- MuslimMatters has a four-part post on child molestation in the Muslim community. Parts one, two, and three have been published.
- In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a group of women gathered this week for “Musawah,” a global movement to promote justice and equality in the Muslim family unite. Coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
- Valentine Moghadam asks Payvand, “Where are Iran’s women workers?“
- Menassat discusses the T&A in Egyptian films.
- Many female Saudi graduates leave the country to find job opportunities elsewhere in the Gulf.
- The Kurdish regional parliament in north Iraq reserved roughly 30% of parliamentary seats for women.
- Fifty-one percent of Yemeni women don’t use any means of family planning, according to the Yemen News Agency.
- The U.N. is “surprised” at the major role women often play in sex trafficking.
- Iranian women fighting for their rights. Awesome. Related: Shirin Ebadi speaks with the BBC about rights (or lack thereof) after the Revolution.
- A female suicide bomber killed 38 and wounded 50 near an Arbaeen festival in Iraq. May Allah give the victims peace. More from the LA Times and MSNBC.
- Women (and their money) may be able to turn the economic tide in the Gulf.
- Several Lebanese couples protest the fact that civil marriages cannot be performed inside Lebanon. More from Global Voices Online.
- Shelina Zahra Janmohamed’s book, Love in a Headscarf, debuted this week. She writes about it in The Guardian.
- Saudi Arabia’s king dismisses two clerics and appoints Noura al-Fayez as the new minister of girls’ education. Coverage here, here, here, and here.
- The National wonders why all the hating on Valentine’s Day celebrations?
- Malaysian police arrested 26 unmarried couples who were getting down in hotel rooms over Valentine’s Day weekend.
- Mercury News reviews Azadeh Moaveni’s book Honeymoon in Tehran, while the Idaho Statesman reviews Azar Nafisi’s book Things I’ve Been Silent About. Damn! Maybe I should write a book. Heh.
- IPS interviews Pakistani human rights lawyer Hina Jilani.
- The National examines the gathering momentum against child marriages in Saudi Arabia, as does Arab News. More here.
- Gossip about Benazir Bhutto’s niece.
- Al-Ahram Weekly profiles musician Nesma Abdel-Aziz.
- The Norwegian government’s decision to rethink its earlier approval to amend the police uniform law to accommodate hijab is upsetting those in the Swedish Muslim community. Summary of the issue here.
- The National profiles Rashid al-Mansori, an Emirati relationship coach.
- AKI reports that divorce by text is on the rise among Muslim men in India.
- Yemen’s Parliament approved an amendment increasing the age of marriage for women to seventeen, striking down a move by the Islamic Sharia Codification of Law Committee to reduce the age of marriage to fifteen. More from AKI, Global Voices Online, and the Yemen Observer.
- Pakistan’s government conceded that the Swat valley will now be under Shari’a law. More from the Guardian, The Independent, and the BBC.
- Unemployment in Iraq has hit 18%, with women’s employment lagging behind neighboring countries.
- No sex in the champagne room…at Muxlim.com, that is.
- On Azerbaijan’s internally displaced people, many of whom are women and children.
- According to the Christian Science Monitor, Gulf countries are slowly but surely gaining more rights for women.
- Ruqaya al Ghasara says she will always compete wearing her headscarf.
- The Federation of Muslim Women’s Association in Ghana organized a seminar about “Achievements and Challenges of Muslim Women in Ghana.” They did so in coordination with Iranian groups, which resulted in some Ghanaian women’s groups protestt of the seminar.
- Zainab Al-Suwaij writes about her recent trip to Iraq for wowOwow.
- We reported a few weeks ago that an Afghan-German killed his sister. He has been sentenced to life in prison.
- Racer Muoza al Mansoori is the first female Emirati in U.A.E. history to participate in an international wheelchair sporting event.
- Two women in Norwich, U.K., have set up The Neesa Project, a group that meets to offer advice and a social atmosphere for other Muslim women in the area.
- Qatar’s Sheikha Mozah calls for more joint projects among women in West Asian countries.
- Nazia Kauser is the first female Muslim police officer in Notts, U.K. history.
- Hijab Style interviews designer Sarah Elenany.
- HijabMan discusses dating within the Muslim community.
- GetReligion examines Valentine’s Day in Saudi Arabia.
- HijabTrendz interviews designer Effa Al Dabbagh.
- An Iranian woman has been granted asylum in the U.K. Via ifeminists.
- Rachida Dati plans on running for mayor of Paris.
- The Huffington Post reports on the oppression of women’s rights activists in Iran. Via ifeminists.
- A man who abused several of his wives and children will likely face life in prison if convicted. May Allah grant those women and children justice. Via Just Another Angry Muslim Woman?
- Though Iraqi women will receive several political posts, gaining respect and actual political clout is another matter.
- The American Chronicle reviews Shaila Abdullah’s new book, Saffron Dreams.
- Al Arabiya covers the Vitamin D deficiency press that Faith posted on this week. Aaminah Hernández also weighs in.
- AIM magazine covers a new publication in the U.K. that discusses hijab.
- Some Muslim women in the Netherlands are forming a ‘Headscarf Brigade’, and plan on crusading against discrimination that happens to women who wear hijab.
- The Citizen profiles British artist Shahida Ahmed.
- PBS highlights “bride kidnapping” in Kyrgyzstan. You can see videos from Al Jazeera’s coverage of the issue here and here.
- The Saudi Gazette gives a man’s point of view on all the expectations of women in Islam.
- Chris Selley of the National Post seems to agree with our issues surrounding the fight over Aqsa Parvez’s grave. More on the issue here.
- A Norwegian imam thinks that female Muslim officers shouldn’t arrest men.
- A Yemeni girl is now a boy.
- In Saudi Arabia, a TV network is organizing a competition for producing films based on Saudi women’s issues. More here.
- Today’s Zaman reports that a young girl born with no arms contributes illustrations to a children’s book.
- The National attempts to emphasize the humanity of domestic help–a side that is often overlooked by domestic workers’ employers.
- Afghan and Pakistani women learn physiotherapy skills to enable them to serve as community rehabilitation workers.
- Police in Yemen arrest Saudi and Yemeni nationals in an illegal tourist marriage.
- A young Pakistani girl fights the Taleban the only way she knows how: by writing. Jezebel wonders whether her high-profile status is a good idea.
- Activist Nadia Dajani describes how jewelry-making can empower women in Jordan. Via Global Voices Online.
- Cycads shares tips on “smashing conformity” from a Malaysian feminist.
- A report about immigrant women in Copenhagen, Denmark, shows that a third of them live in isolation.
- Global Voices Online looks at the reactions of Jordanian bloggers to Valentine’s Day.
- Jamerican Muslimah shares her thoughts on the “ride or die” mentality.
- Amnesty International discusses women’s issues with Yemen’s Human Rights minister.
- Fatima Bhutto condemns Pakistani officials for bullying Mukhtar Mai into dropping her case. Via ProgressiveIslam.
- Gossip about Queen Noor of Jordan.
- An Afghan diplomat in the U.S. has been charged with beating his wife all day. May Allah grant her justice. Via my treasure.
- Variety hails female Saudi poet Al Jahani as a hero for refusing to quit the Gulf TV show “Millions Poet.”
- A writer for The Yemen Times essentializes men and how they deal with women.
- Four Iranian women activists accused of acting against national security are awaiting the decision of an appeals court on whether to uphold jail terms against them.
- The Art Antiques Design Dubai Fair will have a Ladies’ Day that will showcase female artists.
- The New Nation discusses women’s need for more power in Bangladesh.
- The National and The Sydney Morning Herald discuss a recent Turkish study that finds that more than 40% of wives have been abused by their husbands.
- Women of the Bahraini Shoura council claim that national media “neglect[s] their contributions to the reform process.”
- For the first time in Palestinian history, two women have been appointed to be Islamic judges in Ramallah and Hebron.
- We’ve been updating the Muslim community’s response to the murder of Aasiya Hassan all this week. But here are some good links from non-Muslim sources: Jezebel, Shakesville, Feminsting. I’ll post more as I find them.