Muna Ali Abdillahi: A Life Dedicated to Women's Rights

Muna Ali Abdillahi's Lifelong Battle for Somali Women's Rights

Even as a young girl, Muna Ali Abdillahi says she carried a certain anger inside her. When boys at school provoked or harassed her, she refused to take it lying down. "I fought back—physically, if I had to," she recalls.

Abdillahi lives in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia on Africa's eastern coast. "Our society is deeply patriarchal," she explains over the phone. Yet it was her father who encouraged her to stand up for herself and her rights. Though her childhood lies decades in the past, her fight for women's rights has stayed with her. Now 45, she remains as committed as ever.

Trained as a nurse, Abdillahi now works as a gender expert specializing in gender-based violence and female genital mutilation (FGM). In Somalia, she advises institutions including the Ministry of Education and has managed projects funded by the World Bank. "With my team, I work to protect women and children in communities," she says.

For her, economic and political empowerment for women is essential. "Women's political representation matters," Abdillahi stresses. Women bear the brunt of conflicts and disasters, she argues, so their voices and experiences must be heard. They are also indispensable to peacebuilding, often working at the grassroots level.

Fleeing War: A Personal Experience

In German headlines, Somalia is often associated with drought, water shortages, and a persistent hunger crisis. The country is severely affected by climate change, while the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab terrorizes its people. The challenges are immense.

"Even in Mogadishu, water security isn't guaranteed for everyone," says Abdillahi. "Women often have to travel long distances just to get water." For the many internally displaced, accessing food and work is especially difficult—a struggle she knows firsthand.

Abdillahi spent the first ten years of her life in Mogadishu. In 1991, after the overthrow of military dictator Siad Barre plunged Somalia into civil war, her family fled to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland—a region that has functioned as a de facto independent state since 1991, though it remains largely unrecognized internationally. Only recently did Israel extend formal recognition.

Before returning to Mogadishu, Abdillahi trained at the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa, where she met Ifrah Yousuf, a midwife from Somaliland. The nonprofit hospital focuses on women's and children's health, trauma care for war survivors, and education on FGM.

After qualifying as a nurse, Abdillahi initially worked in healthcare before shifting to NGOs in the 2000s. She first advocated for youth education, then turned her focus to women's issues—a highly taboo subject at the time.

"Violence against women, genital mutilation—these were topics people didn't want to discuss," she recalls. "We faced fierce resistance and insults, even from women. Many accused us of trying to impose Western values."

Yet some progress has been made. Today, Abdillahi notes, it is easier to speak publicly about women's rights. "But Somali women still suffer deeply." They deserve basic rights, political participation, and a fairer justice system. "Above all," she says, "they deserve a life they can truly live."