Payzee Mahmod is a British Kurd living in the UK, a former fashion professional and a campaigner against child marriage and other harmful practices against girls and women.
As campaign manager for the Iranian & Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) that supports women and girls from the Middle East and North Africa, Payzee campaigns against female child marriage, female genital mutilation, virginity testing and hymenoplasty.
She ran a petition and supported IKWRO’s ‘Safeguard Futures Ban Child Marriage’ campaign that resulted in the UK government changing the law in England and Wales to increase the legal age of marriage to 18.
Being a survivor of child marriage herself who also suffered the loss of her sister, who was murdered in a so-called honour killing after leaving her husband, has motivated her to campaign against child marriage and women’s rights.
Payzee attended an Obama leaders’ programme, she supports the Girls not Brides network and she is a TEDx speaker. Her TED Talk entitled ‘A Survivor’s Plea to End Child Marriage’ has been viewed more than a million times.
Mohmad’s advocacy resulted in her being named UK Parliament Volunteer of the Year 2021 and she was given special recognition at the UN Women UK Awards 2020.