Muslim women

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India Is Banning 'Instant Divorce' for Muslims

Men had been allowed to end marriages by saying 'Divorce' three times

(Newser) - Indian lawmakers have approved a bill to end the Muslim practice of instant divorce, two years after the country's Supreme Court ruled that it violated the constitutional rights of Muslim women. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the bill's approval by the upper house of Parliament reflects the...

French High Court Rules on Town's Burkini Ban

Council of State says women on resort's beaches can wear full-body swimsuit if they want

(Newser) - France's tussle with the burkini was just dealt a strong blow by the country's top administrative court, which on Friday overturned one resort town's ban against the full-body beachwear, the AP reports. The ruling from the Council of State comes during a summer of high-profile cases along...

Police Forces in 2 Countries Embrace the Hijab

Mounties, Scottish police want more Muslim women to join up

(Newser) - While cops in France crack down on burkinis , police forces in two other countries have decided to embrace the hijab. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have decided to allow female officers to wear a hijab while on duty in a bid to encourage diversity among the Mounties, the Independent reports....

Fencer in Hijab Makes History for Team USA

Ibtihaj Muhammad hopes to inspire change

(Newser) - At age 12, Ibtihaj Muhammad chose to learn fencing because she considered it the easiest sport in which she could compete while wearing a hijab. Eighteen years later, she's made history as Team USA's first hijab-wearing Olympian, reports the BBC . The 30-year-old former world champion, ranked eighth in...

'Afghan Romeo' Freed From Jail, Returns to His Juliet

Charges dropped against Zakia and Mohammad Ali

(Newser) - An Afghan couple who married for love—and wound up getting arrested for it—reunited yesterday, after both were freed from custody, the New York Times reports. Mohammad Ali, 21, a Shiite Hazara, and Zakia, 18, a Sunni Tajik, eloped in March and went on the run from their families...

Iran Vetoes Every Woman Running for President

There were 30 among the field of 686 hopefuls

(Newser) - A whole heck of a lot of people are running for president of Iran—and after today, they'll all be dudes. In a single pronouncement, Iran's ruling clerics struck all 30 women who had registered for the race from contention, with one telling a semi-official news agency that...

First Turkish Woman Strips for German Playboy

Muslim actress Sila Sahin says she 'feels like Che Guevera'

(Newser) - Germany's debate over multiculturalism just got a lot spicier. Soap opera star Sila Sahin has become the first woman from the country's 3.5 million-strong Turkish community to strip for the German version of Playboy, reports Time . Sahin says she "feels like Che Guevara" and she wants...

Burka Ban Begins Today in France
 2 Arrested Under 
 France's Burka Ban 
UPDATED
Apr 11, 2011 8:35 AM CDT

2 Arrested Under France's Burka Ban

Meanwhile, some women stay home

(Newser) - Hours after France enacted its new burka ban today, two women wearing the full face veils were arrested. Several others who were protesting the new law in front of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral were also arrested after police attempted to break up the unauthorized protest, the Telegraph reports. Women face...

One Woman Leads the Way in Yemen's Uprising

Tawakkol Karman says prez threatened her

(Newser) - Women are second-class citizens in Yemen, yet it’s a woman leading the country's latest round of protests, the Washington Post reports. Tawakkol Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three, is the country’s best-known activist, and she organized the first protests at Sanaa University following the ouster of Zine el-Abidine...

Woman Owns, Operates Bahrain's 1st Sex Shop

She says she's there to make marriages stronger

(Newser) - Khadija Ahmed is a 33-year-old Bahraini wife and mother of three. But she is also a pioneer: the owner of the first public sex shop in Bahrain and possibly the Persian Gulf as a whole. Khadija Fashion House, which began as a profitable online outlet, supplies lingerie, massagers, sex toys,...

Afghan Cops Catch Man Who Helped Cut Off Teen's Nose

But he may not be punished by country's corrupt courts

(Newser) - Afghan police have captured one of the men who allegedly sliced off the ears and nose of a teenage Afghan girl. That girl, now-19-year-old Bibi Aisha, became the maimed face of Taliban oppression when Newsweek ran a story on her this summer (summarized here .) Police have now arrested her...

Saudis to Allow Female Lawyers in Court

New law will allow them to argue family-related cases

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia is planning to issue a law “in the coming days” that will allow women lawyers to argue family-related cases in court, according to the country’s justice minister. Previously, female lawyers could only operate behind the scenes in court offices and government offices; now they’ll be...

Sarkozy Pushes for Burka Ban
 Sarkozy Pushes for Burka Ban 
Jan 14, 2010 9:23 AM CST

Sarkozy Pushes for Burka Ban

But it's 'essential that no one felt stigmatized,' says French prez

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy restated his support for a ban on the wearing of burkas in his country in a New Year's address today—while stressing that any decision should await the results of a parliamentary inquiry on the subject, which are expected later this month. While Sarkozy’s own party is...

France Moves to Ban Burkas
 France Moves 
 to Ban Burkas 
Dec 24, 2009 3:03 AM CST

France Moves to Ban Burkas

Sarkozy's party introduces bill to bar face-covering veils

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party has introduced a bill to outlaw the wearing of full-length Islamic veils in public places. Burkas and all-covering niqabs will be banned under the bill, which would fine women who fully cover their face in public, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Indonesia 'Polygamy Club' Boosts Influence

Women's groups seek to have club shut down

(Newser) - A controversial club preaching the benefits of men taking multiple wives is growing fast in Indonesia. Polygamy is legal but tightly controlled in the Muslim nation. Now the "Global Ikhlwan" club aims to make it more mainstream. Members, both male and female, hail the benefits of polygamy and say...

Clinton Talk Annoys Pakistani Women

They wanted to discuss security; she channeled 'The View'

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton was relaxed in her town hall-style address to professional Pakistani women today in Islamabad, discussing “habits of the heart,” like tolerance and compromise, and touting the female doctors sent on US aid missions to Pakistan. It was nice, she said with a chuckle, to not talk...

Somali Women Whipped for Wearing Bras

Underwear 'fraudulently advertises assets' to suitors

(Newser) - Muslim Shabaab religious enforcers in battered Somalia are finding time to whip Muslim women for wearing bras. They're being punished because the underwear accentuates breasts and in some cases gives a "fraudulent" impression to possible suitors, reports the Independent . "Al Shabaab now orders us to shake our breasts,...

Ahmadinejad Names 3 Women to Cabinet

But female ministers are hardliners, unlikely to please reformers

(Newser) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today he would nominate three women to join his cabinet, reports the Guardian, attempting to soften his image after the brutal crackdowns following his disputed re-election. The decision is significant in a country where just eight of 290 MPs are female. But the two women whose names...

French Pool Boots Woman in 'Burkini'

Officials say head-to-toe swimwear violates hygiene rules

(Newser) - A Muslim woman has been banned from a French public pool for wearing a head-to-toe "burkini" swimsuit, the BBC reports. The woman, who had purchased the suit in Dubai, called the ruling "segregation." Officials cited hygiene rules that prevent swimming clothed, and said it was not because...

Malaysian Woman Sentenced to Flogging for Drinking Beer

(Newser) - A Malaysian woman will be flogged for drinking a beer in a nightclub, reports the AP. A judge ordered the part-time model, 32, to be struck six times with a rattan cane and fined $1,400. She pleaded guilty in a religious court to consuming alcohol, but now plans to...

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