women

By Morgan Marietta, UMass Lowell | – Draft opinions circulated among Supreme Court justices are meant to allow for deliberation and editing before a final version is released. They are not the last word, nor ready for public reaction. But on the evening of May 2, 2022, Politico published a bombshell: a leaked draft of […]

Islam

American Muslim women are finding a unique religious Space at a women-only Mosque in Los Angeles

The Conversation

By Tazeen M. Ali, Washington University in St Louis | – As Ramadan draws to a close, Muslims around the world prepare to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of a month of fasting from dusk till dawn and additional acts of worship. On Eid, as in Ramadan, community is an […]

Feminism

Vladimir Putin, the Czar of macho Politics, is threatened by Gender and Sexuality Rights

The Conversation

By Valerie Sperling, Alexandra Novitskaya, Janet Elise Johnson, and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom | – Vladimir Putin has mentioned “gender freedoms” more than once to justify Russia’s war against Ukraine and simultaneously crack down on its own citizens. Most directly, he alleged that Russian citizens who seek “gender freedoms” (alongside foie gras and oysters) are part […]

African-Americans

Ketanji Brown Jackson joins a Court that once Ruled Black Women had no Rights at All

Juan Cole

Revised. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An unprecedented ceremony at the White House on Friday celebrated the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She noted in her remarks, “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme […]

Arab World

Systemic Change Is Coming to the Arab World Thanks to Gen Z Women

Suzan Kanoo

Manama (Special to Informed Comment) – Change is coming, I promise. Even as the pace of modernization in the Arab world shows some signs of acceleration, we all must recognize that deep-rooted cultural norms around women’s roles and rights are slow to evolve. Guess who is going to change that? The women of Generation Z. […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban is holding girls’ education hostage in Afghanistan – the question is, why?

The Conversation

By Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam, University of St Andrews | – Afghan children and teenagers have not had much to look forward to since the Taliban took power in August last year. They have endured six months of uncertainty, anxiety and fear as they waited to see what Taliban rule would bring for them. Women could […]

Feminism

Ukraine’s women fighters reflect a cultural tradition of feminist independence

The Conversation

By Mia Bloom, Georgia State University and Sophia Moskalenko, Georgia State University | – Tens of thousands of Ukrainian women have taken up arms during the war sparked by Russia’s invasion. According to media reports, women constitute as much as 15% to 17% of the Ukrainian fighting force. In the first two weeks of the […]

Authoritarianism

Iran Must Release Prominent Anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah (MESA)

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association | – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, Head of the Judiciary Your Excellencies, We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) to express our grave dismay over the […]

Feminism

Combating Honor Killings among Kurds: Is a New kind of Education Needed?

Alex Poppe

(Special to Informed Comment) – Four women were victims of honor killings during the week of February 17, 2022 in Iraqi Kurdistan. The following week, a fifth woman died after being burned alive by her husband. Despite the launch of an app to combat violence against women, the establishment of a support hotline for gender-based […]