Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt is always special in its very traditional way. You wait for the Lunar confirmation that next day is first day of Ramadan, then you hear the Taraweeh Prayer calls in all mosques. A few hours later, the first Sohour begins, with a special guy (we call him “Messaharati”) banging on a […]

Revolution never arrives without its victims. The lives it changes and swallows within its jaws are the same lives who endured decades of violence, decadence, and impoverishment by the very systems that it wishes to replace. The revolutions in the Middle East deeply reflect the contradictions between the joy and pride of toppling a dictatorship […]

Amidst masses of anxious men stands a woman in a grey and pink headscarf, armed with a to-do-list doubling as a journalist’s notepad, and a pink pen. This woman is 22-year-old Heba Afify and she is determined to document the voice of her people. Afify is the charming protagonist of a documentary titled “Words of […]

During the Egyptian elections campaigning, women were, of course, targeted by those looking for votes. Akher Kalam – “Final Words” – is one of the most viewed TV talk shows in Egypt.  As with most Egyptian media outlets lately, it has been paying much attention to the elections, and its coverage of women’s issues in […]

If you ever wondered about “Islamization” and the so-called return to the Caliphate, recent debates arising from a number of Muslim countries regarding the “Islamization” and the status of Muslim women bring important questions to the table. First of all, it raises the question of what really is the “Islamic state” and what describes it. […]

Last month, Egyptian journalist Dalia Rabie had an enlightening experience when she was banned from joining her own birthday party at one of Cairo’s fancy restaurants, L’Aubergine. Rabie relates that the guy standing on the door who stopped her asked her if the fact that she is – unfortunately – wearing hijab was mentioned prior […]

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011: the day thousands of Egyptians—Christians and Muslims, men and women, young and old—lined the streets of Tahrir Square in non-violent, civil-resistance in attempt to overthrow the regime of then President, Hosni Mubarak. A year later, Wikipedia hosts a page titled “2011 Egyptian Revolution;” Egyptians mourn the loss of their sons, brothers, […]

Just a month ago, here on MMW, I tried to highlight the fact that mainstream media was focusing on Islamists’ statements regarding what women wear, while, in fact, what was even more dangerous was their vision regarding women and child law. I referred in that article to quotations from Dr. Manal Abul-Hassan about allowing female […]

Slate recently ran a piece about Azza al Garf, dubbing her a “culturally regressive trailblazer,” and likening her to well-known American female conservatives such as Michele Bachman and Sarah Palin. Azza al Garf, a female member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party who was recently elected to the post-revolutionary Egyptian Parliament, had not […]

By all standards, 2011 was quite an exceptional year for men and women in the Arab world. It was a year of dramatic transitions marked by the so-called Arab Spring of political democratization and social emancipation. It all started in Tunisia, going through Egypt and Libya in the West, and continuing to drag on in […]