March 8 was International Women’s Day and, as usual, there was a sudden rise in news items that feature women, some of which will be featured in this week’s Friday Links. At the same time, women around the world were involved in protests. A few dozen Iraqi women took to the streets to demonstrate against […]

A few months ago I was invited to like a Facebook page called Memes Feministas Islámicos. The page targets mostly Spanish speakers, and it claims to be countering Muslim patriarchies online. Their “About us” page reads: “Nos sumamos a la tarea de contrarrestar el machismo en el cyber espacio y al igual que nuestras compañeras […]

Last week, Salon published Randa Jarrar’s “Why I Can’t Stand White Bellydancers” as part of their “feminists of color” series curated by Roxane Gay. The response to her post has been overwhelming, including responses from dudes at the Washington Post and The Atlantic to G. Willow Wilson’s response at her blog. We’ve been exchanging emails […]

A few weeks ago, I spoke as part of a panel at the University of Ottawa about the Quebec Charter of Secularism, speaking both as Editor-in-Chief of Muslimah Media Watch and as a founding member of the Collective of Muslim Feminists of Quebec.  This is an edited version of my talk, updated to reflect shifts […]

Saudi women activists are calling on the government to end the “absolute authority” that male guardians have over women in the kingdom. The petition is said to have been sent to a human rights committee. FIFA, the organisation that governs soccer/football, has authorised the wearing of religious head wear, such as hijabs and turbans, during […]

“This book is about what lies behind such deceptively simple responses to problems we think we already understand or believe that we should act on even before we understand.” – Lila Abu-Lughod When Muslimah Media Watch started out in 2007, one of the goals was to be able to create a platform for self-identified Muslim […]

For many years now, countries around the world have been faced with the question of minority rights and religious accommodation. In Canada, where I currently live, questions about niqabs in courtrooms, voting stations and citizenship ceremonies have been raised in the past five years. Part of the debate has been the meaning of religious accommodation, […]

Activists describe the situation of women detainees in Egypt as “horrific” and much worse than under Mubarak; many of the recent detainees are young women and even minors, who face sexual abuse, torture and harsh treatments. War widows in predominantly Muslim southern Thailand often face a heavy burden, but in a protected village of widows they find […]

I didn’t know what to expect when I first picked up Jennifer Zobair’s debut novel, Painted Hands. Chicklit isn’t really my thing — and it was sold to me as a “Muslim chicklit” — even though highly appraising endorsements found on the back cover call this novel, “a positive portrait of Muslim women” and an […]

Jehane Noujaim’s recent film, Al-Midan (translation: The Square), follows a group of Egyptian activists—many who are filmmakers and photographers themselves— involved in their nation’s ever-changing revolution(s) over the past couple of years. The film is beautifully shot, as Noujaim both follows the activists’ lives and has them describe their hopes for freedom and change as […]