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

Syrian Kurdish women attend a protest against honor killings, Hasakah, Syria, July 6, 2021.

Relatives murder Syrian girl in honor killing

The killing of an 18-year-old girl who refused to marry her cousin at the hands of her relatives in the countryside of Hasakah sparked anger and ignited controversy on social media.

Haneen Hossam

Egypt arrests TikTok influencer over 'human trafficking'

A Cairo court sentenced university student Haneen Hossam to 10 years in prison and fined her 200,000 Egyptian pounds.

Syrians attend the screening of the Oscar-nominated film "Last Men in Aleppo" at the University of Idlib in the country's rebel-held province, Idlib, Syria, Feb. 12, 2018.

Syria's Idlib University bans mixed-gender online groups

Idlib University, managed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s government in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, issued a decision banning mixed-gender groups on social media, causing uproar and division among students.

Eve Cafe, a women's-only cafe in Idlib, Syria.

All-women's cafe in opposition-held Idlib stirs controversy

Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, witnessed the opening of its first female coffee shop in what some deemed a type of discrimination against women. Others saw it as an outlet for women to escape the prevailing patriarchy in the Syrian opposition areas.

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.