The New York Times and Women’s eNews look at an often-profiled woman and her women’s shelter, the City of Hope, in Dubai. May Allah bless her for the work she does. Muslim women in India rally to push the government into implementing recommendations for improving Muslim issues made by a committee over a year ago. The Yemen Times looks at popular opinions on the niqab. Angola will host a beauty pageant for survivors of land mines. Ruth Marcus gives her... Read more
The sophisticated and flirtatious Begum Nawazish Ali has been on Pakistani airwaves for a few years now. With people tuning in to watch her grill, joke around, and shamelessly flirt with her guests who include celebrities and politicians, her talk shows have been huge hits. (This shameless flirting demonstrated as she asks Bollywood star John Abraham to father her future children.) Her invasive questions, political interest, and classy style have made her a sensation on Pakistani television. Not to mention... Read more
The Associated Press recently released a news piece titled by my local paper “Love story bolsters Islam’s image.” From the title alone, you’d think that Islam has never had a love story. The story implies that the film it covers is the first to portray Islam positively. We here at MMW tend to cover negative portrayals of Muslim women more often than positive ones, but we don’t go as far as to think that positive portrayals don’t exist. But from... Read more
I know it’s small, but you should be able to enlarge it by clicking on it. If not, you can see it here, in its original context at the now-defunct Syrian blog Journal…of an Axis of Evil citizen. This is a “cheat sheet” for Syrian hejab styles that has been making rounds around the internet. It was drawn by the owner of the aforementioned blog. I’m not familiar with Syrian politics/life, so some of the labels elude me. I think... Read more
This was originally published at the news in arabic. “I’m trying to tell if this cartoon from al-Sharq al-Awsat is sexist or not. The Arabic word on the tidal wave of women crushing the man reads “al-’anoosa” or loosely translated, singledom — a reference to a growing “problem” in the Arab world of women remaining single for whatever reason. I honestly don’t know much about the “phenomenon” of women remaining single in the Arab world or how people interpret this... Read more
Women in Iraq face mean streets when they drive. Abu Dhabi holds its first international fashion week, which include fashions from Rabia Z. The man who shot and killed Alia Ansari has been sentenced to jail. Muslim women in India get a new, more equitable marriage law. Mahboba Ahdyar braves the Taliban and conservative cultural mores to represent Afghanistan in the Beijing Olympics. Barikallah! Pedestrian examines the skewed political priorities of some Iranian women who migrate to the west. The... Read more
I was walking through the aisles in the grocery store the other day when a particular product made me do a double take. I had to backtrack so I could see if what I thought I saw was what I actually saw. And unfortunately it was. It was a box of Canadian label President’s Choice “Memories of Marrakesh” couscous with a picture of the face of a niqab clad woman! And not one, but two. Once again the veil has... Read more
MMW thanks Anne for the tip! The soap opera As the World Turns has recently introduced a Muslim character: Ameera Ali Aziz, an Iraqi woman. Played by the Iranian-American Tala Ashe, Ameera appears one day and becomes entangled in the other characters’ lives. Here’s the basic summary: Following the death of her mother, who was in a relationship with an American soldier, Ameera is shunned by every single member of her community and must flee to the United States. There... Read more
This was written by Tami, and originally published at What Tami Said. I have always been on the fence about Jezebel, the female-focused entry into the Gawker Media family of Web sites, described as: …celebrity, fashion, and sex without the airbrushing. The witty, informative tone draws a readership that is intelligent and sophisticated, but still willing to get down and dirty. Jezebel does what those women’s monthlies only wish they could. SOURCE The site makes grrrl power, big tent noises,... Read more
On Saturday and Sunday, CNN ran a program called On Deadly Ground: The Women of Iraq. Hosted by Arwa Damon, the program briefly profiled several women who live in Iraq; at the beginning, she promises, “You will meet the women of Iraq.” The program opens on a street somewhere in Baghdad: unpaved, muddy, with trash lying in heaps on the street. Damon’s voiceover introduces us to a young woman who squats in a decrepit building with her children because she... Read more
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