In January of this year, philanthropist Leslie Sacks, human rights lawyer Catinca Tabacaru and a team of extraordinary women came together to create Women’s Voices Now, an organization based in New York whose aim is to “empower women and give voice to the struggle for civil, economic, and political rights.” This group of women has […]

November 9th was the second international “One Day, One Struggle” campaign, organized by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslims Societies (CSBR). Fifty participants from 20 human rights organizations, universities, and municipalities from 12 countries from the Middle East, North Africa, South and Southeast Asia worked together to call for public attention for […]

In late October, this year’s Fourth Annual International Congress on Islamic Feminism was held in Madrid, Spain. The conference encompassed Islamic feminism in Palestine, America, Malaysia, Iran, Indonesia and Pakistan, inviting speakers from various backgrounds to explain what it means to be an Islamic feminist and how this role has manifested itself in various cultural […]

Today is Pink Hijab Day! I hope you’re wearing something pink. From the Global Pink Hijab Day Official Site: “All over the world, Muslims participate by wearing pink hijabs, pink ribbons, and donating to cancer foundations.” Go to their website to read up on Pink Hijab Day and find out how you can help locally.

Several weeks after Eid al-Fitr, it’s a good time to analyze the recent media embroglio about women and Eid prayers in South Africa. The ways in which South African Muslims interact with the media has changed drastically in the last few years with the rise of social media, and this has reflected itself especially in […]

Contrary to the common assumption that only Muslim women are victims of gender violence, some organizations acknowledge the fact that gender violence is not restricted to one religion, ethnicity or nationality. According to El País, gender violence is very prominent in Spain. This resulted in the approval of the Law against Gender Violence on 2004. […]

The Independent recently published an article by Jerome Taylor, titled “First woman to lead Friday prayers in the UK,” talking about the mixed-congregation Friday prayers that Canadian Raheel Raza was to lead the following day.  I read it, feeling confused: didn’t Amina Wadud do this already? Well, yes, she did.  The beginning of the article […]

Rima Fakih, an Arab Muslim immigrant, won the Miss USA Pageant Sunday night: She beat out four blondes and set off a whirlwind of media coverage stemming from her “stripper” past to her Shi’a background. On the positive side, one idealist commenter compared her to Barack Obama. Another went so far as to say her […]

Today is the Day of Action on Quebec’s Bill 94, which I wrote about last week. In honor of this, I wanted to share a video of a community dialogue on the bill, which took place in Toronto in early May.  It was a really impressive event, with a very engaging panel and over 150 people […]

The provincial legislature of Quebec, Canada, is currently considering a bill that would refuse key social services to anyone wearing a face covering if made into law.  Political discussions around this bill have made it clear that the law specifically targets women who wear niqab, a face veil worn by some Muslim women. As Muslim […]