Hala Nasr

Thesis Title

Women-only safe spaces as a response to gender-based violence: experiences, limitations and possibilities for refugee women

Description of PhD Project

Women-only safe spaces for refugee women have become a popular institutional response to gender-based violence. Their intuitive appeal has been taken for granted, with little evidence on what happens in practice, who takes part, on what basis, and with what expertise or resources. Through an ethnographic study of two different safe spaces for Syrian refugee women in Lebanon, this project examines the practices, dynamics, and experiences within these safe spaces, particularly as assessed by refugee women themselves.

Supervisors

• Professor Cathy Vaughan
• Dr Karen Block
• Dr Elise Klein

Biography

Hala Nasr is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Health Equity’s Gender and Women’s Health Unit. Hala spent the last six years working in the field of gender-based violence response and prevention in New Zealand and Australia. She was recently awarded the University of Auckland’s Top 40 Under 40 award recognising her contributions in this space. She completed her Master of Arts (Development Studies) at the University of Auckland in 2016, where she examined sexual harassment interventions in Egypt.