Women’s rights

A woman walks past a wall painting in the colours of the Iranian flag in Tehran on February 25, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How hijab dispute is opening new front in Iran-Azerbaijan tensions

Iran's longstanding unease over Azerbaijan's strategic ties with Israel is spilling into a dispute over religious freedoms and Baku's position in the Islamic world, testing already fragile relations between the two neighbors.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A shop owner assists one of his customers at Malta bazaar in the Fatih district in Istanbul, on Dec. 6, 2024.

Iran mum as Azerbaijan’s school hijab ban, Israel ties test alliance with Turkey

Azerbaijan’s restrictions on Islamic dress in schools have sparked an unusual public spat with Turkey, exposing tensions beneath the allies’ close political and security ties.

Protesters hold banners calling for child protection and justice

Culture

Rape of teenage girl shocks Tunisia: What to know

Violence against children and women remains a problem in Tunisia, despite a 2017 law aimed at helping the situation.

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco's newly appointed head of government

Culture

Who is Fatima El Mansouri, Morocco’s first woman prime minister?

Her appointment marks the first time a woman has served as Morocco’s head of government and the second time a woman has held the position in the Arab world.

Latest News

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

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

Culture

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

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

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

MURAT KOCABAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

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

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

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Ragab Uwais poses for a picture with his bride before a video cameraman for their wedding video along Al-Gamaa Bridge connecting the Egyptian capital Cairo with its twin city of Giza, Egypt, June 11, 2020.

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta denounces fatwa on marital intimacy

A fatwa by an unofficial body on the number of times a husband must have intercourse with his wife sparked controversy on social media, prompting Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta to denounce the fatwa as it belittles women’s rights.

A Palestinian woman inspects the damage at her house following Israeli bombing in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 29, 2021.

Palestinian NGO to form network in Gaza for women affected by war

The Center for Women's Affairs in the Gaza Strip announced that it will establish a national network to develop plans to support women in times of crisis and war.

Displaced Syrian women walk at a camp in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, March 10, 2020.

Female volunteers in northwestern Syria raise awareness of breast cancer

Volunteers raise breast cancer awareness among women in opposition areas in northwestern Syria, where access to health care is limited.

Al-Nawras Tourist Resort swimming area.

Gazan women find haven at ladies-only pools

More resorts in the Gaza Strip are offering ladies-only swimming pools, allowing women to relax and enjoy the sun away from public eyes.

Palestinian brides are seen during a mass wedding ceremony, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Feb. 4, 2014.

Gaza's few beauty salons struggle to meet demand

Demand for plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures is rising in the Gaza Strip despite a lack of clinics.

Mannequins display wedding gowns designed by the al-Ashi family at their atelier in Gaza City on June 3, 2013.

Egyptian rights advocates welcome fatwa forbidding short-term marriages

Women's rights campaigners are hoping a recent fatwa forbidding tahleel marriages will pave the way for a law criminalizing the archaic practice.

A member of Taliban stands guard along a road in Kabul on Sept. 30, 2021.

Qatar says Taliban rights abuses 'very disappointing'

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani lamented the Taliban's "backward" steps.

Ragab Uwais poses for a picture with his bride before a video cameraman for their wedding video along Al-Gamaa Bridge connecting Cairo with its twin city of Giza, Egypt, June 11, 2020.

'Hymen reconstruction fatwa' stirs controversy in Egypt

A fatwa by a senior Muslim scholar permitting hymen repair in certain circumstances has sparked controversy on social media, with critics fearing it may encourage girls to engage in sex out of wedlock.

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on Aug. 18, 2021.

Qatar calls on Taliban to respect women's rights

Qatar said that the gains women made under the previous Afghan government should not be undone by the Taliban, which is notorious for its treatment of women.

Nasrin Sotoudeh protest

Senators call for release of 'unjustly imprisoned' women in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

Democratic lawmakers condemn four Middle Eastern states for the politically motivated imprisonment of a number of women and call for the prisoners' release.

Washington Pulse

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters of the Sultan Murad Turkoman brigade are pictured during a military show in the Afrin region in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's northern Aleppo province on Nov. 17, 2020.

Turkish-backed rebels leave trail of abuse, criminality in Syria’s Afrin

The serene topography of the Syrian enclave of Afrin belies the power vacuum and violence now afflicting many of the territories under the control of Turkish-backed forces in the war-torn country’s northeast.

Journalist and Author Masih Alinejad.

Who is Masih Alinejad, target of an alleged Iranian kidnapping plot?

Prosecutors say the four Iranian defendants plotted to forcibly take the Brooklyn-based author and activist to Iran where her "fate would have been uncertain at best.”