Forced marriage
All topics-
Southeast Asia
Indonesia fights violence against women with new law
Indonesia has finally passed a bill, ten years in the making, stipulating tougher penalties for sexual violence. Yet activists maintain the country's conservative culture stifles awareness and prevents victims from speaking up. By Arti Ekawati and Betty Herlina
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Anti-racism, anti-discrimination
Rafia Zakaria – feminism is not only white
Pakistani-American author and lawyer Rafia Zakaria advocates for a broad-based feminism that doesn't just address the concerns of white women. By Christine Lehnen
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Ramadan
Tunisia TV series sparks polygamy row
A Ramadan TV series dealing with polygamy has sparked a heated debate in Tunisia, an Arab pioneer in women's rights that banned the practice decades ago
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Najat El Hachmi’s "La filla estrangera"
An irrepressible desire for freedom
In her latest novel, Catalan-Moroccan writer Najat El Hachmi tells the story of a young migrant woman struggling to balance her desire for freedom and the demands of tradition and family. With great openness and a sensuous use of language, El Hachmi paints a picture of the timeless conflict encountered by young people striving for self-determination. Volker Kaminski read the book for Qantara.de
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Pakistan, India, Bangladesh
The ordeal of "abandoned wives" left behind by UK families
Many marriages to British Asian men are accompanied by false promises of improved finances. Later when the men abandon their wives to return to the UK, some brides' families find themselves saddled with debt. By S. Khan
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Interview with Turkish human rights lawyer Canan Arin
"Women in Turkey are fighting to keep their rights"
As 1 July approaches, the date when Turkey will officially pull out of the Istanbul Convention on violence against women, Qantara.de speaks to Canan Arin, one of the co-founders and most well-known voices of the Turkish feminist movement. Interview by Ceyda Nurtsch
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Aminatou Echard's "Jamilia" documentary
Recording the struggle for women's rights in Kyrgyzstan
Aminatou Echard's poetic documentary takes the 1958 novel "Jamilia" by Chingiz Aitmatov as the starting point for conversations with Kyrgyz women of all generations. Inspired by the novel’s eponymous heroine, the protagonists open up about their experiences, desires, and views on women’s rights. By Adela Lovric
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Femicide and coronavirus in the Maghreb
Algeria's ongoing war against women – #WeLostOneOfUs
The Algerian state's insufficient response to a recent spate of femicides has driven hundreds of women to defy coronavirus lockdown restrictions to take part in street protests, while also rekindling a debate about the death penalty. By Dalia Ghanem
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#MeToo and Muslim women
Danish author Sara Omar – Breaking taboos for Muslim women
Born amid the horrors of war in Iraqi Kurdistan, Danish author Sara Omar now uses her voice to denounce violence inflicted on women in the name of reactionary Islam, a "calling" that has left her living under police protection
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Teenage pregnancies in Pakistan
What sex education is really about
Young people in many developing countries are not systematically taught about reproductive health and the psychology of intimacy. It is harmful to keep all things sexual shrouded in secrecy – as is evident in Pakistan, for example, where many girls are still married off in their teens. By Mahwish Gul
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Confronting social taboos in the Gulf
Emirates talk show host Anas Bukhash lays it on the line
Emirati talk show host Anas Bukhash has struck a chord with his programme "ABtalks" which probes social questions that others fight shy of. In the Gulf, "nobody wants to talk about the elephant" in the room, he says. By Diana Hodali
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Marriage, divorce and inheritance
Who should reform Egypt's personal status law, and how?
"Personal status" is a modern category of Middle Eastern law grounded in Islamic religious teaching. Legislative authorities dip into centuries of religious scholarship to decide which interpretations of Sharia will be enforced by the state. Understandably, how it is done is as important as who does it. By Nathan J. Brown