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

Activists hold balloons with a banner reading "Peace" as they march at the main shopping and pedestrian street of Istiklal during a rally on the International Women's Day in Istanbul, Turkey March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC1D2B73D500

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.

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.

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.

Labour party leader Shelly Yachimovich leaves after campaigning at the Mahne Yehuda market in Jerusalem January 16, 2013. In decline since the peace it sought with the Palestinians unravelled into violence, Israel's Labour Party looks set to regain some lost ground in next week's election after waging an economy-focused campaign. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - GM1E91G1OP101

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.

Book in praise of older women gets Israel's top prize

Esther Peled, a female author who defies convention, is awarded Israel’s most prestigious literary prize with the book that describes a woman’s journey on her way to a “room of her own.”

Men smoke and use their mobile phones as they sit at a small cafe in Siwa, November 22, 2014. Residents of Siwa have been hurt by declining tourism in Egypt, which received 9.5 million tourists last year, down from over 14.7 million tourists in 2010, before the uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Nationwide, the situation is gradually improving and the government says tourism could recover to pre-crisis levels next year if regional turmoil spares Egypt. But Siwa, located just 50 km (30 miles) from

Egyptian men's rights activist sees oppression in female empowerment

In a backlash against the women's movement in Egypt, one attorney is demanding the formation of a National Council for Men.

Israeli Bedouin women champion social progress

The Israeli Interior Ministry together with the Association of Community Centers initiated a first-of-its-kind course designed to train Bedouin women to become members of executive boards.

Egyptian women say their time is coming in presidential races

Despite their historical absence in contests for president, Egyptian women believe one of their own will run for president someday soon.

Iranian women wearing hijab walk down a street in the capital Tehran on February 7, 2018.
A spate of unprecedented protests against Iran's mandatory headscarves for women have been tiny in number, but have still reignited a debate that has preoccupied the Islamic republic since its founding. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Iranian women must remain united to advance rights

The recent anti-compulsory hijab protests in Iran have forged both unity and division among women activists.

Egyptian women tell their story in 'Colored Dress'

An Egyptian docudrama seeks to highlight the success stories of real women who have battled with social norms and economic difficulties to pursue the lives they want.

Rights coalition takes on female genital mutilation in Egypt

Amid high rates of female genital mutilation in Egypt, women's and human rights organizations have come together in a campaign to educate the public and enforce laws against the practice.

Iranian women steadfast in campaign to attend soccer matches

Despite crackdowns and unfulfilled promises by politicians, female soccer fans in Iran continue to protest — and to cross-dress — in their efforts to attend matches at stadiums.