Women’s rights

Speaker of the National People's Assembly, Dr. Khalida Boufedech, is pictured in this undated image.

Meet Khalida Boufedech, the first woman to lead Algeria’s parliament

Khalida Boufedech became Algeria’s first woman parliament speaker and the highest-ranking woman to hold constitutional office in the country’s history.

An activist takes part in a demonstration against sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence in the Lebanese capital Beirut on December 7, 2019. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Lebanon arrests man after video of public assault on wife goes viral

The man seen violently beating a woman at a restaurant has been arrested, but the incident has reignited debate over domestic violence amid warnings that such abuse can increase during periods of war.

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

How ‘dog mom’ vacuum cleaner ad sparked culture war in Turkey

A Mother’s Day advertisement featuring a “dog mom” triggered a backlash from conservative media, government officials and regulators, turning a soft consumer campaign into a flashpoint over motherhood, declining birth rates, stray dogs and even antisemitism.

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Damascus is making limited but tangible progress in its engagement with Syrian Kurds, even as Ankara seeks to shape the terms of any settlement.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Iran formally allows women to drive motorcycles: What to know

Iranian instructor Maryam Ghelich stands with student Narghes as they look at Elham (3rd R), Leila and Mona, posing on their motorbikes before their lesson at a training center in northern Tehran on Dec. 7, 2025.

Culture

Lebanon’s first lady Nehmat Aoun takes center stage during Pope's visit

Adri Salido/Getty Images

Lebanon’s citizenship offer for FIFA head sparks debate over equal rights

CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Iran judicial chief orders crackdown on women defying hijab law: What to know

A couple sits facing the skyline of Tehran from Bam-e Tehran in Tehran, Iran on October 24, 2025. (Photo by Bahram / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by BAHRAM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrians from the northwestern province of Idlib wait to board buses at Bab al-Hawa border crossing as they head to Turkey prior to traveling to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, Syria, Aug. 16, 2017.

Saudi Arabia allows women to register for hajj without male guardian

Women can register "along with other women" for the Islamic pilgrimage this year.

Derya Yanik

Why women are calling for Turkey's only female cabinet member to resign

The Turkish minister of family and social affairs' description of a domestic violence uptick as “tolerable” is seen as emblematic of government efforts to underestimate gender-based violence and femicides in the country.

Palestinian women from the murabitat shout slogans during a protest against Jewish groups visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Jerusalem, Sept. 20, 2015.

Palestinian women in Jerusalem in crossfire of Israeli Police, settlers

In light of the recent Israeli Police and settlers’ attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Jerusalemite women have been remarkably present, taking part in the demonstrations and using social media to share the suffering of Jerusalemites.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Erdogan’s midnight decrees give Turkey nightmares

The overnight decrees increasingly governing Turkey have become a source of livid satire and agony for millions of Turks.

Palestinian women wait to leave the Rafah border crossing after it was opened by Egyptian authorities, in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 17, 2021.

Assault on female reporter for not wearing hijab sparks backlash in Gaza

A female reporter was recently insulted and physically assaulted for not wearing the Islamic headscarf, which renewed the debate about women’s rights in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Women pose for a selfie after attending a performance by the Watar orchestral ensemble playing for the first time at the Spring Theater Hall, which was ravaged in the aftermath of the occupation by the Islamic State, Mosul, Iraq, April 8, 2021.

Mosul women fight Islamic State legacy with sports, arts events

Mosul women seek to erase their painful memories of IS by holding various activities for women.

Kuwaiti women raise placards during a rally to denounce violence against women, outside the National Assembly in the capital, Kuwait City, on April 22, 2021. The women demonstrated after Farah Hamaza, a 32-year-old Kuwaiti woman, was recently killed by a young man despite her filing several complaints against him.

Murder in Kuwait stirs outrage over violence against women

Farah Akbar was killed this week by a man who was arrested but released on bail after threatening to kill her.

Syrian women and children attend a ceremony to celebrate the last day of the school year in the rebel-held town of Azaz, in northern Syria, May 24, 2017.

Will Syrian women get wider representation in opposition?

The Syrian opposition is working to empower women and increase their participation at the political level, amid low female representation in official institutions.

Egyptian doctor advises about female genital mutilation

Egyptian parliament approves tougher penalties for female genital mutilation

Egypt's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill stipulating tougher penalties for female genital mutilation, which remains widespread despite an official ban on the practice. The move coincided with the death of feminist author Nawal El Saadawi, who fought long and hard for an end to the procedure from which she herself suffered as a child.

Tunisian Egyptian feminist writer Nawal el Saadawi speaks during a radio show hosted by France Inter and daily newspaper Le Monde "8 mars, 8 femmes" (March 8, 8 women) on March 8, 2012 in Paris. AFP PHOTO / MARINA HELLI

Nawal el-Saadawi, renowned Egyptian writer, dies at 89

As a prominent Egyptian feminist, doctor and novelist who wrote more than 50 books on taboo social issues in a deeply conservative country, Saadawi fiercely campaigned for the end to the practice of female genital mutilation.

Women wearing face masks hold signs in Ankara, on August 5, 2020, during a demonstration to demand the government not withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, a landmark treaty on preventing domestic violence. The protests were the biggest in recent weeks as anger grows over the rising number of women killed by men in the past decade since the Istanbul Convention. The treaty's official title is the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, agreed up

Biden calls Turkish exit from women’s treaty 'disheartening step backward'

The Biden administration has rebuked Turkey's "unwarranted" withdrawal from the landmark Istanbul Convention.

Washington Pulse

Female voters, some mask-clad due to the coronavirus pandemic, wait before entering a polling station in El-Ayyat, during the first stage of the lower house elections, south of Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 24, 2020.

Egyptian women’s access to judiciary still limited

The Egyptian State Council approved the appointment of women as members to the council and the Public Prosecution office, in tandem with the launch of a social media campaign against a personal status draft law that activists say denies women’s rights to take control of their own decisions.