“Nawal Alhawsawi is fighting racism, sexism, and discrimination against people with disabilities.
If you haven’t heard of Nawal Alhawsawi, perhaps you’ve heard of the title she was given about two years ago: “The Rosa Parks of Saudi Arabia.” She earned that accolade after she stood up to being called an Arabic racial slur in 2013.
Alhawsawi, born in Mecca, moved to the United States 12 years ago. “I went to school. I had a life. I married an American,” she told Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International Summit in London on Tuesday. She and her husband then returned to Saudi Arabia, in part, because he wanted to learn Arabic.
That’s when Alhawsawi’s troubles started.