Women’s rights

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

Analysis

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

Damascus is making limited but tangible progress in its engagement with Syrian Kurds, even as Ankara seeks to shape the terms of any settlement.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Iranian instructor Maryam Ghelich stands with student Narghes as they look at Elham (3rd R), Leila and Mona, posing on their motorbikes before their lesson at a training center in northern Tehran on Dec. 7, 2025.

Iran formally allows women to drive motorcycles: What to know

The new resolution comes amid widespread unrest in Iran, where massive nationwide protests triggered by economic hardship and a severe government crackdown have shaken cities across the country.

Adri Salido/Getty Images

Culture

Lebanon’s first lady Nehmat Aoun takes center stage during Pope's visit

Lebanon’s first lady, Nehmat Aoun, attended nearly all gatherings and visits of Pope Leo during his three-day trip to Beirut, highlighting her active involvement in social and humanitarian issues.

CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon’s citizenship offer for FIFA head sparks debate over equal rights

Lebanon’s president has announced he will grant citizenship to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, sparking a wave of outrage.

Latest News

Iran judicial chief orders crackdown on women defying hijab law: What to know

A couple sits facing the skyline of Tehran from Bam-e Tehran in Tehran, Iran on October 24, 2025. (Photo by Bahram / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by BAHRAM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Rape case against movie star Pejman Jamshidi rocks Iran: What to know

Iranian women without wearing hijab shout slogans while gathering around a burning dumpster during a protest near Punak square, on Oct. 1, 2022

Leaked video shows Khamenei aide's daughter in Western wedding gown amid Iran's hijab crackdown

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran adding 80,000 personnel to enforce hijab in Tehran province

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi women's soccer team celebrates their win at the Women’s International Friendly Tournament in January.

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.

Sally Azar is seen during the ordination ceremony at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2023.

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.

FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: January 19, 2023, 2:08 pm

European Parliament slaps sanctions on Iran's IRGC

The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to blacklist Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and to sanction the Iranian leadership.

Europe parliament

European Parliament overwhelmingly urges EU to designate Iran's IRGC as terrorist

Members of the European Parliament called today on European leadership to add the Iranian revolutionary Guards to the list of terror organizations.

A Yemeni woman shops at a market in Yemen's third city of Taiz, on December 15, 2022. - Yemeni society, although deeply conservative, has traditionally allowed space for individual freedoms. But this is changing under the Huthi movement, which was founded with the aim of pushing for a theocracy. (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Women's campaign in Yemen protests Houthi dress code rules

Houthi forces require women to wear a black abaya that covers their entire bodies.

Members of the Taliban security forces arrive as Afghan women march during a demonstration they call Stop Hazara genocide a day after a suicide bomb attack at Dasht-e-Barchi learning centre, in Kabul on October 1, 2022. - (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghanistan's Hazara minority increasingly fearful under Taliban

Al-Monitor spoke to members of the long-persecuted Hazara Shiite minority group in Afghanistan as restrictions on women increase and verifiable information becomes scarcer.

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Fury in Turkey as convicted wife killer murders third victim

The story of a two-time wife killer who killed a third woman after his conditional release from prison speaks volumes about why femicide remains rampant in Turkey.

Maoz

Israeli mayors stand against anti-gay legislator on education

Mayors of liberal cities in Israel have joied the protest of outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid against anti-LGBTQ Knesset member Avi Maoz controlling the unit that decides on external education programs.

Egyptian women wear full-face veils in al-Montazah district of Egypt's second city of Alexandria on March 26, 2018.

Culture

More Egyptian women reject hijab

The hijab in Egypt has always been a matter of controversy.

25th Knesset sworn in

Israel’s most religious, furthest right Knesset sworn in

The 25th Knesset includes more far-right legislators, more ultra-Orthodox, fewer women, fewer Arabs and no Druze representatives at all.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian looks on during a press conference in Tehran on July 20, 2022.

Iran warns Germany over crackdown criticism

The Islamic Republic was unsettled by international criticism over its suppression of nearly two months of protests, with its security forces now attacking people dancing in defiance of theocratic rules.

Afghan women hold placards as they take part in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in Kabul on Sept. 29, 2022.

As Iran protests enter sixth week, women take to Afghanistan's streets

Some of the largest protests led by women started after a Sept. 30 suicide attack on an educational center in Kabul in which 53 Hazara girls were killed.