“I lost everything in one day,” Layla, who fled Saudi Arabia, says a few months later outside a refugee settlement in Germany. Her voice trembles with still-raw fear. “But only one thing mattered: For the first time, I was free.”
Tag: Middle East
Ensuring an Inclusive Afghan Peace Process
“Inclusivity means real representation: not just elites getting a seat at the table. Being at the table is a means, not the end.”
Iranian Women Will Not Back Down
The Trump administration’s approach to foreign relations with Iran has worsened existing humanitarian crises for women and created new ones. But women in Iran will continue to fight back.
Inside the Global Fight to Free Saudi Women
It can be hard to see progress in the fight for Saudi women’s rights. But we see the cracks in this systemic oppression more than ever before.
Feminists are Fighting for Afghan Women on Capitol Hill
Feminist advocates last week met with leading lawmakers on Capitol Hill to amplify calls for an equitable peace process in Afghanistan being made by women on the ground.
No Peace Without Afghan Women’s Voices
Notably absent from recent headlines about the potential withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is talk of the dangerous consequences such a decision could have for women and girls in the region—and the lack of women’s representation in the ongoing “peace talks” between the Trump administration and leaders of the Taliban.
Innovation for Oppression
Imagine an app that tracks your movement wherever you go. Imagine that it sends notifications to a male member in your family whenever you check in at an airport. Imagine that it gives them the power, in just a few clicks on their own smartphone, of banning you from traveling altogether. This app is called Absher. You can find it at the Google Marketplace and in the Apple App Store.
Building a Better Future for Children in Pakistan
Boys and girls are both missing out on education in unacceptable numbers in Pakistan—22.5 million in total—but girls are affected most. Sister Zeph was one of them, and she was determined to create a solution, no matter what it took.
What Nadia Murad’s Nobel Peace Prize Means for War-Time Rape Survivors Around the World
Amal Clooney has remarked that Nadia Murad defied the labels life gave her—orphan, rape victim, refugee, slave—and instead created new ones—among them survivor, leader, advocate and author. Now, she has garnered one more: Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
Women in Congress are Calling on the Trump Administration to Fight for Imprisoned Saudi Arabian Feminists
Over the last few months, the Saudi Arabian government has imprisoned about 15 prominent feminist activists, most of whom led the fight to end the country’s driving ban. On Wednesday, Reps. Lois Frankel and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen released a formal letter urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to fight for their release.