Friday Links — August 21, 2009

Last updated on: August 21, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Emel profiles Afghan architect and clothing designer Zoleykha Sherzad. Via HijabStyle. Esha Momeni discusses her work and incarceration in Iran during an interview. The New York Times offers a chilling portrait of one female suicide bomber-to-be named Baida in Iraq. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he will propose at least three female ministers in his new cabinet. Massumeh Torfeh tells The Guardian that token female ministers aren’t going to get Iran–or Iranian women–anywhere. The Burqa Ban discussion in Denmark continues,... Read more

Another New MMW Contributor

Last updated on: August 31, 2013 at 9:14 am By malika

Salam MMW readers! My name is Malika and I’m an American journalist who recently moved to the Gulf (Persian to some, Arabian to others). It’s an incredibly interesting time to be living in a region that’s still trying to determine what kind of place it wants to be. In the meantime, there are lots of fascinating critiques to be made on the representation of women in pop culture and in the media here as the region vacillates between Western tendencies... Read more

New MMW Contributor

Last updated on: August 20, 2009 at 12:00 am By Sara Yasin

My name is Sara Yasin, and I am from North Carolina. I am off to London to be a poor graduate student, studying Gender, Development, and Globalization at the London School of Economics. I have a pretty eclectic range of interests, from fashion and art, to science, and of course, politics and women’s issues. I look forward to interacting with the site as a blogger, and I hope you enjoy my commentary. Read more

Sisterhood of the Hot Pants: the Media’s Coverage of Lubna al-Hussein

Last updated on: August 20, 2009 at 12:00 am By faith

Lubna al-Hussein’s recent trial for wearing pants has received a lot of attention in the media. Most of the attention has been focused on the “backwardness” of indecency law that apparently prevents women in Sudan from wearing pants in public. The law itself doesn’t actually describe what is “indecent” but it seems to be understood that the indecent clothing in this case was al-Hussein’s pants. This story did not initially spark much interest on my part, not because I don’t... Read more

Material Girls: Talking about Gender and Consumerism at ISNA

Last updated on: August 19, 2009 at 12:00 am By Krista

I spent this past weekend at a conference near Toronto, co-hosted by ISNA Canada (the Islamic Society of North America) and Reviving the Islamic Spirit. The theme of the convention was “Serving God, Serving Humanity: Moral Basis of Effective Social Action.” Overall, I have to say it was probably the best Islamic conference I’ve ever been to, and a very powerful (and much needed) pre-Ramadan spiritual boost, alhamdulillah. As much as I loved the convention, my biggest complaint, not surprisingly,... Read more

Women’s Day in South Africa

Last updated on: August 18, 2009 at 12:00 am By safiyyah

Since 1994, South Africa celebrates National Women’s Day every year on the 9th of August, and more generally the whole month has become one in which the woes of women are highlighted and tribute is paid to their outstanding achievements. The occasion marks a march led by a 20,000-strong gathering of women on August 9, 1956, in protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (which curtailed the movement of non-whites in urban areas and allowed them only... Read more

To read is to travel: The rise of the Muslim woman’s memoir

Last updated on: August 17, 2009 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This was written by Tasnim, and originally published at AltMuslimah. The post-9 /11 period has seen a proliferation of texts on the Muslim world which fall under the genre of the travel narrative. In recent years this has included a wave of personal accounts by journalists reporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as The Bookseller of Kabul, by Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, or Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between, an account of his experiences in Afghanistan, which was... Read more

Friday Links — August, 14, 2009

Last updated on: August 14, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Muslims in England weighs in on the Burqa Ban. More from The Washington Post. Saudi Amber comments on the significance of the four female Kuwaiti parliament members elected a few months ago. the long slumber comments on sexual harassment in the Arab world. He also pointed us to a very interesting refutation of myths about female sexuality. “What Middle Eastern Women Can Teach Us.” Uh…something about backhanded compliments, perhaps? Muslim women in Ghana look to eradicate superstition. Katha Pollitt writes... Read more

An Enchanted Modern: Lara Deeb’s Anthropologic Study

Last updated on: August 13, 2009 at 12:00 am By safiyyah

It is very rare to find a book that deals predominantly with Muslim women that does not have the words, “women”, “Muslim”, and most significantly “veil” in the title, especially when hijab is a recurring topic in the book. An Enchanted Modern by Lara Deeb immediately gets 10 points from me, for breaking the “behind/beyond/under/inside/uncovering the veil” title cliché. The subjects of the book (whom Deeb refers to as the “pious modern”) give the reader an insider’s perspective into their... Read more

Milke-ing it: Another Paternalistic Editorial

Last updated on: August 12, 2009 at 12:00 am By faith

Looking at the title of Mark Milke’s editorial, “The 21st century-style subjection of women” I have to admit that the first group of people that didn’t come to mind was Muslim women. Maybe it’s because Muslims are usually portrayed as being stuck in the middle ages. However, my first impression was wrong and the editorial was indeed about Muslim women. I guess Muslim subjection of women is both medieval and modern. Milke’s essay is a throwback to John Stuart Mill’s... Read more