This week, a cover story in Foreign Policy magazine, “Why Do They Hate Us?”, ignited an explosion of praise, criticism and feverish discussion about women’s rights and gender equality in the Arab world. The piece elicited responses from across the globe and the political spectrum, cracking open one of the region’s most pressing issues–one that [...]
International concern was sparked early this week when an Iranian prosecutor indicated that Sakineh Ashtiani’s execution for adultery could be imminent. Ashtiani is currently serving 10 years in prison after being convicted as an accessory to her husband’s 2005 murder. In a separate trial, she was found guilty of adultery and sentenced to stoning, but the Iranian [...]
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 [...]
The results are in, and the news is official: Not a single woman has been directly elected in Egypt’s first round of elections for the lower house of Parliament. And it appears that only three or four women are likely to gain seats when political parties fill their quotas in January. The first of three [...]
Today is International Human Rights Day, and this year there is much to celebrate. 2011 has been an extraordinary year for human rights activism worldwide, as the UN points out: This year, millions of people decided the time had come to claim their rights. They took to the streets and demanded change. Many found their [...]
My first thought is “no,” followed by a swift “none of your business.” But that wasn’t the conclusion of a recent report prepared for Saudi Arabia’s legislative assembly by a well-known academic. He predicted that if Saudi women were given the right to drive, those who had never had sex would quickly start losing their [...]
At dawn on Thursday in Cairo, award-winning Egyptian American journalist and feminist Mona Eltahawy tweeted: Beaten arrested in interior ministry And then… silence. After hours of #FreeMona trending on Twitter, Eltahawy emerged from Egyptian state custody with the defiant tweet: “I AM FREE.” Via tweets, Eltahawy began describing in chilling detail her horrific ordeal with the [...]
International outcry arose this September when, just a day after Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah announced a commitment to women’s rights and granted women voting rights in 2015, a woman named Shaima Jastaina was sentenced to 10 lashings for driving to the hospital. There is no specific law making it illegal for women in Saudi Arabia [...]
The 12-day hunger strike of Afghan parliament member Simin Barakzai ended yesterday when Afghan police reportedly dismantled her encampment outside the presidential building in Kabul. Barakzai began a fast-to-the-death to protest her unseating from the Afghan parliament. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Barakzai’s supporters, claimed police, disguised as doctors, dismantled their tents, handcuffed and [...]
Last Sunday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia gave a speech to the Shura Council in which he granted Saudi women the right to vote and run in municipal elections starting in 2015 and promised to appoint women to the Shura Council in 2013. Such political rights are welcome because of their social implications. That a [...]
