women

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Saudi Arabia has created an application that allows male guardians to track and prevent women from travelling due to the rise in the number of women recently fleeing the ultra-conservative kingdom. The app, called Absher, meaning “Good Tidings” in Arabic, has been in operation for several years, however, it has only recently […]

Feminism

‘Muslim women are stuck between Islamophobes and Islamic fundamentalists’

Open Democracy

By Nandini Archer | – (OpenDemocracy.net) – From France to Malaysia, Muslim women’s rights activists are challenging those who ask them to ‘choose between being a Muslim and a feminist’. “Muslim women are stuck between Islamophobes on the one hand and Islamic fundamentalists on the other”, Suri Kempe, an outspoken rights activist from Malaysia, told […]

Feminism

Paradoxes of Women and Iran’s Islamic Republic: More Education but a hundred Glass Ceilings

AFP

By Amir Havasi and Eric Randolph | – Tehran (AFP) – Saba was just 25 when she left her design job in New York to work on a project renovating an art gallery back in her hometown Tehran. Within months, she won three more contracts to do up galleries and the lobby of an apartment […]

Saudi Arabia

Top Ten Reasons Saudi Women are Running away from their Country

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – Rahaf Mohammed, the Saudi woman who managed to successfully flee her allegedly abusive family, has shed new light on the countless women trapped under the abusive male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. Women face systematic discrimination and are left exposed to domestic violence under the […]

Feminism

Social Media Ridicule: Emirates’ Gender Equality Award Winners All Men

TeleSur

The award was meant to promote female participation in government, however, this year only men were honored. A storm of tweets bombarded the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after it was clear women had been completely excluded from this year’s gender-equality awards ceremony. “Gender balance has become a pillar in our governmental institutions,” said UAE vice […]

Politics

The More Women in Government, the Healthier the Population

The Conversation

By Carles Muntaner< | - In November 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formed the first gender-balanced cabinet in Canadian history. In announcing his cabinet, he ensured that half of his closest advisers (15 out of a total of 30) were women. Canada’s gender-equal cabinet vaulted the country from 20th to fifth place in the world […]

Feminism

Saudi Women Trample Face Veils in Social Media Protest

Middle East Monitor

Saudi women are stepping on the face veils some are made to wear in the conservative kingdom and posting it on social media with the hashtag “the niqab under my foot“. The campaign marks the latest protest against strict dress codes for women in Saudi Arabia, who are required to wear abayas – loose, all-covering […]

Colonialism

Why do we Revere Malala but Not Ahed Tamimi?

The Conversation

By Sarah Kastner | – After Israeli forces shot her 15-year-old cousin in the head with a rubber bullet last December, Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian girl from Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, stood up to the occupying Israeli forces and was arrested and charged for slapping a soldier. The story of the activist went […]

Middle East

Middle East Women Won Changes, Rights in ’18 Despite Backlash

AFP

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | – Women rights defenders have stood up for change across the Middle East and North Africa in 2018 despite a plethora of abuse from governments and armed groups, Amnesty International said Monday. Paying tribute to women activists in a report released on Human Rights Day, Amnesty said they […]