In The News

Living Under Police Protection: Advocates for Muslim Women Face Constant Danger

Cordula Meyer September 11, 2006
The legal system is often helpless, when it comes to intervention on cultural or family differences, such as assisting women who refuse to enter arranged marriages. Or the police help arrives too late. Muslim women who want to shed cultural restrictions endure taunts, brutal attacks and even death. Intimidation is so intense that some lawyers refuse to assist Muslim women in family disputes....

This is Freedom, Say Courageous Women Risking All for Democracy

Declan Walsh May 24, 2006
As Afghanistan falls back into violence at the hands of the Taliban, a small number of courageous women risk their lives for the cause of democracy. Emerging from a history that has notoriously treated women’s views, education and personhood as beneath consideration, several female politicians – including one 18-year-old – have come to prominence in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, that prominence...

Is Globalization a Blessing or a Burden on Women?

Rezina Sultana March 6, 2006
Women, accounting for half of the world’s population and two-thirds of the world’s work hours, consistently have fewer resources and less representation at decision-making levels. Some industries, particularly in male-dominated societies, take advantage of eased movement of capital and reduced state controls on trade and investment to reduce wages for the poor, especially women. An example is...

A Gender Jihad for Islam’s Future

Asra Q. Nomani November 7, 2005
To conservative Muslims, Islamic feminism is an insult to Islam. To a growing group of moderates, however, it’s a return to fundamental Islamic theology, a reaffirmation of rights granted to women at the foundation of Islam but stripped by “manmade rules and tribal traditions masquerading as divine law”. Asra Q. Nomani, an American activist, was among twelve women to lead a conference on...

A Place Where Women Rule

Emily Wax July 9, 2005
The small community of Umoja, Kenya, is a unique experiment in social progress and gender equality. The town serves as a refuge for women and does not admit men, much to the chagrin of the latter. Umoja represents a new awareness among African women about AIDS, rape, spousal abuse, and the gaps in legal codes that allow such violations to go unpunished. Women are increasingly banding together and...

A Muslim Woman, a Story of Sex

Alan Riding June 22, 2005
The Almond, the first novel of North African writer Nedjma, has attracted media and critical attention ever since its publication in France last year. The novel is a study of sex – a topic very much off-limits to authors in traditional Arab societies, let alone the women who live within the conservative-leaning social structures. Nedjma, herself a female and a product of Muslim society, has...

In the Gulf, Women Are Not Women’s Best Friends

N. Janardhan June 20, 2005
Following in the steps of Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar, Kuwait recently granted women the right to vote and hold public office. The country, however, still faces important challenges in achieving the full and equal integration of women into society. Although women in the Gulf are becoming increasingly visible in businesses, their political rights continue to be restrained by a combination of...