Europe | France | Activism

Muslim women defy ban to swim in burkinis at French pool

Source:
Muslim women in France are disobeying the rules at a local swimming pool by wearing burkinis. In a protest inspired by US civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, they bathed in suits covering their entire bodies - apart from the face, hands and feet - in the city of Grenoble on Sunday. The Jean Bron swimming pool is among many in France that ban burkinis. Many people in the country regard the swimsuit as a symbol of political Islam and incompatible with secularism. "Operation burkini" was launched last month by members of the group Citizen Alliance of Grenoble to defend what they say is the
Europe | Italy | Activism

Italian far-right makes sexist International Women’s Day flyer

Source:
Representatives of the far-right League in southern Italy have provoked fury after producing an explicitly sexist leaflet to mark International Women’s Day. It was intended to be a dedication to women, but the pamphlet instead takes aim at those who “offend women’s dignity” by impeding their “natural role” of “supporting life and the family”. It contains a list of six ways in which it says what it calls the natural role of women is harmed, including by “those who claim self-determination that arouses rancorous attitudes towards men” or who support laws that would al
Europe | Germany | Crimes

In Cologne, Multiculturalism More Important than Protecting Women from Rape?

Source:
In other words, faced with the choice of protecting over a thousand girls from repeated gang rape and protecting Muslims from being identified as the rapists, British authorities chose to protect multiculturalism and “diversity.” In the competition between multiculturalism and one of the most elementary instincts and obligations of higher civilization — the protection of girls and women from sexual violence — higher civilization lost. The U.K. is, of course, not alone in letting multiculturalism and the fear of being branded racist or Islamophobic take precedence over protecting gir
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Palestinian women ‘show solidarity’ defending access to al-Aqsa mosque, clash with Jewish activists

Source:
Dressed in hijabs, Huda Abu Sneineh and a group of Palestinian women congregate daily in an Old City alleyway just a few steps from an Israeli police barrier that blocks them from one of holiest sites to Islam. When an observant Jew strides up the stone path with a yarmulke and prayer fringes, the women shout out “Allahu akbar” and wave handbook-sized texts of the Koran at the passerby. “It’s because they hate Muslims,” Abu Sneineh explains. “They want to take our mosque.” Known as the mourabitat, Arabic for “the steadfast,” the female activists
Middle East | Israel | Culture

Rare view of the lives of the ‘Taliban Women’ in Jerusalem

Source:
A recent report from a leading news channel exposed a phenomenon of extreme religious devotion that even the ultra-Orthodox community declared to be too fanatic. The “Taliban Women” group is controlled primarily by women and its members cover themselves completely in black cloth – including their face. Their young daughters are also forced wear the same burqa-like black outfit due to strict rules of modesty. All members are Orthodox women who have decided to take their faith to “the next level”. An Orthodox female reporter pretended to be in the process of joining the group.
Middle East | Palestine | Activism

Palestinian women rescue child from attack by Israeli soldier

Source:
This video shows several women preventing an Israeli soldier from abducting a Palestinian child in the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The footage, shot by Bilal Tamimi, shows a masked soldier assaulting a child whose arm is in a cast. The child is clearly distressed. A man screams at the soldier “he’s a boy! he’s a boy!” but the soldier continues his attack. A short time later, several women appear and pull the soldier off the boy, braving his blows, but preventing the abduction from taking place. One of the women also pulls the mask off the woul
Europe | U.K. | Culture

UK’s First Female Sharia Judge: ‘We Can’t Ask Muslims Not to Have More than One Wife’

Source:
Britain's first female Sharia law judge has issued a brazen warning that flies in the face of UK law, stating that the "government cannot ask Muslims not to have more than one wife." The news comes on the back of a report by the Times newspaper which claims that Britain is experiencing a "surge" in Sharia marriages, as young British Muslims adopt a more hardline religious stance than their parents.
Latin America | Brazil | Culture

For generations, these Brazilian women harvested the sea, but industry threatens their way of life

Source:
Journalist Zoe Sullivan spent months documenting a small community ofmarisqueiras living south of Recife on the eastern coast of Brazil. Marisqueiras are women who harvest mollusks, crabs and other shellfish from the waters of Brazil's coastal mangrove swamps. It's an occupation they've pursued for generations. But the steady expansion of a nearby port and industrial complex is threatening their livelihoods and their health. We asked Zoe about these women and the challenges they're facing.
Middle East | Israel | Crimes

Arab Israeli coed marathon canceled after threats

Source:
In mid-May, Hanin Radi, a runner and a mother of four from the Arab Israeli town of Tira, had her lifelong dream of holding a coed marathon in her town shattered. The race was called off after unidentified persons fired shots at her car, conveying a clear message to her and the group of runners she had organized: Women running shorts running through an Arab town's streets are crossing the line for the conservative religious population. It exposed the chasm in Arab Israeli society. While there is a process of liberalization, mainly among young Arab adults who express an ardent desire to l
Africa | Congo | Culture

Congo-Brazzaville starts war on terrorism by banning full veils

Source:
Congo-Brazzaville, has experienced no threat of Islamic jihad but the government has decided to fight it nonetheless, starting with prohibiting Muslim women from wearing full veils in public places. The regulation aims to prevent terrorism and insecurity, according to the interior ministry. Women can still wear their full veil at home or at mosques. Some Muslims condemn this “extreme” decision because few women actually wear full veils. Besides, 80 percent of Congolese are Christians. There are only about 800,000 Muslims in the country — 5 percent of the population — and most of
Middle East | Lebanon | Arts

For the Women of Lebanon, Camouflage Can Feel Like a Second Skin

Source:
Over the past 30 years, war and conflict in Lebanon has created a life filled with the constant threat of chaos and fear. The Syrian occupation, the country’s civil war, and the 2006 Lebanon War with Israel have shaken the country and set the tone for what Lamia Maria Abillama calls a population of people who are “traumatized victims of relentless hostilities.” Abillama’s series, “Clashing Realities,” speaks to this darkness, specifically the ways in which it affects women. “Like gangrene, violence has invaded their most intimate spaces and haunted each and every asp
Europe | Greece | Culture

Muslim woman tries to close Thrace’s sharia inheritance law loophole

Source:
A legal consequence of historical wrangling between Greece and Turkey is finally set to be challenged at the European court of human rights Well out of sight, in her pleasant flat in Komotini, Thrace, in north-eastern Greece, Chatitze Molla Sali is speaking quietly. At times she is barely audible. It’s the voice of a tired 65-year-old, who for many years “lowered her gaze and accepted everything”, as she puts it. But she livens up at any mention of her new determination. She is the first woman from Greece’s Muslim minority to have taken a case to the European court of huma
Europe | Sweden | Culture

Sweden ‘feminist’ policy sparks major Saudi spat

Source:
Sweden is seeking to quell an unprecedented diplomatic spat over human rights with Saudi Arabia which has seen ambassadors recalled and arms sales cancelled, drawing comparisons with Denmark's Mohammed cartoons controversy. Stockholm's relations with Riyadh have nosedived since leftist Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem told parliament in a February speech the oil-rich state was a "dictatorship" that violated women's rights and whipped bloggers. Wallstroem said her comments -- including calling Saudi Arabia's whipping of dissident blogger Raif Badawi in January "medieval" -- were never direc