Ms. Oates is a professional human rights advocate and international development practitioner, with particular expertise in gender and women's human rights. Much of her work is focused on the use of information communications technologies (ICTs) and language accessibility, and her skills include the design and use of accessible information to advance human rights, particularly in the Muslim world. She has worked with clients in Canada, the UK, Germany, the U.S., Ghana, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

She has been working as an activist on women's rights in Afghanistan since 1996, as the founder of the Vancouver and Montréal Chapters of the non-profit solidarity network, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) and also currently sits on their Board of Directors as Vice President. She managed the CIDA-funded Women's Rights in Afghanistan Fund, and other projects supporting women's movements and peace-building in the Middle East and Central Asia from 2002-2006 at the Women's Rights programme at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. In 2004, she conceived Ideaccess, which translates and distributes human rights and women's rights information and tools into Arabic, Farsi, and other languages free of charge in the Middle East and Central Asia. In 2006, Ideaccess was a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge and received honourable mention in the awards ceremony at the Nobel Hall in Stockholm.

She holds an Honours BA in international development studies from McGill University, an MA in human security and peace-building from Royal Roads University, and is a Ph.D student in education (Dept. of Language and Literacy Education) at the University of British Columbia. Her graduate thesis research was concerned with the links between access to information and the growth of civil society in the Middle East and Central Asia, and her current doctoral research is focused on the role of community libraries and educational tools for illiterate audiences in East Africa.

She speaks English and French and is a student of Dari. She is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2000 Chatelaine Women of the Year, the 2001 National Post/L'Oréal Canada Women of Influence, and a finalist for the Public Service award at the YTV Achievement Awards. She is based in Vancouver as an independent consultant and travels frequently in the Middle East and Central Asia.