We Heart: Pakistani Actor Veena Malik

Earlier this year, Pakistani actor Veena Malik, a participant on the Indian television show Big Boss (a variation of the reality show Big Brother), was accused on Express News of shaming Pakistani culture by her behavior while on the show. The newscaster said: There is an allegation against you, made by a segment of Pakistani [...]

Women Rise to the Challenge in the Arab Spring

The scene would have had most Americans readjusting their television sets—or their preconceived notions about Arab society. In the April sun, throngs of protesters washed over the streets of the southern Yemeni city Taiz, most clad head-to-toe in black, their eyes steely with determination. The crowd was festooned with bright baseball caps and signs bearing [...]

Can Social Networking Put Saudi Women Behind the Wheel?

Since 1979, women have not been allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Manal Al-Sharif–who learned to drive in the U.S.–is fed up with the rule. So she posted a video on YouTube explaining why protesting women will start driving in Saudi Arabia beginning on June 17, and who the organizers of the “I Will Drive [...]

The Women Within Elif Shafak

Motherhood is often imagined as a natural state for women, a return to some authentic self that is believed to lie at the core of every woman. In patriarchal societies, writing is rebellion, the woman writer a selfish being willfully defying the image of woman as inherently maternal. What then, is a writer–Turkish and female–to [...]

Breaking the Breast-Cancer Stigma in Saudi Arabia

In October of last year, more than 4,000 women in black abayas topped with pink ponchos gathered together in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to form a giant ribbon in support of breast cancer research–the largest human awareness ribbon to date. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the country–nearly one-quarter of all cancers–so the campaign [...]

France’s Sham Veil Ban

On Monday, France’s controversial veil ban went into effect. Backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, the law does not explicitly mention Islam, but it prohibits the act of covering one’s face in public and would outlaw the full-face veil, or niqab. Offenders must pay a fine of 150 € ($217.47) or take French citizenship classes. Supporters [...]

Unveiling Oppression in Northern Nigeria

When corruption meets patriarchy, it usually means disaster for women in developing countries. That’s the story of the spread of the veil over the villages of northern Nigeria. Since the return to civilian rule in Nigeria in 1999, Muslim sharia law has rapidly gained a foothold in parts of the country. Nigeria is roughly half Muslim [...]

You Can Protest with the Women Liberating the Middle East

On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a group of feminists from across the Middle East have joined together as Women United for the Future of the Middle East to call for regionwide demonstrations in support of women’s rights. They’ve drawn support from the likes of GlobalSister.org, Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press [...]

Iraqi Feminists Join Street Protests

Editors’ note: The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) has hit the streets to ensure that women are a visible presence in the Friday anti-corruption protests inspired by Egypt’s revolution. Of the March 4 protests, OWFI President Yanar Mohammed writes to Ms.: The women of our organization insist to participate in the national struggle [...]

Victim of Terrorism Fights Back With Oscar-Nominated Documentary

The Oscars–the red carpet, the stars, the gowns, the hair, the speeches, the tears … and the women who have made amazing films that are up for honors. The Best Documentary Short category was particularly fertile ground for women this year, with four of the five nominees directed by women. The fifth, Killing in the [...]

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