirituality. She has over five years of experience at both national and international universities and in the non-profit sectors working to serve women affected by all forms of violence, e.g. trafficking and domestic violence, in a variety of roles, including those of researcher, lecture, author, educator and advisor. She studied International Human Rights Law, in which she received a Master’s degree from the University of Nottingham. After being granted a scholarship from the Human Rights Law Centre for six months UN training and experience in working on projects examining violence against women, Dr Eftekhar was inspired to explore women’s empowerment through spirituality at PhD level at the University of York. Her research and publications include Gender, Law and Women’s Rights, Violations against Women, Gender and New Religious Movements, and Women’s Empowerment in Spirituality. She is currently an Independent Domestic Violence Lecturer and Educator (Spiritual Feminist Approach), and has formed her own innovative program, Women’s Self-empowerment through IUM, to help create and promote women’s agency and change in social and cultural norms, both locally and globally, in order to eliminate forms of violence against women, particularly domestic violence.