More Than A Magazine, A Movement
A region of 18 countries extending from Egypt to Iran, including the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey. The greater Middle East and North African (MENA) region also includes countries in northern and east Africa and east of Iran. Some European countries north of Iran are often associated with the Middle East because of socio-political reasons.
The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
This week: News from Mali, Venezuela, Gaza, and more.
In the matter of K-E-S-G-, a Salvadoran woman stalked and threatened by gang members was denied asylum by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals on July 18, even though her persecution stemmed from her gender in a country that treats women as property. Advocates warn that this ruling could make it much harder for women fleeing violence to prove gender-based claims and may embolden immigration judges to discount their stories.
“This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has singled out women seeking asylum, and we know where this path leads,” said Neela Chakravartula of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. “More judges denying protection to women who qualify for it. More refugees being deported to danger.”
The decision highlights the ongoing struggle to recognize gender as a protected basis for asylum. Afghan and Salvadoran women, among others, may now face even steeper barriers to protection—a chilling effect that experts say could deter survivors from seeking safety in the U.S.
On a cold Sunday morning in January 2021, Qadria Yasini, a judge on the Supreme Court of Afghanistan in Kabul, set out for work with her colleague, Zakia Herawi. As they rode in the back seat of a government-provided car, they were gunned down in broad daylight by three assassins, who then fled on foot and by motorcycle. When Yasini’s possessions were returned to her family, a Mother’s Day greeting from her two teenage sons was found in her handbag, riddled by bullets.
This heartbreaking story opens British journalist Karen Bartlett’s deeply reported, troubling new book: Escape From Kabul: The Afghan Women Judges Who Fled the Taliban and Those They Left Behind.
But Bartlett’s narrative also provides an inspiring tale of resilience.
Last month, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu collaborated in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, thrusting America into the middle of a centuries-long conflict. Almost immediately, my TikTok feed filled with posts and videos expressing fear of a U.S. military draft. One user asked, “Trump dodged the draft—why can’t we?” Another wondered, “Why are we getting into business that is not ours?” With tensions rising and misinformation about a draft spreading on social media, young people—and especially women—are left speculating: Who will be called to serve, and who will be left behind?
While recent statements from both U.S. and Iranian officials suggest a preference for negotiations over direct military conflict, it begs the question: What happens if the U.S. formally declares war—on Iran or another nation? If a draft is implemented, who will be forced to serve? And what happens to those who don’t?
“There’s been a sharp increase in survivors seeking help,” said Suhair, who works at a safe space for women and girls in Gaza’s central Deir El-Balah Governorate. “We’re working under extremely difficult conditions, including repeated incursions. There aren’t enough safe spaces for women and their children,” she told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
Repeated, forced displacements, movement restrictions and a prolonged lack of fuel and electricity have also made it more difficult to help those most at risk. “We’re providing services over the phone because survivors can’t reach safe spaces,” added Suhair.
Widespread illness, poverty, mass displacement and depleted healthcare and social services are all heightening stress levels within households. These exacerbated conditions have led to rising reports of increased domestic violence, sexual exploitation and abuse. Many are turning to child labor and forced marriages to cope with devastating levels of hunger.
With over 714,000 people—one third of Gaza’s population—forced to move again over the past three months, families are being separated and the local support structures they once relied on have crumbled. Women and girls in particular describe feeling afraid on the street, at aid delivery points and in overcrowded, makeshift shelters that lack privacy, sanitation or basic security measures.
President Donald Trump doesn’t hate the media because it lies. He hates it because it tells the truth, and the truth frightens him. Despite nonstop lying, he’s managed to stay ahead of reality. But even with MAGA, his grip is slipping.
When Trump sneers, “The press is the enemy of the people,” he’s not showing strength; he’s revealing weakness. A truly strong man doesn’t need to crush dissent. That’s what weak men do.
At a United Nations Security Council meeting late last month, diplomats delivered stark assessments of Afghanistan’s worsening crisis—condemning the Taliban’s repressive edicts, affirming support for Afghan women and reaffirming the importance of humanitarian aid. Yet beneath the layered statements and impassioned appeals was a sobering truth: The council remains no closer to articulating a unified or actionable strategy to confront the regime’s systemic gender apartheid.
Russia’s recognition of the Taliban legitimizes gender apartheid and threatens to deepen the erasure of Afghan women’s rights worldwide.
Recent headlines warn of a national budget bill that cuts Medicaid and food stamps, enabling billionaires to escape fair taxes.
The bill’s 1,000-plus pages contain another dangerous threat: freeing still-experimental AI from regulation, essentially turning Americans into lab rats in a billionaire-bro tryout without guardrails.
As Israel’s military campaign escalates and air raid sirens sound over Tehran, prisoners like by Reza Khandan, husband of renowned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, are sounding an alarm of their own. Citing existing Iranian legal codes, they make an urgent, clear-eyed case for the immediate release of non-violent inmates—many of whom are political prisoners or behind bars for peaceful dissent. With bombs falling nearby, and prison facilities ill-equipped to safeguard detainees, their letter warns that inaction could turn incarceration into a death sentence.