After 90 episodes, ‘Men Wanted’, the Syrian Arabic soap opera, has concluded its season for this year on Saudi-owned television channel MBC 4. For those who do not know ‘Men Wanted,’ the Venezuelan-style soap opera is adapted to an Arab environment, with its actions taking place in Dubai. ‘Men Wanted’ tells the story of Hala, […]

Salwa al-Mutairi, a Kuwaiti politican, gave a cold-blooded proposal for Muslim men to take female slaves, especially non-Muslim female prisoners of war, for sexual use (or rather rape). It has rather unpredictably come under fire. Slavery is one of the most abhorrent forms of abuse of power in this modern age. But the basic principles […]

The world of hijabs and soccer (or football, if you prefer) has been making the news a lot lately.  As you might remember, FIFA recently banned the Iranian women’s team from playing, because of their headscarves.  Jordan’s team has also recently been banned for the same reason.  And in the Montreal area, 15-year-old Sarah Benkirane […]

A nine-year- old Peshwari girl was forced to wear suicide vest. An Indonesian woman was put to death by decapitation in Saudi Arabia this week.  Her daughter plans to press charges, while Indonesia wonders whether or not its citizens are so well protected abroad. Meanwhile, another maid is murdered in Saudi Arabia. May Allah give […]

I stepped into a cozy loft, decorated minimally with Moroccan style tapestry and into an experience I won’t easily forget. The Light in Her Eyes, a documentary film following the story of  Houda al-Habash, the founder and teacher of an all girls’ Qur’an school in Damascus, Syria, sparked my interest about a year ago where, […]

Last March, Saudi authorities stated that half the seats in the municipal council in the next September 2011 run would be elected, rather than selected by the monarch himself as usual. But when they implemented elections, they neglected to include women’s votes. When asked why, the kingdom’s electoral commission mentioned it was because of logistic-related […]

BHUTTO is the definitive documentary that chronicles the life of one of the most complex and fascinating characters of our time. Hers is an epic tale of Shakespearean dimension. It’s the story of the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation: Pakistan. –Synopsis from the film’s website Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara’s 2010 […]

This was written by B. Full disclosure: Last month I wrote a piece for MMW about the new ‘blog heroine’, Amina Abdullah. The thrust of my piece was my discomfort at her being promoted by the Western media as such a central figure in the Syrian uprising. However, the planned posting date coinciding with Amina’s […]

An interview with Maryam Kershevarz about the film she directed, Circumstance, a fictional story about a relationship between two high school girls in Tehran. Farzaneh Milani reflects on driving bans and activism in Saudi Arabia. More on that here and here. A new film called Tales of the Waria looks at transgendered women in Indonesia. Lebanon’s […]

Maureen Dowd has opinions, everybody! And she is gracious enough to share them with us little people. When she heard about the June 17 campaign to drive that Saudi women are mounting on Facebook, the first thing Dowd did was call up her friend Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who is “a pillar […]