Hijab

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The French parliament recently voted in favor of enshrining the right to abortion into the country's constitution. While crowds celebrated outside, the slogan "my body my choice" was projected onto the Eiffel Tower in giant letters. Although concerns about barriers and access still remain, women in France are now…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain World Hijab Day recognizes the millions of Muslim women and girls who wear the traditional Islamic headscarf. Around the world, Muslim girls in hijab are experiencing unique forms and heightened rates of gender and race-based violence and discrimination. Overt violence against girls and women in hijab have captured…

People gather in protest against the death of Mahsa Amini along the streets on September 19, 2022 in Tehran, Iran.Photo: Getty Images (Getty Images)When the Iranian government announced last month it would move to disband its so-called “morality police” following weeks of historic anti-authoritrain protests, dissidents in the country and abroad saw the concession as a potential turning point for women’s rights. Among its compromises, government officials said they would consider loosening the country’s strict obligatory…

Cathryn Grothe, a research analyst at Freedom House, a US government–backed nonprofit that works on human rights, says she has seen a shift in Iran in recent years away from a reliance on informants and physical patrols toward forms of automated digital surveillance to target critics.Like Alimardani, she has received reports from people using online platforms to organize in Iran who suspect they were somehow recognized and then targeted by authorities offline. Iran’s government has monitored social media to identify…

When Amber Heard Was Slammed For Going Br*less In Mosque (Photo Credit – Instagram) Amber Heard’s name has become a synonym for controversies. The actress never misses an opportunity to make headlines with her public appearances and one of the prime reasons being is her massive popularity across the globe. While Amber is often in the spotlight because of her ex-husband and actor Johnny Depp, once the actress made headlines in 2020 for going br*less in a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey and got slammed by outraged fans on…

Frida Kahlo with a disinterested expression holds a scissor, her braid and locks of hair scattered around. Added to the Self-portrait with Cropped Hair are the words of a Mexican song: “Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair. Now that you are without hair, I don’t love you anymore.” Critics of the time had said that it was an assertion of her identity after her divorce. I have been thinking about the painting because young Iranian women who are taking off the hijab are being sent flowers with notes that read,…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was held by Iran's morality police for not complying with the country's hijab rules has drawn global attention to the repression of women in Iran. Neighboring Saudi Arabia, a Sunni country, theologically and politically opposed to Shiite Iran, has similar restrictive rules when it comes to women.…