women

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds as Nigeria offers reward for girls (via AFP) A new Boko Haram massacre has killed hundreds in Nigeria’s northeast, a senator said Wednesday, as police offered $300,000 dollars for information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the Islamists. The latest insurgent… —– Channel […]

Iraq

The Great Moat of Iraqi Kurdistan with Syria Separates Families

Juan Cole

(By Abdul-Khaleq Dosky in Dohuk, for Niqash) To better protect their borders, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan are digging a large trench in the area bordering Syria. Locals are protesting about it, saying that links with family and friends in neighbouring towns will be severed and economic opportunities lost; some are already describing it as a […]

Arab Spring

Pro-Feminists & Metrosexuals: The New Arab Men of the Millennial Generation

Juan Cole

(By Khaled Diab via Your Middle East ) A growing number of Arab men are not only championing the rights of women but also challenging traditional ideals of masculinity. Sexual harassment in Egypt has reached such epidemic proportions that it has even infiltrated the campus of the country’s oldest secular university. At the heart of […]

Christians

If Jesus had a wife, would it change the GOP War on Women?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) A Coptic fragmentary manuscript page that dates back to a few hundred years after Jesus’ death (and the text of which may go back to the second century) has been found by radiocarbon and ink testing to be authentic. That is, it is not, as some scholars claimed when it was first […]

Central Intelligence Agency

Torture is from Mars? CIA’s Hayden Says Sen. Feinstein Too “Emotional” To Judge CIA Torture

Juan Cole

Former CIA, NSA Boss Says Senator Feinstein Is Too Emotional To Judge CIA Torture Fairly (via Techdirt) We’ve written about former NSA and CIA boss Michael Hayden plenty of times around here, and the guy is practically a caricature of what you’d expect him to be. He defends the intelligence community at all costs, and […]

Bashar al-Assad

Can Egypt’s Women ever find a Personal Space of their Own?

Juan Cole

(By Zainab Magdy) Last month a young woman was mob attacked on Cairo University campus. Socially and culturally constructed circles that control our lives seem to be tightening at a time when individuals are trying their hardest to crack them open. Zainab Magdy explores whether women will ever find a space that is their own. […]

Human Rights

Whether Princesses or Paupers, Long Road to Saudi Women’s Rights

contributors

(By Rothna Begum and Adam Coogle) When the story broke earlier this month of four Saudi princesses allegedly confined to their Jeddah home by members of their own family, the kingdom soon went into damage control mode. Within a week, several British newspapers started calling Human Rights Watch, asking if we knew about a news […]

Human Rights

Iraqi Women’s Rights Under Threat

contributors

(By Erin Evers) Few disagree that the Iraqi government’s increasingly Shia character has alienated its Sunni population—but what has mounting sectarian division meant for the rights of women and girls? Last October, Iraq’s justice minister introduced a draft law to its Council of Ministers which would legalise child marriage and severely affect women’s rights in […]

Human Rights

Iraq’s Freedom Agenda shouldn’t Include Child Marriage and Summary Divorce

Juan Cole

(Human Rights Watch) (Baghdad) – Iraq’s Council of Ministers should withdraw a new draft Personal Status Law and ensure that Iraq’s legal framework protects women and girls in line with its international obligations. The pending legislation would restrict women’s rights in matters of inheritance and parental and other rights after divorce, make it easier for […]