Egyptian Women Rally Around “The Girl in the #BlueBra”

This week, the world saw just how brutal the Egyptian military can be towards women who dissent. A video, which has gone viral, shows military police dragging a hijab-clad woman protester through the street, beating her senseless, then stomping on her exposed stomach as she lies motionless in her blue bra. That image has become [...]

Making Change

By Amanda Robb Even though Anika Rahman has lived in the United States more than 20 years, the Bangladeshi native can still be stunned by gender inequities in “the land of the free.” There’s that persistent wage gap, for example, that has U.S. women earning 77 cents to a man’s dollar, with African American women [...]

The Afghan Patriarchy Does NOT Know Best

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, Afghan women may have less to celebrate and more to fear–at least if a proposed law to bring women’s shelters under government control is allowed to pass. Along with the displacement and instability caused by 30 years of war, Afghan women have long been oppressed and held to [...]

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 [...]

Middle Eastern and North African Protests Shatter Myths About Muslim Women

Anyone remember one of the most striking images to surface from Iran’s uprising last summer after the country’s so-called elections? Yes, Iranian women protesting, playing a huge role in shaping this revolt against their government. Why should people be surprised? Iranian women, who make up 65 percent of university students in the country, are also [...]

Muslim Mothers of Invention

I was going to write an essay about the Muslim inventors showcase 1001 Inventions–the big, splashy exhibit at the New York Hall of Science till April–but then there was a massacre in Tucson. Since the attempt on Congresswoman Giffords’ life called to mind the ghastly and vicious intolerance that has come to describe American political [...]

United Arab Emirates: Where It’s Okay To Beat Your Wife and Kids

Seems like Emiratis have been working so hard over the past decade to make sure one main message gets across to the international community: We are modern, we have money, come build in our desert. Not enough water for you? We will import it in. Too hot for your liking? We will create 30 tons [...]

Muslim Women Challenge Stoning

Based on these arguments made by brave Muslim women, stoning can be denounced as unislamic and a distortion of Islamic principles of justice

On 9/11, Listening to Muslim Women’s Voices

Much has been said about Imam Abdul Rauf, the Imam behind the proposed Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center in New York City, which would stand a few blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks nine years ago today. In the intense controversy surrounding the construction of the community center, he has been called a [...]

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