Gender
All topics-
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Prey"
Condemning Islam, glorifying the West
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book "Prey" claims to examine how Muslim immigration threatens the rights of Western women. Indeed the injustices women face only seem to matter to her when Muslims are involved, writes Sonja Zekri
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Egypt and social media
Qawem group saves Egyptian women from sextortion
Social media make many things possible – including the unwanted circulation of intimate private photos. This has given rise to new forms of crime and sexual blackmail. An initiative in Egypt is assisting victims. Ihad Zidan reports from Cairo
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Leila Slimani's "The Country of Others"
Dreams in times of crisis
Bestselling author Leila Slimani's latest novel tells the story of her grandmother’s arduous life in rural Morocco during the immediate post-war period. Married to a Moroccan officer, the French woman struggles with the differences between their cultures, while both encounter growing hostility from the French settlers, and from the nationalists agitating for Moroccan independence. Volker Kaminski read the book
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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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Pride Month 2021
Malaysia seeks stricter sharia laws for "promoting LGBT lifestyle"
A Malaysian government taskforce has proposed amendments to sharia law that would allow action to be taken against social media users for insulting Islam and "promoting the LGBT lifestyle"
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Hit streaming series "Fatma's Revenge"
Netflix takes on the Turkish macho
Since the end of April, a Netflix series has been broadcast in Turkey about the cleaner Fatma, who searches for her missing husband in six episodes and ends up in a murderous odyssey. The series celebrates the woman as a hero who defends herself against humiliation, threats and sexual harassment, writes Jochen Menzel
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Ten years after the Arab Spring
Arab women's rights, a genuine lifestyle revolution?
Arab women played a leading role in the protest movement of 2011. Since then, ongoing social transformation has had a considerable impact on their lives. What is their assessment of the situation ten years on? Claudia Mende spoke to women from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco
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The image of Muslim women
“We refuse to be hijab-wearing princesses”
Among Muslims, the image of women as "cossetted hijab-wearing princesses" is frequently invoked. But Muslim women have long wanted to be more. In her essay, Karoline Roscher-Lagzouli explores how they can find a new approach to their Muslim femininity, beyond patriarchal ideals and the hackneyed Western debate on headscarves
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Burka bans in Europe
Why the burka is so important for right-wing populists
On 7 March, Switzerland became the latest European country to vote in favour of a so-called "burka" ban. It was yet another feather in the cap of the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP) on an issue that remains a perennial favourite with the Right across Europe. Essay by Daniel Bax
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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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Ava Farmehri's "Through the sad wood our corpses will hang"
Flashback to a childhood in Tehran
Iranian-Canadian author Ava Farmehri’s debut novel paints a bleak picture of growing up in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. The book is both a prison novel and a reflection on freedom. Gerrit Wustmann read it for Qantara.de
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Obituary: Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian women's rights activist
Defiant icon of the Arab women's movement
Nawal El-Saadawi has died in Cairo at the age of 89. The prominent doctor, activist and author became internationally known for her outcry against female genital mutilation and honour killings. In recent years, however, her defence of the Sisi regime also drew criticism. By Karim El-Gawhary