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Impact

Zainab Salbi Has Spent Her Life Rebuilding Women’s Lives After War

Image by Ellinor Stingle

25 Jul '25
By The Shift
25 Jul '25
By The Shift

The Shift highlights women’s stories through the lens of impact. It hopes to contextualize history and inspire action.

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Zainab Salbi is a humanitarian, author, founder of Women for Women International, and co-founder of Daughters for Earth. Her work has connected nearly one million women from 68 countries, helped over half a million women in war zones rebuild their lives, and is currently supporting thousands of women on the frontline of addressing climate change. She is a global feminist who uses her voice to champion women’s rights worldwide.

The Shift:

As we look to the future, what is one key change or innovation you believe is essential for advancing equality and empowerment in your field?

Zainab:

The most important issue facing humanity is climate change. We cannot solve Climate Change without women’s wisdom and full inclusion in decision-making on all solutions. In fact, we need to make the 21st century the feminine century. Otherwise, our humanity is at stake.

 

The Shift:

Who is a woman who has inspired or mentored you, and what lessons from her influence have stayed with you?

Zainab:

Alice Walker! She has been an amazing friend and mentor who taught me to see my activism in women’s rights and justice as an interconnected issue to my self-care, spirituality, creativity, love, and joy.  We can not separate one from the other; the cause does not require us to sacrifice ourselves.

The Shift:

In honor of Gloria Steinem’s 90 years of advocacy, what do you believe is her most enduring contribution to women’s empowerment, and how has it inspired your own journey?

Zainab:

Gloria has inspired generations with her everlasting contributions. She is constantly generous in her mentorship of women, in speaking truth to power, in her grace and beauty, and in embodying the meaning of personal freedom. She is a free woman who paved the path for freedom for all women.

 

 

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Zainab Salbi is honored as part of The Shift’s “90 Plus One” list, which recognizes influential women shaping contemporary culture. With Gloria Steinem featured on the inaugural print cover, the list pays homage to her 91 years of activism by highlighting a powerhouse community of women shifting culture.