Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal was born in 1963 in Ankara, Turkey to ethnic Balkan parents. She studied at Ankara University to obtain a PhD in Islamic Theology, which would mark her career as a women’s rights and Islamic rights advocate. In 1994, she cofounded the Capital Women’s Platform, an organization which mean the challenge the religious basis of sexism and injustice for religious women in secular settings. Hidayet identifies as a religious feminist and has spent her career challenging Islamic ideals and interpretations that lead to the marginalization of women. One of her most famous works and pieces of research is an academic study of gender bias in the hadith. On the basis of this research, she called for the resolution of contradictory assertions about the rights of women in hadiths. In addition to her academic research, she has also published a book detailing the history Turkeys Islamist Women’s movement and contributes to a column for the newspaper Taraf. Much of her writings detail the issues facing religious women, from within the religious community and outside in the secular community as well. One example of this is the protests that she led, asserting a woman’s right to wear hijab after headscarves were banded in educational institutions in a secular Turkey after the coup in 1997. In addition to challenging oppression from the secular community, she also fights misogynist culture, seeking to liberate religion from male hegemony. In addition to her domestic activism, Hidayet has also spoke out about the US occupation of Iraq, criticizing the neocolonialist policies that led to the occupation.