The post- Liberation War generation of Bangladesh know stories from 1971 all too well. Our families are framed and bound by the history of this war. What Bangladeshi family has not been touched by the passion, famine, murders and blood that gave birth to a new nation as it seceded...
(3) Comments | Posted May 8, 2012 | 3:15 PM
As a mother to an 8-month-old, you would think the main reason I am not getting enough sleep would be the new baby in our home. But really I stay up late into the night while my husband and daughter sleep because, with iPhone tightly in the palm, I am...
(5) Comments | Posted March 21, 2012 | 11:43 AM
British newspaper the Guardian recently revealed thousands of personal emails it uncovered between Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, and his wife, Asma.
Amidst the beginnings of civil war brewing in Syria, and the slaughtering of civilians in Homs, one would be forgiven to think that the Assads...
(77) Comments | Posted February 9, 2012 | 6:15 PM
(8) Comments | Posted January 24, 2012 | 3:30 PM
In the wake of the Arab Spring, Saudi women have taken the wheel. They did it literally by defying the country's notorious driving ban and figuratively by attempting to advance their rights in a country that allows women almost no rights without male guardianship...
(6) Comments | Posted December 21, 2011 | 2:35 PM
A predawn raid today increased clashes between the military and civilian populations in Egypt, triggering women in Cairo to mobilize around the ongoing violence which in recent days has targeted women.
This week horrifying images of just how brutal the military can be towards women went viral. The
(45) Comments | Posted November 30, 2011 | 1:03 PM
I can't tell you how much I relied on my girlfriends for my sanity in my twenties. During our student days at the University of Virginia (UVA), we were each other's roommates, psychiatrists, parents and siblings. We stayed up late talking about the men in our lives, mulling over what...
(2) Comments | Posted November 1, 2011 | 10:56 AM
At the end of October, the UN projected that the world's population reached 7 billion, a scary milestone amidst increasing global political and economic instability. More people will only place increased pressure on our environment, on the world's habitats, forests, and resources such as water. But how does investing in...
(0) Comments | Posted June 22, 2011 | 11:42 AM
It is not just congressmen, like Anthony Weiner, or pop stars like Rihanna that are doing it. In fact, 1/4 kids admit to sending a nude photo of themselves before having left the house. So how do parents prevent their kids from the world of sexting...
(1) Comments | Posted June 9, 2011 | 1:07 PM
There is no doubt that the recent revolution in Egypt got the wheels of the Arab Spring rolling. But just as quick as women were to flood the corners of Tahrir Square and the streets of Cairo in the hopes of a democratic Egypt, their voices were soon sidelined.
This...
(2) Comments | Posted May 19, 2011 | 5:58 PM
Very little surprised me about IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged attempted rape of a New York hotel maid, and even less shocked me about his sketchy record on harassing women. Hello, can we say rich-white-male-power-entitlement-issues?
Apparently Strauss-Kahn's "women problem" was an open secret amongst journalists, especially...
(8) Comments | Posted February 4, 2011 | 11:14 AM
Anyone remember what one of the most striking images to surface from Iran's uprising last summer over the fallout from the country's so-called elections were? Iranian women protesting.
The world was shocked to see Iranians, 70% of whom are under that age of 25-years-old, pour onto the streets demanding their...
(2) Comments | Posted January 24, 2011 | 11:23 AM
I never understood the controversy over breastfeeding. In fact, until I moved to the States, I did not even know there was such a controversy over feeding your child with your breast. Is that not what they are meant for anyway?
Apparently not. Though the beautiful image of...
(8) Comments | Posted January 10, 2011 | 2:10 PM
When I was 23 yrs old, I left my first job fresh out of college, most of my friends I made in college, and moved from Washington, D.C. to Italy. I knew no one, didn't speak the language, and had one of the most incredible years of my life. It...
(13) Comments | Posted October 20, 2010 | 12:51 PM
Former National Security Adviser and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger never supported the liberation of Bangladesh, famously declaring in 1971, the year Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan, that "the place is and always will be a basket case."
In the years that followed it seemed as though Bangladesh...
(0) Comments | Posted October 15, 2010 | 3:16 PM
I had the opportunity to speak with Saadia Zahidi, Head of the World Economic Forum's Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program, and also one of the authors of the annual Global Gender Gap Report.
The Global Gender Gap Report looks at 134 countries around the world and analyzes...
(2) Comments | Posted October 6, 2010 | 1:22 PM
One of my deepest secrets, that you will probably find out after spending a few hours with me, is that I love Bravo TV. I've developed a dependency on the reality-TV channel that I just can't really rationalize. There is no better way for me to unwind, no better massage...
(0) Comments | Posted September 15, 2010 | 3:35 PM
The first time I heard about "baby rapes" was almost eight years ago. Someone had dropped a report on my desk about the widespread belief in South Africa that having sex with virgins would cure HIV/AIDS. The myth was causing a surge in the rape of young girls...
(4) Comments | Posted August 26, 2010 | 4:10 PM
To be quite honest, until this whole Park 51 Community Center controversy exploded, I really did not know much, or really have any strong feelings about New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
However, over the course of the past few weeks as this Islamic Community Center controversy continues to get out...
(60) Comments | Posted August 19, 2010 | 12:38 PM
I tried to stay quite and hoped that if I closed my eyes long enough, this whole "Ground-Zero Mosque" controversy would blow over. It hasn't. In fact, all the fuss and controversy over this "mosque" has risen to such ridiculous and offensive levels that I can no longer endure this...

(0) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 6:52 PM