Women’s Liberty Under Attack in Northwest Pakistan
A religious alliance in Pakistan’s Northwest provinces is ushering in strict new laws that threaten the rights of women and remind many of the Taliban.
Pakistan
Latest in Pakistan
Pakistan’s First Female Marshals Take to the Skies
Inspired by the post-Sept. 11 demand for tighter airline security, 19 women are becoming air marshals for the Pakistan Airport Security Forces. More will likely follow. Trained in all the martial arts, they will also be armed.
Moin Now Tells Pakistan’s Cricket Fans the Score
In a country where women are often relegated to the sidelines, Leena Moin has stepped into center field as Pakistan’s first female cricket commentator on the nation’s network television.
Some Fear Pakistan Religious Right Is New Taliban
Urban Pakistani women are concerned that gains made by the religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in national elections mean the beginning of a Taliban-like era in the country. The alliance’s female politicians insist they’re wrong.
Pakistan’s Fiery Shame: Women Die in Stove Deaths
Stove death is the bitter expression used to refer to the fiery punishment meted out to wives in Pakistan. In Islamabad alone, 4,000 women are believed to have been set ablaze. Shahnaz Bukhari braves death threats to fight the practice.
Afghan Women Debate the Terms of Their Future
Afghan women agree that they should play a role in the rebuilding of their country. They are divided, however, on what role Islam should play in the new nation–integral to the new government or a belief system guiding a secular state.
U.S. Feminists Voice Post-Taliban Concerns
A Pakistani feminist cautions that U.S. women need to better understand the importance of religion to Muslim women, and others argue that U.S. women should push harder for their full human rights.
Sisters In Crime Plot In Land Of Midnight Sun
Women mystery writers met in Alaska to learn about death below zero, the workings of frontier shotguns and how to stuff bodies into 55-gallon drums. They celebrated the female sleuth who hunts, kills, quarters a moose–and cooks it for dinner.
Lawyers Argue Laws, Not Quran, Repress Women
According to women lawyers, the repression of women by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, fundamentalist clerics in Iran and other arch-conservative rulers is not based on true Quranic teaching, but on a distorted view of Islam by men in power.
