Iranian women in politics
Iranian women are not only present, but in demand, in national politics. And it’s not for what they’re wearing or who their husbands are.
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News briefs for week of May 4, 2009
This week, a Saudi expatriate’s campaign to promote debate about women drivers, a female architect in Turkey designs that country’s newest mosque, and thousands more flee fighting between the Taliban and Pakistani forces in the Swat valley.
Read MoreThe Guardian’s First Lady faux pas
A recently published article in The Guardian (UK) focuses on the achievements of Zahra Rahnavard, who happens to be the wife of a political opponent of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad. Once again, an extraordinary woman is defined only by her connection to her husband.
Read MoreA thin line between adoration and abomination?
Far too many of the hateful and misogynistic references in religious texts center around sex and its guilty attraction. Unsurprisingly, these appear to be reflective of a male-centric world view.
Read MoreNews briefs for week of April 27, 2009
This week, a “let’s get her fat” protest in Saudi Arabia (along with the divorces of child brides there), an interfaith effort to prevent deportation of a Muslim student and his family, and cruel and unusual torture in Iraq.
Read MoreNews briefs for week of April 20, 2009
This week, a “veiled” Muslim woman appointment to the Obama team, interfaith marriage leads to trouble in Egypt, and a new book on the Muslim experience is discussed in San Francisco.
Read MoreThe “Limit of Tolerance” of a white, privileged, non-Muslim man
If Americans–and by extension, people in Western societies–can see gender equality as a fundamental value, but never have that principle conflict with tolerance for other cultures and religions, why is it different when discussing Muslim societies?
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