Women’s rights

Egypt women fight for right to army combat posts

Amid recurrent calls to allow Egyptian women to join the army, some Egyptian experts say this is an inherent right, while others deem such calls to be illogical and against Sharia.

Egypt

IDF unfazed by challenges of integration

Despite objections from religious quarters and the logistical hurdles they pose, the IDF has no intention to end the integration of women into fighting roles.

Israel

Palestinian women celebrate legal win with eye toward greater victories

Palestinian women welcome their government's move to change a handful of laws that are unfair to women, but the road to full equality is still very long.

Palestine

First female deputy of religious body comes at tough time for Turkish women

Huriye Marti has assumed the highest office at Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs thus far by a woman, but is it a step in the right direction for the situation of women in Turkey?

Turkey

Single Egyptian mothers face stigma head-on

More of Egypt's single mothers are braving scorn and pity to raise their voices and demand their rights.

Egypt

Syrian women in Egypt learn to fight through fear

A Cairo group is helping Syrian women gain the confidence and skills they need to confront the harassment they often face as refugees in Egypt, and even non-Syrians are joining up.

Egypt

Why Erdogan called for updating Islam

Misogyny in the name of Islam proved shocking to Turkey’s secularists, but it also was disturbing to most moderate religious conservatives, many of whom vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey

Culture Alert: March salutes women of all nationalities and sizes

Many cultural activities in March focus on women, as artists and muses, in addition to the search for identity. Also of note is the first cooperation between the Louvre and the National Museum of Iran.

Palestine

Turkish women take to the streets to demand equality

Activists say 15 years of rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has eroded women’s rights, even as he has vowed to end domestic violence and strengthen the role of women in Turkish society.

Turkey

Turkish women's organization looks back on two decades of progress

For more than two decades, an organization in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast called KAMER has led the uphill struggle to empower women and challenge often deadly social norms in these patriarchal and war-torn communities.

Turkey

Women's Taif TV blocked in Gaza two hours before launch

The Palestinian Ministry of Information in the Gaza Strip blocked the launch of Taif TV two hours before it was due to go on air, in what raised concerns about freedom of the press in Gaza.

Palestine

Israel's revolutionary sexual harassment law

The Law to Prevent Sexual Harassment adopted by the Knesset 20 years ago represented a real breakthrough in changing social norms and priorities overnight.

Israel