There appears to be a negative feeling pervading this country these days. There's no improvement in the law and order situation, every other day we get to hear of different and new types of atrocities visited upon religious minorities (as if the perpetrators have entered some macabre contest), the regular wave of rapes, dowry killings and acid throwing.. .(Read more)

I will start with an observation that I made in a social gathering a few years ago to make my point in this article. After a traditional Bangladeshi dinner and dessert, all the female guests gathered in a room next to the kitchen to chat. There were three women there, in their 30s – all married and mothers of two kids. The topics were kids, husbands, jewelry and sari. At one point, I just got curious to find out more about the women and asked them about their childhood. Strangely enough they shared some common past. All of them got married at the age of 18/19 against their will, .. .(Read more)

Gloria Steinem writes:  A white minority of the world has spent centuries conning us into thinking that a white skin makes people superior – even though the only thing it really does is make them more subject to ultra violet rays and wrinkles. Male human beings have built whole cultures around the idea that penis envy is ‘natural’ to women – though having such an unprotected organ might be said to make men vulnerable and the power to give birth makes womb-envy at least as logical. .. .(Read more)

From head-to-toe Burqa to long cloak-Chador to black silky Hijab- each of these attires has become one of the most visible instruments and ideological symbols of political Islam for the last few decades. A number of great articles have already been written in this website on the background and history of veils and on how Islam justified them to be the strict dress code for women. In this article I would like to focus on the ongoing controversies over the justification of wearing hijab in a modern perspective and also see how some western-educated young Muslim women are internalizing the antiquated view of their own status imposed by an inherently misogynistic religion......(Read more)

Here is some data on violence against woman in the USA (copied from National Organization of Women website; www.now.org) . They might want to work on a massive house cleaning before Uncle Sam and Co. open their mouth about the rest of the world on this issue:
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Her's was the typical story of an educated girl. She was unmarried and for years had been a burden on her widowed mother. Finally, desperation came into play and her mother placed an ad in the newspapers for a perfect match. However, the reply that came, was far from what the girl's mother expected... . .. .(Read more)

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born into a Bengali Muslim upper-class family in the small village of Pairaband in the district of Rangpur, north of present day Bangladesh, then a part of the colonial British province of Bengal Presidency.. . .. .(Read more)

MEENA (1957-1987) was born in Kabul. During her school days, students in Kabul and other Afghan cities were deeply engaged in social activism and rising mass movements. She left the university to devote herself as a social activist to organizing and educating women.
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The following is a translation of the poem "With No Immediate Cause" by Ntozake Shange, the African-Americal poet, performer and playwright. She was born Paulette Williams. The Zulu name Ntozake Shange is an statement of her anger at the double dilemma of being a black woman in America. The name Ntozake Shange means "She Who Comes With Her Own Things"/ "She Who Walks Like a Lion". The first time I read this poem, I was about fifteen or sixteen.. .. .(Read more)

I choose not to give any details but as a child I was sexually abused for many years. (not by my father. I have to say that because everyone assumes it and he is a good man.) I struggled with issues of hatred and self loathing for many years and I failed out of college and married a man who had no respect for me.
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It was a rainy afternoon, and she was walking fast. She was looking for a rickshaw to return home before it started pouring heavily. And just when she thanked her stars for finding one, for the millionth time the comment flew towards her .(Read more)

Until the mid-1970s, women’s rights concepts were not considered as culturally specific and were not divided into eastern or western, rather they were seen as something universal, and secularism and the separation of religion from the state were seen as pre-conditions for women’s liberation.In the mid-1970s, the idea of cultural Imperialism became a dominant discourse amongst nationalist/ anti-imperialist intellectuals and political and cultural circles in the west.....(Read more)

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