Stories: Women
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Facing the Beast
Since the gang-rape in Delhi, media reportage on sexual violence has increased and yes, this is necessary and long overdue. But more coverage is not always better coverage. An endless parade of news items on rape can have a desensitising effect unless accompanied by contextualisation and analysis. It makes sense then to examine how the issue is being covered by...
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Stating the Obvious
The light hung low, the air was pleasant, the bottles at the bar counter of Mumbai’s Press Club gleamed warmly on that winter evening as we talked about women, rape, fear, sex at an event called Voices Against Violence organised by poets Menka Shivdasani and Anju Makhija. It was interesting to see the variety of perspectives, the intriguing...
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Displaced in Thailand
In most of Thailand, the majority of people are Buddhists. But in the Southern-most provinces, the majority are Malay-speaking Muslims. Malay militants want to separate from the Thai state, saying it doesn’t respect Malay identity. Since the conflict escalated in 2004, around 5 thousand people have been killed, and more than 200,000 have had to leave their homes. The Malay militants...
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One Reason Kenyan Girls in Poor Areas Don’t Go to School
Keeping girls in school is a vital part of any international aid program. It's an issue important to highlight today, on the first ever United Nations International Day of the Girl. Over the past few decades, this has shown to have lasting effects, not only for the girls themselves, but also for their families, their communities and for...
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Abortion Ship to Dock in Morocco to Publicize Safety
An "abortion ship" was set to arrive in Smir today, its first time in a Muslim country, to kick off a campaign to promote safe medication for abortions in a country where hundreds of women are said to undergo an illegal form of the procedure daily. The ship, and its related campaign, is being organized by the Dutch group...
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Obama Step-Grandma on Women’s Rights
No visit to Kenya is complete without calling on Sarah Obama, President Obama's remarkably sharp 90-year-old step-grandmother, the woman who raised his father, Barack Obama Sr. Since the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Westerners have trooped to her door, eager to learn about the president's African heritage from the woman he calls "Granny." Obama used her accounts of the...
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Rougher Road Ahead for Morocco’s Maternal Health
Aicha Sasbou, who has worked for 30 years as a traditional birth attendant in this remote region of the Atlas Mountains, clearly remembers her first delivery. She was called along with her aunt to help her own sister. Her job: hold the candle and provide light for the delivery, since there was no electricity. But once the baby arrived, Sasbou forgot...
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The Secret Life of a Saudi Women’s Soccer Team
Sarah Attar and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani are making Olympic history as the first two women to represent Saudi Arabia. But inside their country, women are deprived of basic sports and fitness options. Beyond just sports, most women grow up without being allowed physical education and access to gyms. Those women who do play recreational sports must do it...
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Does That Abaya Come in Brown?
The West has a particular image of Saudi women: Draped in plain black cloth with their faces mostly, if not fully, covered. But basic black isn’t the only option. There are personally designed abayas, gray abayas and, a Jeddah favorite, the brown abaya:
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Under the Abaya, Saudi Women Grasp Reform Toehold
Deema al-Mashabi is eager to show off the gold brocade decorating the folds of her abaya. She designed her own robe — the traditionally all-black, enveloping gown that observant Muslim women wear in public. For al-Mashabi, appearing in public in a customized style is not just a fashion statement, but a symbol of the changes taking place in her...