How do you speak up against the backlash targeting Muslims while still advocating for women’s rights? How do women from Muslim heritage speak up without emboldening or strengthening political extremes?
Arab Women
Arab Women Defy STEM Stereotypes
This summer, I spent a week in the Persian Gulf state of Abu Dhabi, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). People in the West might know that the Gulf states have a high percentage of non-citizen migrant workers, and they might have heard of the oppressive conditions under which many of these […]
Beyond the Headscarf: Let’s Discuss Social Justice Issues Muslim Women Actually Care About
Reprinted with permission from Bitch Three months ago, I found myself in the middle of an FBI interrogation. Josh*, a white gay male Republican Christian friend of mine who loves Ann Coulter, had never met a single Muslim person until he met me. So, in the summer of 2013, after over a year of communicating […]
Do Women in Muslim Countries Have More Reproductive Freedom than American Women?
When the U.S. House of Representatives voted recently to pass a law that would tighten restrictions on abortions performed after 20 weeks, it followed the lead of state legislators across the country. But U.S. legislators are bucking global trends to increase women’s rights and access to reproductive care. Every day in the U.S., restrictions are […]
To Veil or Not to Veil: The Twisted Logic of Canada’s Prime Minister
Fear-mongering about the alleged threats of the Muslim faith took a decidedly Canadian turn last month when Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared in Parliament that covering one’s face with a niqab (a headscarf that covers every part of a woman’s face but her eyes) is “rooted in a culture that is anti-women.” Using pro-equality rhetoric to […]
Binders Full of Women and People-of-Color Playwrights
Given the astonishing range of theater being made by women and people of color all over the country, the reluctance of major theaters to walk the walk they talk is increasingly at odds with the reality of American theater as a whole. Yet somehow, the argument is still being made that there just aren’t plays out there by women and people of color that are ready to be produced in the big time.
Don’t Miss Muslima
In an effort to break stereotypes about Muslim women, The International Museum of Women (IMOW) has debuted the online exhibition Muslima: Muslim Women’s Art & Voices. It showcases stories, artwork and ideas from leading artists and women’s rights advocates in Iran, Afghanistan, Bosnia and elsewhere in the world. Including a collection of mini-memoirs called “Muslima Stories,” […]
The “Threat” of Sharia Law and the War on Women
Over the past several years, politicians have spent considerable time taking on the phantom threat of Sharia law. Legislators in more than a dozen states have attempted to capitalize on anti-Muslim hysteria by promoting laws that would prevent courts from applying the religious codes of Islam. As examples, Oklahoma Sen. Rex Duncan sponsored a proposal […]
France’s New Minister of Women’s Rights Misses the Mark
When newly-elected French President François Hollande appointed Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, 34, to the high-profile positions of minister for women’s rights and spokesperson for the government, Muslims in the nation were optimistic. So optimistic that some polls estimate an astounding 93 percent of French Muslims helped boost Hollande into office. In a new era of socialist administration dedicated to […]