Tag: Islam

Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023

I have spent the last few months scouring catalogs and websites, receiving hundreds of books and even more emails from authors, publicists and publishers, reading your book Tweets and DMs, all to find out what books are coming out in 2023 that I think you, my exceptional, inquisitive and discerning Ms readers, will want to hear about. 

Here’s your TBR (to be read) for the year. Enjoy!

Taliban Escalate New Abuses Against Afghan Women and Girls

Afghanistan’s Taliban are escalating restrictions against women and girls. The Taliban are intensifying these assaults in response to women’s rights campaigns in Afghanistan and Iran, and amid their own struggle to consolidate power.

Their intensifying violations against women risk mass atrocities and may presage greater violent extremism and threats to international security. Policymakers must respond.

‘I Felt Like the Luckiest Girl in the World’: Afghan Students Restart College in the U.S.

In all, 148 Afghan women who had been college students in Bangladesh ended up in the U.S. They were able to flee thanks to an extraordinary effort orchestrated by their university, private businesses and government officials across the world. Sixty-four of them arrived at Arizona State University last December—including Oranous Koofi, 25, who escaped Kabul with only her cell phone, and Masooma Ebrahimi, 25, a refugee for the second time in her life.

From Iran, Solidarity With American Women

For almost two weeks, protests have been raging across Iran, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was in custody of the morality police at the time of her death. Her alleged crime was not abiding by the country’s hijab rules.

Iranian human rights lawyer and long-time friend of Ms. magazine, Nasrin Sotoudeh has spent her career fighting for the rights of women and minorities in the Middle East. In a letter to Ms., Sotoudeh connected what’s happening with Iran to the global fight for women’s rights.

The Desperate Effort to Silence Iranian Feminists

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Protests have raging across Iran over the last week after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police due to her defiance against the strict dress code. The country’s desperate effort to silence Iranian feminists has taken the form of violent responses and crackdowns of both in-person demonstrations and online activism.

‘Dark Prison Mirrors the Dark Future of Afghan Women’: A Firsthand Account of a Former Taliban Prisoner

Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, Afghan women—many of whom dedicated their lives and careers to working for equality—have experienced a systematic campaign of violence and subjugation. Many took to the streets to protest, and in turn have been beaten, arrested, tortured and murdered. This firsthand account of Mursal Ayar’s life and arrest is a powerful reminder of our common humanity, and the duty we all share to protect the world’s most vulnerable—yet remarkable—activists. 

“After those 13 days, I am like a little girl who is afraid of the night. I sleep next to my mother. The Taliban have not only taken my country from me; they have taken everything from me. My peace, my dreams, my hope and courage. I left the Taliban prison, but I could not regain what I have lost forever.”