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)

Two Egyptian women speak on a popular beach during summer vacations in the city of Alexandria, on August 01, 2019. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images)

Egyptian TV host sparks controversy after saying there is 'devil' in unveiled women

The recent remarks of a well-known Egyptian TV presenter on the hijab, criticizing those who are unveiled, stirred up a heated debate in Egypt.

COVID-19 and the marginalization of Iranian women

COVID-19 has adversely impacted many segments of society across the globe, including Iranian women. Some fear the damage will be permanent.

ST PAUL, MN - AUGUST 05: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks during a press conference outside the DFL Headquarters on August 5, 2020 in St Paul, Minnesota. Omar is hoping to retain her seat as the representative for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District in next week's primary election. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Intel: House Democrats want answers from Saudi ambassador over jailed female activists

A group of seven congressional Democrats laid into Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States on Wednesday for failing to respond to their repeated requests to discuss the kingdom’s continued detention of female rights activists.

Alleged sexual offenders face social media barrage in Egypt

Despite rising online calls for sexual offenders to be held accountable for their crimes and a new amendment to the anti-sexual harassment law guaranteeing confidentiality of survivors, many women in Egypt are still reluctant to report sexual harassment incidents for fear of being stigmatized.

Female scooter-riders on the rise in Egypt

Despite an increase in the number of sexual harassment and bullying cases Egyptian women are subjected to, they still plan on conquering any means of transportation.

Women, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, wait to cast their ballots outside a polling station in the town of el-Ayyat in Giza province south of the Egyptian capital on August 11, 2020 for candidates running in the upper house election for the newly created Senate. - The two-day vote for 200 of the Senate's 300 seats will be largely contested by candidates who back President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has quietened most opposition within and outside the legislature. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo

Is COVID-19 pushing women in Egypt out of workforce?

With schools reopening and many shifting to partial online learning because of the coronavirus crisis, working moms in Egypt are facing the challenging task of juggling work and supporting their children’s education.

Israeli protesters, wearing protective masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hold placards as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv on August 23, 2020, to denounce sexual violence against women following the alleged gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl in a Red Sea resort. - Police said 11 suspects, including nine minors and a woman said to be the manager of the hotel in which the alleged rape took place, had been arrested in connection with the affair so far as part of an "ongoing investigation". (Photo b

Rape of teen shocks Israelis, sends them to the streets

Women rights groups were joined by many Israeli firms in a protest over the gang rape of a 16-year-old in Eilat.

A woman wearing a face mask raises her fist in Ankara, on August 5, 2020, during a demonstration to demand the government does not withdraw from the Istanbul Conventio, 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 viol

Turkey's 'hedonist' singles become new target of AKP heavyweight

Numan Kurtulmus, deputy chair of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party who opened a Pandora’s box on the Istanbul Convention, has come under fire once more for remarks on “over hedonist singles.”

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - AUGUST 05: Women chant slogans and wave signs during a demonstration for the prevention of violence against women on August 05, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Women's rights groups staged simultaneous protests in various Turkish cities in support of the Istanbul Convention on domestic violence against women. The Istanbul Convention is an international agreement for the prevention of violence against women. Forty six countries signed the agreement started by the European Council in 2011. Turk

Outrage at violence unites women across Turkey's ideological divide

Turkish women across political and ideological divides are united in anger over news that an abduction and rape victim has died.

Islamist parties challenge Iraqi domestic violence draft law

The potential enactment of a domestic violence bill into law has engendered a major struggle between civil society activists and Shiite Islamist parties that believe the law will split families.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman wearing a protective face mask, returns from shopping in Jerusalem's neighbourhood of Mea Shearim, on April 12, 2020, during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli women excluded from decision-making on coronavirus

Israeli women are excluded from the government’s decision-making process on the coronavirus, even though they are the first ones to suffer the social and economic consequences of the pandemic.

Turkey mulls withdrawing from violence against women treaty

Turkey would be the first member state to withdraw from the Council of Europe's 2011 Istanbul Convention.