Today is International Women's Day. The last few weeks have suddenly moved women's health issues to the headlines. From Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a slut for speaking out on the importance of birth control access for women's health; to outrage expressed by religious leaders about employers having...

"Abba, Amma, did you know we used to have to ride on the back of the bus?" our five year old daughter Mira Husnara emerged from her kindergarten class full of indignation. "And," she added breathlessly, "did you know, that Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks fought for us so...

"Disillusioned," "outraged," "despairing," "frustrated," "conflicted," "sad," "hypocritical," "shaken," "angry;" The words came tumbling out. A small group of students at EAST house on Stanford's campus had gathered to watch and discuss "Peace Unveiled," the third installment in "Women, War and Peace," a 5-part series on PBS created and filmed by...

Sunday was Gandhi Jayanti, the 142nd anniversary of the birth of the man India refers to as Bapu -- father of the nation. Gandhi's leadership of a social movement grounded in the principles of non-violence, truth, and justice helped propel the world's largest democracy, India, to her independence in 1947....

Every TV channel has a special show about it. George Bush is on National Geographic. The kids who were third graders then are now high school seniors. Oprah interviewed widows. The Economist has a cover of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The New York Times...

Social Network: It's all about the girls, stupid!

I have just come back from watching the Social Network with 2 of my best Facebook and real life friends. Its raining outside in Palo Alto, where I have lived for 14 years. Its raining inside my head too -- tears of...

I was deeply moved by this piece that my friend and colleague, Yasmin Qureshi, wrote. It spoke to me in the aftermath of the outrageous responses I heard on the issue of the Islamic Cultural Center in Wall Street and the heartbreak and despair I felt after hearing about how...

The picture tears into you. Her eyes are haunting and courageous, her face brutally butchered. This is the face of an Afghan girl named Aisha who was attacked by her family that was supported by the local Taliban commander, according to the August 8th TIME magazine.

I wish that...

Citing his attempts to create a "new climate in international politics, his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," and his vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded U.S. President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.

Five years ago, I was in Kabul visiting Afghan women's groups, including the Afghan Institute of Learning, which had once operated underground schools for girls under the Taliban. The energy of Afghan women and girls was infectious -- I answered questions about Shahrukh Khan, joined them in Bollywood songs...

It is important for the world to know that quietly and out of sight of the mainstream media, ordinary people from all over China have engaged in citizen activism even after the suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Their grassroots efforts are building a society that is likely...

March 2008, Women's History Month has taken on dramatic new relevance for the women of the United States.

For the first time in U.S. history, a woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, is being taken seriously as candidate for president. After a long and still uphill struggle within the Democratic Party, including...

Musharraf's acrobatics may actually mark the return of democracy to Pakistan after more than eight years of military rule. Here's why: while the world has been focused on Pakistan's bombs and viability as a state, its women see a flickering light at the end of the tunnel, a future that...

This week marks the premiere of Trade in local theaters, a powerful new film about the underworld of sex trafficking. The movie is inspired by a 2004 New York Times Magazine cover story by journalist Peter Landesman, and shares with it the revelation that human trafficking exists right here in...

It is easier to access contraceptive services in Iran, an Islamic theocracy, than it is in Mexico or other Latin American countries. In the U.S. the pro-choice movement is reeling from last Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling to uphold a ban on partial-birth abortions. U.N. data shows that in countries where...

At no time of the year do the deep-seated contradictions of our world become more apparent and more disturbing than these few weeks at the end of December. On the one hand, the pages of our newspapers and the screens on our TV are filled with advertisements for the latest...