The swing toward Islamism in the Arab Spring is deeply disturbing for liberal Egyptian women who see the country's election captured by religious parties that could strangle women's rights.

First and second-round reports indicate a landslide to the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Nour...

The Saudi monarch's decree to give women voting rights for municipal elections in 2015 was generally welcomed as a giant step on the road to reform.

However, the celebration could be premature in a country where women cannot have coffee with male colleagues for fear of...

Maryam Namazie is a powerful voice against political Islam, and a major campaigner against sharia courts in Britain, but she is a lapsed Muslim and Westernized. Is she disqualified from the debate and are her warnings relevant to the West?

Born into a religious Muslim family, Namazie left Iran aged...

Attempts to introduce sharia family law into Western societies run against the tide of reforms spearheaded by female activists in the Muslim world.

Many aspects of these laws are unpalatable to a society that has enforced equal rights for divorce, custody, inheritance and court testimony, and criminalized polygamy, forced marriage...

The women of Afghanistan have had a window of freedom for ten years but now they are facing possible betrayal and abandonment during U.S. talks with the Taliban. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, must make every endeavor to safeguard Afghan women's rights. The outcome may ultimately define her term in...

Violent attacks by the Taliban have been increasing. Last month, the principal of a girls' school near Kabul was assassinated. Yet some observers would have us believe the Taliban have changed their misogynist ideology and deserve another chance in negotiations and power sharing.

Last November, when US President Barack Obama...

Saudi Arabian women ushered in a wave of new suffragettes when over 50 women risked arrest last Friday in defiance of the driving ban. Even riding a bicycle is forbidden to women in Saudi Arabia. In 2008, the governing Shura Council recommended women be allowed to drive but...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has correctly warned that women's rights in Tunisia and Egypt risk being undermined, endangering reforms to gender discriminatory laws and jeopardizing the vital social, economic and political contribution of half the population.

In this crucial post-coup stage, women who fought for change should...

On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, women in most Muslim lands are still oppressed by sharia family law. Many Muslim female activists were demanding changes to gender discriminatory laws well before the current wave of reform started pounding regional governments. There are good reasons to listen to these...

The uprising in Tunisia has shown alarming power, spreading to Egypt and igniting bloody anti-government protests.

Sparked by rising food prices and the self-immolation of a poor street vendor, the Tunisian revolt was spurred by ordinary citizens with democratic ideals.

However, the country was already known for its relatively secular...

Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was forced into prostitution by her husband to finance his opium addiction, and now she faces stoning to death for adultery.

In Sudan, police flog women sentenced under sharia law.

Such misogyny is defended and promoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Taliban and other...

Wikileaks has revealed government and diplomatic violations of the truth while paradoxically keeping their own sources secret. In the process, editor in chief and whistleblower Julian Assange has become a hero for human rights defenders. Sadly, the intense publicity surrounding Wikileaks diverts attention from serious injustice and continuing...

Iranian born blogger Hossein Derakhshan recently received a 19-year jail sentence and fine, even though he is a Canadian citizen. A technician-journalist living in Canada, Derakhshan was known as "the spiritual father" of Iranian bloggers, having posted a user-friendly "How to Blog" manual in Farsi in 2000. The draconian sentence...

Time magazine's moving portrayal of the plight of Afghanistan's women is a tribute to their heroism and silent suffering. However, the poignant images and story fail to reflect the determined achievements of a women's movement that has battled cultural and Islamist misogyny. They deserve more from the West.