What is Gita Sahgal?
[[File:Gita Sahgal 3.png|thumb|Gita Sahgal spoke in London in 2017.]] '''Gita Sahgal''' (born 1956 / 1957) is a writer on the subjects of [[feminism]] and [[fundamentalism]]. She was the leader of Amnesty International's gender unit from 2003 to 2010. Sahgal was born in [[Bombay]] in [[India]]. Her mother is writer [[Nayantara Sahgal]]. She was raised as a [[Hindu]]. In 1972 she moved to [[London]]. In London she studied at the [[SOAS, University of London|School of Oriental and African Studies]]. In 1977 Sahgal went back to India. She moved back to England in 1983. ==Career== In 1979 she started [[Southall Black Sisters]] with Pragna Patel. SBS is an organization that helps Asian and black women who are experiencing [[domestic violence]], [[sexual violence]], forced marriage, etc. She started Women Against Fundamentalism in 1989 with Patel, Clara Connolly, and Nira Yuval-Davis in response to [[Salman_Rushdie#Controversy|the Rushdie affair]]. In 1992 Sahgal wrote in ''Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain'' and edited it with Yuval-Davis. In 2003 Sahgal became the head of [[Amnesty International]]'s gender unit. In 2010 Sahgal was fired because she wrote an article for the ''Sunday Times'' criticising Amnesty's associations with [[Moazzam Begg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/amnesty-suspends-nehru-kin-row-over-prisoner-released-from-guantanamo-bay/cid/547247|title=Amnesty suspends Nehru kin - Row over prisoner released from Guantanamo Bay|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref> She left the organization. The Centre for Secular Space was started by Sahgal in 2011. ==Personal life== Sahgal is an atheist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/who-speaks-human-rights/|title=Who Speaks for Human Rights?|first1=D. D.|last1=Guttenplan|first2=Maria|last2=Margaronis|date=18 March 2010|publisher=|via=www.thenation.com|access-date=15 February 2019|archive-date=21 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121041948/https://www.thenation.com/art