women

Heyla Selim | ( GlobalVoices.net ) | – – What role did collective action, and social media play in Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women driving? Picture of the author taken in 2015 by Lujain Mirza as part of her research project about visual representation of Saudi Women at Brighton University. All […]

Arab Spring

Women as a force for Democracy in Repressive Egypt

contributors

Anwar Mhajne and Crystal M Whetstone | The Conversation | – – Democracies in sub-Saharan and North Africa have regressed in recent years. Ethnic and religious minorities, political opposition, women and the LGBT community still struggle for equal rights and the right not to experience violence. Activists throughout Africa, many of them women, are working […]

Feminism

Beyond the “Me Too” campaign: Sexual harassers and adult bullies

Juan Cole

By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | – – His name was Jesse. I would have considered him to be handsome but for his dark eyes, which looked at me in a predatory manner. Dressed in his blue security guard uniform at the downtown Denver library, he looked official and authoritative. I was only sixteen, […]

Donald Trump

“Push her down the stairs”: Trump, US Misogyny and Birth Control

contributors

By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | – – In 2004, Trump was on Howard Stern’s radio show to talk about his family. After admitting that he had had mixed feelings when he heard about his second wife’s pregnancy, Trump told Stern that he was sure that his current wife was on the pill so […]

Donald Trump

Presidential Quote: “You have to Treat Women Like Sh*t”

contributors

Misogyny as national policy

Saudi Arabia

Saudi decree allowing women to drive cars is about politics, not religion

Juan Cole

By Haifaa Jawad | (The Conversation) | – – In an unexpected move that surprised everyone, including his own people, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia has suddenly passed a royal decree permitting women to drive. His stunning decision comes after years of the ban, which was justified using Islam as a pretext. […]

Feminism

The Biggest Impediment to Saudi Women Was Never the Driving Ban

Juan Cole

By Medea Benjamin | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – No matter their age, Saudi women are treated like minors — to the point that many require permission from their sons to work, study, or travel. It looks like 27 years of protesting, along with international pressure and government recognition that it needs more […]

Featured

Saudi King seeks Recognition for letting Women Drive, a basic right

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a decree on Tuesday permitting women to drive as of June of next year. Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to forbid its female citizens from driving automobiles. This unusually misogynistic position derived from two sources. One is […]

Donald Trump

Betsy DeVos and “Real” Rape

contributors

By Gail Ukockis | (Informed Comment) | – – When I was in college in the early eighties, the dorm staff told us females to get escorts if we had to walk outside after dark. Watch out for the dark bushes in front of the dorm building, they warned us. Each communal bathroom also […]