As I’m sure many of you have seen already, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last week that he supports a commission to consider banning the wearing of burqas in public places.  Here are some excerpts of his speech, quoted from this article: “We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind […]

I am not an Islamic scholar, therefore my opinions on Islam do not count. Worse still,  I’m told that it’s not my place to have an opinion on Islam at all. This is the general climate of thought in Malaysia put forth in the recent proposal by the country’s main Islamic party, PAS, to investigate […]

It seems as of late, the media has taken a very keen interest in the personal details of the lives of Muslim women. My fellow writers here at MMW have discussed this phenomenon. The Associated Press is now adding to this by telling us how Hamas is getting in on the matchmaking business. The title […]

It had to happen sooner or later. With Barbie and now Hannah Montana merchandise dominating the tween to early teenage market in Malaysia, products for young Muslim women in hijab are starting to appear, particularly on the bookshelves. And they look very pink. The increasing pinkness of girl’s books can be directly connected to the […]

This was written by Mohammed Ayish and originally published in The National. Most Arabs are resigned to being stereotyped by western media, but for Arab women the problem is particularly acute. I was invited to Doha in Qatar last week to present the Arab Women Media Strategy at a conference called East and West: Women […]

Last week, Canadian Governor-General* Michaëlle Jean caused a huge storm in the media by eating a piece of seal heart while on a visit to an Inuit community in Nunavut, northern Canada.  In the context of increasing international (and domestic) outrage against the seal hunt in Canada, Jean had this to say about her act […]

This was written by Alexandra Sandels and originally appeared on Menassat. A billboard advertisement calling on women to “Be Beautiful and Vote” in the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections has caused a fury among women’s rights activists in the country, who are denouncing the ad as sexist and offensive. In response, one group of activists launched […]

During an election campaign, we often get articles focusing on the wives of male candidates. It is never surprising when there are an abundance of articles on how they dress and how much they support their husbands. The Guardian’s recently published piece focusing on Zahra Rahnavard does not differ much from this norm. However, the […]

Shahina Siddiqui’s article “True Muslim society protects women,” published this past weekend in the Winnipeg Free Press, presents one woman’s response to some of the sexism and misogyny within Muslim communities that has been in the media recently. Siddiqui condemns the murder of an Afghan women’s rights activist, the flogging of a young women in […]

You know things are sad in the world of news about Muslimahs when “Muslim women value sexy” seems like not a bad headline.  After all, it’s a nice change from “Muslim women are oppressed,” “Muslim women are passive objects and could not possibly have any personality” and “Muslim women need the West to rescue them.” […]