Mahsa Abdolzadeh (; born 22 September 1985) is an Austrian politician for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

in Vienna and a political scientist. She is a feminist and an activist for women,

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

, and minority rights.

Early life and career

Abdolzadeh was born during the Iran-Iraq War in

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

, Iran, and grew up in both Tehran and Vienna. She later moved to live solely in Vienna, in 2004. She has earned a master's degree in political science from The University of Vienna in 2013 whilst studying child social work in a private college in Vienna. After completing her studies, she published a book depicting women movements in Iran. This text has been one of the most notable works in German academia, concerning women's rights in Iran. In 2017, Abdolzadeh opened the first gender-neutral and religion-neutral kindergarten in Austria, based on her concept from her doctoral thesis. Like many other pioneers of alternative education, she faced massive attacks and had to endure a severe shitstorm between 2022 and 2023 from Right-wing politicians in Austria accused her of misusing funding. It wasn't until the summer of 2023 that the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office proved her innocence and dropped the charges. Currently, investigations are ongoing against those who sought to discredit Abdolzadeh's forward-thinking ideas. She has published numerous articles in the German and Persian languages, primarily about feminism in Europe and the Middle East, European Immigration Politics, and the negative effects of fundamentalist Islamic education among the Jihad. She initially started her work in sales management, later becoming a social worker. After her studies, she became a women's adviser for the Green Party in Vienna. As of 2015, she is an elected politician for the Green Party in the 19th district of Vienna.

Publications

* (2014) (Hamburg Kovac)

References

Politicians from Tabriz 21st-century Austrian women politicians 21st-century Austrian politicians Austrian LGBTQ rights activists Austrian women activists Austrian feminists 1985 births Living people The Greens (Austria) politicians {{LGBT-activist-stub