Friday Links | September 6, 2013

Child marriage is forbidden in Nigeria, but in the predominantly Muslim north, one in four rural girls are married off before they turn fifteen; that child marriage is in fact illegal is something that many people in northern Nigeria do not understand.

Sex trade is flourishing in Afghanistan; it is unclear how many women are sold in sexual slavery, but the country has become a key source for victims of sex-trafficking.

According to a report by Amnesty International, displaced women and children in Somalia are at high risk for rape and sexual violence in the camps. Solar lights have been installed in camps in Mogadishu, Somalia, which help protect women against attacks at night.

Female Syrian refugees in Lebanon face many hardships, but for female Syrian refugees of Palestinian descent it is particularly difficult.

In the UK the fear of female genital mutilation (FGM) is ground for seeking asylum, but many female asylum seekers find their applications rejected. The BBC spoke to two Gambian women, who had failed applications and travels to The Gambia to research their cases.

Activists in Gaza are pushing for the right for women to divorce their husbands, if they can prove that the marriage is unsustainable.

According to researchers, women living in the slums of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka are at a much higher risk of domestic violence than women living in other parts of the country

Dauriyah Dyer was very excited to go to St. Hugh’s high school in Jamaica, until she found out that the school will not permit her to alter the uniform to meet her religious requirements.

The scheduled crackdown on independent drivers in Saudi Arabia concerns Saudi working women, who often have to depend on independent drivers to get to their jobs.

In the city of Sheberghan in northern Afghanistan a park is constructing a park solely for women, which aims to become more than just a park, with plans for restaurants, a swimming pool and shops.

A support group by Turkish men in Germany challenges cultural assumptions about domestic violence.

Tunisian women claim that border guards are now asking them for travel authorization from their husbands or fathers before traveling to some countries in the region in order to prevent women to travel for “sexual jihad”; the government denies this.

Two police officers in New York, USA have been accused of roughing up two teen Muslim girls and removing their hijabs with force.

Qantara.de features an article on (female) Muslim bloggers in Germany.

Ayesha Farooq is Pakistan’s only female fighter pilot, and as such is a role model for many Pakistani girls and women.

An article by the BBC on asylum seekers in Australia features the life story of Kobra, who is originally from Afghanistan but has traveled the world in order to find a place where she could settle in peace.

The government of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia has decided that girls will be allowed to wear hijab in school.

The launch of female rugby in Iran has people discussing whether photos of matches between women teams are contradictory to Islamic law.

The Indonesia Police Watch has called on the National Police of Indonesia to recruit more female officers and to promote more women to strategic positions. At the moment women only make up about five percent of the police force and mainly employed in low-level office jobs.

Lucy Vallender is transgender, a former soldier and now a Muslim wife; her local community though does not allow her to pray alongside women in the mosque.