Women’s rights

Will Turkey’s conservative young women abandon Erdogan and AKP?

The conservative women vote played an important role in bringing Erdogan’s AKP to power two decades ago. But according to polls, that segment of Turkish society is looking for alternatives as AKP became too conservative for their taste. 

Turkey

Lebanon fumes as another woman murdered by husband

The man killed his wife in front of their three children, renewing calls to enforce laws on domestic violence.

Lebanon

Turkey’s opposing camps seek to broaden base ahead of May elections

The rapprochement between Erdogan’s People’s Alliance and the Kurdish Islamist Huda-Par, seen as the successor of Hezbollah, annoys nationalists, while the move toward arch-conservative New Welfare alarms women. 

Turkey

Culture

Arab women's group 'Khateera' dares to defy, one narrative at a time

Khateera’s content ranges from misconceptions about women’s intelligence in society and women's unpaid labor, to heavier topics such as sexual rights and honor killings, toxic masculinity and the shame around periods in Middle East society. 

Legacy: Gulf

Turkey’s earthquake victims at heart of International Women's Day marches

The earthquakes that ravaged 11 provinces in southern Turkey also amplified the socio-economic inequalities between men and women in the region. 

Turkey

EU, UK sanction Iran, Taliban entities on International Women's Day

Marking International Women’s Day, the European Union and the British government each decided to sanction individuals and entities for violating human rights, particularly sexual and gender-based violence.

Iran

Culture

A decade into Kurdish autonomous rule, what changed for northeast Syria's women?

Since 2013, the province of Hasakah in northeastern Syria has been ruled by an autonomous administration guided by overtly feminist principles. Ten years later, what has changed for rural women? What challenges remain?

Syria

Handmaid's Tale inspires Israeli women battling religious coercion

Hundreds of women clad in red cloaks and sporting white bonnets have been appearing in the past few weeks in several of the anti-judicial overhaul, pro-democracy demonstrations across the country.

Israel

With over 100 victims, who is poisoning Iran's schoolgirls?

Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls have been mysteriously poisoned over the past few months and the government was forced to open an investigation when the problem reached Tehran on Wednesday.

Iran

Honor killings in Iraq rekindle efforts to criminalize domestic violence 

There is once again outrage and calls for legal reforms in Iraq to protect women from being murdered at the hands of family members.

Iraq

Culture

Once-banned, Saudi women's soccer team wins big as Riyadh woos FIFA

A Saudi women's soccer team that was unthinkable a decade ago is now winning championships, but Australia and New Zealand have lodged a complaint to FIFA over the kingdom's reported sponsorship of upcoming tournament.

Legacy: Gulf

Culture

Sally Azar becomes first Palestinian woman pastor ordained in Jerusalem

A graduate of theology, Sally Azar was ordained as the first female Palestinian pastor in Jerusalem by the Lutheran church.

Palestine