Wafa Bani Mustafa

Jordanian feminist legislator who revolutionized women's rights in the Arab world

Wafa Bani Mustafa, a trailblazing Jordanian parliament member, made history by challenging patriarchal laws through legislative reforms. Born in 1978, she became the first woman to chair Jordan's Women's Empowerment Committee in 2016.

Her groundbreaking 2017 proposal to abolish Article 308 of Jordan's penal code (which allowed rapists to avoid punishment by marrying victims) sparked nationwide debates. After 18 months of protests and advocacy, Jordan's parliament finally repealed the law in August 2017 - a watershed moment for women's rights in the Middle East.

Bani Mustafa continues pushing progressive reforms including:

• Equal citizenship rights for Jordanian women married to foreigners
• Criminalizing marital rape
• Quota systems for female political representation