With all the stories on the Internet it can be difficult to always stay in the know. To help, we’ve searched the web for interesting pieces of news, videos and tips to help you start off your week on the right foot.
1. Yearbook photo misnames hijabi student “Isis”
A female student wearing a hijab was misidentified in her yearbook photo as “Isis” at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (KABC)
At Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, a student, photographed wearing the hijab, is identified incorrectly as 11th grader Isis Phillips. “I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this. Apparently I am ‘Isis’ in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let’s be real,” the misnamed student said. ABC 7 Eyewitness News has not release the student’s real name due to a friend of the student’s telling ABC 7 that she and her family are not ready to address the media. Trevor Santellan, one of the students who worked on the yearbook, said there was a student named Isis Phillips at Los Osos who transferred to the school earlier in the year. The school’s yearbook account has tweeted an apology, saying it was an unintentional mistake. The school’s principal has also issued an apology.
2. Report finds that women are still overlooked in peacekeeping process
Panel at USIP, L-R, Kathleen Kuehnast, moderator, senior gender adviser, U.S. Institute of Peace; Stephenie Foster, senior adviser and counselor, Office of Global Women’s Issues, U.S. Department of State; Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini; Ambassador Steve Steiner, gender adviser, U.S. Institute of Peace (MEE/Molly McCluskey)
Sixteen years after the United Nations passed Security Council Resolution 1325 on the role of women in peace and security in a world, experts are warning that overlooking women as participants in the peacekeeping process has profound consequences. The resolutions four key platforms—protection, participation, peacekeeping and prevention of war— are the focus of a new report released by United States Institutes of Peace (USIP) as well as a panel discussion at the organization’s Washington D.C. headquarters titled, “Advancing Women in MENA: Should We Keep Trying?” Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, co-founder and executive director of International Civil Society Network, advised listeners at the panel that early signs of increasing violence against women can often be a signal of an overall escalation of violence. “In the sixteen years that I’ve been going to the commission on the status of women at the UN, we have had the issue of extremism, of all forms – the Islamists, the evangelicals, the Catholics, you name it,” she said.
3. The Diary of a Hounslow Girl opens in UK
Ambreen Razia in The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl. Photo: Richard Davenport
Ambreen Razia has written, and is now performing a one-woman monologue The Diary Of a Hounslow Girl, at venues around the United Kingdom. The plays centers around Razia who plays Shaheeda, a young 16 year-old girl, living with her parents in London’s borough of Hounslow. A Hounslow Girl, according to Razia’s performance is a “byword for confident, young Muslim women who are grappling with traditional values, city life and fashion.” BritishTheatre.com describes the show saying, “We see Shaheeda in her bedroom, she is agitated, expectant, nervous, something is upsetting her. She is about to flee we think, but we aren’t sure why. Over the next 85 minutes, Shaheeda’s monologue gives us a significant insight into her life and her friends, and ever so gradually we learn Shaheeda’s secret.” The website’s review goes on to say that Razia’s performance is “astonishing and engaging.” It states that the fact that Razia manages to infuse her performance with humor and youth, says a lot about her understanding of her subject, the quality of the writing and her own talent. “Shaheeda is no stereotype,” the website writes, “She’s complex, and ultimately young.” [tweetthis]Ambreen Razia’s The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl tells the story of Shaheeda, a 16-year-old girl living with her parents in London’s borough of Hounslow[/tweetthis]
4. Some UK mosques have banned women from traveling alone, using Facebook and wearing pants
Daily Pakistan
Across the United Kingdom, some mosques have issued new rules ordering Muslim women to stop wearing pants, to not leave the house without permission from their husband and to stop using Facebook. The rules were published by various Muslim organizations and associations and have caused backlash among, according to the Daily Pakistan, “anti-extremism campaigners and moderate Muslims.” The Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham has banned women from wearing pants, even in front of their husbands due to the thought that pants show “details of her body.” The Blackburn’s Central Mosque issued a statement saying women should delete their Facebook accounts to protect them against “evil.” It cited a quote from the Quran about the “sin” of alcohol to justify its stance against the “vicious network” of Facebook. The Daily Pakistan quoted female scholar at the Islamic Sharia Council in London, Khola Hasan, saying, “These views are clearly outdated and reflect a patriarchal, narrow world view that is out of step with the rest of the Muslim world. Some men of an older generation may find these freedoms hard to stomach, but they will have to accept them.” [tweetthis]Some UK mosques have banned women from leaving their home without their husband’s permission, from using Facebook and from wearing pants.[/tweetthis]
5. Mona Eltahawy’s “Sex Talk for Muslim Women”
Hanna Barczyk
Eltahawy writes about women like her, of Middle Eastern and Muslim descent, who email her writing to “vent about how to ‘get rid of this burden of virginity,’ or to ask about hymen reconstruction surgery if they’re planning to marry someone who doesn’t know their sexual history, or just to share their thoughts about sex.” She goes on to say that countless articles have been written about sexual frustration of men in the Middle East but few stories have “given voice to the sexual frustration of women in the region or to an honest account of women’s sexual experiences, either within or outside marriage.”
[tweetthis]5 things you should know to start your week off right[/tweetthis]
This list was curated by Kaitlin Montgomery, altM News Editor
