women

By Einat Gedalya-Lavy | – Israelis are heading to the polls in a unique election. The vote on September 17 is the first time Israelis will vote in two elections in the same year, after the Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to form a new coalition government following the April 2019 […]

Feminism

Iran: After barred woman Fan sets herself Alight, Soccer Star Condemns Female ban at Stadiums

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) -The captain of Iran’s national soccer team has renewed his criticism of a ban on female spectators following reports a young Iranian woman set herself alight after being sentenced to prison for trying to attend a men’s soccer match. Masoud Soleimani Shojaei — who is considered a national hero — said on September 6 […]

Feminism

The Political Marginalization of Palestinian Women in the Israeli-Occupied West Bank

Al-Shabaka

By Yara Hawari | – While Palestinian women have always faced political marginalization, developments since the Oslo Accords have caused them to endure perhaps even more formidable challenges when it comes to political participation. Al-Shabaka Palestine Policy Fellow Yara Hawari outlines these challenges and recommends ways for Palestinian women and society to disrupt this process […]

Feminism

Iran: The 14 Defiant Women Who Want To end Gender Apartheid in The Islamic Republic

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) – Iranian human rights lawyer Guity Pourfazel wants to see change in her country and believes Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should step down and the ruling clerical establishment be replaced with a democratic system. Pourfazel is one of 14 women activists in Iran who have publicly called for Khamenei to resign and for […]

Featured

Saudi Woman dissident Refuses to Make Video exonerating Saudi State from Torture Charges

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The family of jailed Saudi dissident and women’s rights activist Loujain Hathloul has announced that the Saudi authorities offered to release her if she would record a video statement saying that she had not been tortured while in government custody. Her sisters say that she refused the offer, and they […]

Saudi Arabia

Are changes to Saudi Arabia’s Guardianship Laws really about Women?

Middle East Monitor

By Zarqa Parvez | – Saudi women are amongst the strongest, most intelligent and inspirational women in the Middle East. Female Saudi academics and activists have lobbied for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia for decades, but unfortunately have faced slow progress and a strong backlash from society and government. The recent changes in Saudi guardianship […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Women Fighting for & Gaining More Liberty, Even as Leaders are Jailed

The Conversation

By Alainna Liloia | – Saudi women will soon be allowed to obtain passports and travel without the permission of a male relative. This new regulation, announced by the government in early August, eases one of the most limiting aspects of the Gulf country’s “guardianship system,” which puts men in charge of their female relatives. […]

Feminism

Cole in Time Magazine for the Fourth of July on Lydia Maria Child and Islam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Time Magazine does an annual feature on unsung moments in American history for their 4th of July edition. This year they asked me to submit one of the 15 vignettes. Influenced by the work of Jeffrey Einboden on Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), I suggested as my unsung moment the 1855 […]

Algeria

Veiling and Revolutions: From Algeria to Sudan

Open Democracy

By Ouissal Harize | – (OpenDemcocracy) – With women leading revolutions in Sudan and Algeria, it is natural to wonder again, will Arab uprisings be finished by women? In his famous essay, ‘Algeria Unveiled’, Frantz Fanon (1959, p. 35) writes: ‘The way people clothe themselves, together with the traditions of dress and finery that custom […]