After the parents of 6-year-old Bibi Roza in Pakistan’s Swat valley protested against the decision of local elders to marry her off in order to end a feud, a local court found the decision by the elders to be illegal, and since then five arrests have been made.
As long as victims of domestic violence are not believed and systematically mistreated, Turkey’s high profile project to combat domestic violence is doomed to be a failure, activists say.
A conservative Muslim cleric in Egypt seeks to legalize child marriages, on grounds that this is permissible in Islam, if the girl is ready.
A Muslim cleric in Rajasthan, India, refused to conduct a marriage, when he saw women dancing at the wedding. The couple got married later that evening at a different location, and the cleric left with warning the wedding party that dancing in public, for women, is not allowed in Islam.
A Rohingya woman, displaced by recent violence in Kyukphyu township, Burma/Myanmar, cries after arriving at the Thaechaung refugee camp outside of Sittwe. Image by REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
This week a new school uniform has been introduced to secondary school students in Azerbaijan, and does not allow girls to wear the hijab. Rather, according to the director of a human rights institute, religious schools should be established for those who want to wear the hijab to school.
As the conflict continues, Syrian women are finding new roles at home and at the front line.
A mobile breast cancer screening unit comes to rural Palestinian women to raise awareness and diagnose breast cancer.
WNN profiles film maker and music producer Deeyah, who recently made a movie on the honor killing of Banaz Mamod.
A new report by Human Rights Watch on (predominantly female) child domestic workers in Morocco states that many child workers face physical and verbal abuse, often do not receive proper nutrition and work long days for a small amount of money.
23-year-old asylum seeker Binta Yobe from Gambia, is currently fighting deportation from the UK, fearing that her 3-year-old daughter Aisha will be subject to female genital mutilation (FGM), when she returns to the country.
Last Sunday, EgyptAir stewardesses were allowed to wear hijab for the first time. Of the approximately 900 stewardesses, about 250 say that they will wear the hijab in uniform.
Nassima al-Sadah has filed a lawsuit against the Saudi interior ministry over the driving ban. She is the third Saudi woman to do so.
Millions of Pakistani families do not have reliable access to high quality family planning services.
Kenya’s government plans to ban bride payments and legalise polygamy, in a bill that aims to protect all forms of marriages (religious and/or traditional) in the country.
Yemeni women face a long battle for equality; currently only one member of the 301 members of Yemeni parliament is female.
Aishat Maksudova, a 56-year-old grandmother from the Russian republic of Daghestan, has killed an attacking wolf, while she herded her cattle.
Iran’s government is aiming for a baby boom, but financial worries and changed mindset of many Iranian women might make actually increasing the birth rate a difficult challenge.
A book by professor Evelyn Blackwood sheds light on the challenges lesbian women face in Indonesia. The book is titled Tombois and Femmes: Defying Gender Labels in Indonesia.
Zahraa al-Bughaishi, one of Qaddafi’s former female body guards, has been found dead in her apartment in Egypt, after her brother allegedly killed her, perhaps over her decision to become an actress.
In a Delhi slum, one woman makes a living selling unwanted (predominantly female) babies to respectable Muslim families.
IPS features an interview with Azerbaijani activist Khadija Ismayilova.
The global surge in demand of Morrocan argan oil, known for its use in hair products, has brought prosperity to Berber women, many of whom are illiterate and were living in poverty.
In an interview with TrustLaw Libyan lawyer Elham Saudi says that she is confident that the next Libyan president will be a woman.
SETimes features an interview with Bosnian mayor Amra Babic, in which she reacts to the (international) attention she has received after becoming the first European mayor in hijab.
The videoed assaults on female Kyrgyz migrant workers continue to stir the nation, but instead of actually putting the perpetrators on trial, many think that the women actually deserved the “punishment”.
A large percentage of street children in Bangladesh are girls, and these girls especially are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
In Afghanistan a new project has been launched that teaches literacy to women using a mobile phone.
The detainments and abuse of Sudanese activists Jalila Khmais Koko (a Nuba woman) and Darfuri Somaya Henndousa are just examples of race discrimination by the Sudanese government.
The video of a Libyan woman being raped on You Tube was welcomed by women activists, claiming that the crime otherwise would have remained hidden, and now the prepetrators can be put to trial.
The husband of murdered Iraqi American Shaima Alawadi has pleaded not guilty in court to the charge of murdering his wife. The case received international attention after being initially identified as an anti-Muslim hate crime, but is now being treated as domestic violence.
35 disadvantaged Kyrgyz couples got married in a mass wedding sponsored by the business elite; RFERL features some pictures of the happy couples.