First Woman Stands for Tajik President

DUSHANBE, September 27, 2013. By Akbar BORISOV (AFP) – A woman is for the first time bidding for the presidency in Tajikistan after an opposition bloc including an Islamic party chose a respected female rights lawyer as its candidate in the majority Muslim country. A 65-year-old lawyer and rights activist who does not wear a headscarf, … Read more

More Saudi Women Defy Driving Ban

RIYADH, October 10, 2013 (AFP) – Saudi women are increasingly getting behind the wheel in defiance of a driving ban ahead of a nationwide campaign planned by female activists for later this month, witnesses said. A video posted on social networks this week shows a fully veiled woman driving in Riyadh as male motorists and … Read more

Malala Reunited with Schoolfriends

Malala Yousafzai (R) stands next to her school friends Kainat Riaz (L) and Shazia Ramzan (C) during the first Global Citizenship Commission meeting at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland on October 19, 2013. AFP Photo / Andy Buchanan LONDON, October 19, 2013 (AFP) – Campaigning Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was reunited on Saturday with … Read more

Afghan Schoolgirl Scarred in Acid Attack Now a Teacher

In this picture taken on September 25, 2013, teacher Shamsia Husseini (C) looks on as one of her students writes on the blackboard in a classroom at Mirwais Mena School in Kandahar city. When attackers threw acid in Shamsia Husseini’s face outside her school in Afghanistan, she defied them by returning to class — and … Read more

Meet Isra Almodallal, Spokeswoman of Gaza

Isra Almodallal, the first woman to be nominated as a spokesman for Hamas, is seen in her office in Gaza City on November 4, 2013. Almodallal, a 23-year-old journalist, says her goal is “to change the image of Palestinians and that of the government in Gaza”. AFP Photo / Mohammed Abed GAZA CITY, November 20, … Read more