Dubai has employed its first female train driver. In fact, Mariam Al Safar is the first woman to be employed as a train driver in the whole of the Middle East. Ms. Al Safar is in charge of the whole train – she has the skills to drive the train but because the system is ...
It seems that there is a growing number of educated British Muslim women who are unmarriageable and left to spinsterhood. Educated British Muslim women are being passed over for marriage in favour of women with more traditional values from the family’s home country. Muslim women in the UK whose families hail from the Indian sub-continent ...
A mobile sexual health service for immigrant women in Toronto is at risk with upcoming budget cuts. In addition to healthcare the operation also offers translators in nine different languages. This service, which seems highly secretive and backstreet to me, has been in operation for 20 years. I find it unbelievable that it is only after suggested budget cuts ...
Oh, Saudi Arabia. How you continue to baffle me with the problems you create for yourself around the segregating of the sexes. In 2006 a law was put in place that banned men from working in “female apparel and cosmetic stores.” I understand the basic principle here — women don’t want men around when they ...
There have been plenty of amazing women making the news this year in politics, arts, and many other fields and they all deserve a mention. It’s hard to narrow them down, but here is a list of my top ten women of 2011. Enjoy! 1. Samira Ibrahim — Egyptian activist. Ms. Ibrahim was subjected to ...
Good news for a change. Check out Little Bones’ analysis of the Forced Marriage Act recently enacted in Scotland. Yesterday the Forced Marriage (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act, passed in March by the Scottish Parliament, came into force. Based on Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the act aims to protect vulnerable ...
Many people come to Canada because it’s place of diversity and freedom. Imagine your shock, a Muslim woman, being forced to take off your veil and expose yourself in public for your first official act as a Canadian citizen. Yesterday a ban was put in place where all face coverings must be removed during the ...
Safeway is a minefield. Just today I was innocently wandering through the produce section when my eye caught a heap of stiff, attentive bananas. Suddenly, my mind was adrift in a sea of vitamin-rich smut. I moved on quickly, but unfortunately, the flesh is weak. The carrots immediately led me astray with their well-defined shafts, ...
Honour killings — two words that should not be used in the same sentence. And yet the practice of “cleansing” a family from the dishonour of a woman is not only still carried out, it is reportedly on the rise. Honour killings are an ancient tradition of controlling a woman’s actions — particularly her sexuality. ...
The Obedient Wives Club is a group of women in Malaysia who tell women they should be whores to their husbands in order to keep them. The group created a lot of controversy this summer when it first began. Now it has published a sex book called Islamic Sex that is being banned by the ...
So, we’re having this baby. It’s due in a few weeks and we’re trying to get organized with all...
I recently heard about what is claimed to be the rising phenomenon of Japanese men remaining virgins for longer...
Ladders. Patriarchal conspiracy. I’ll explain… This week I climbed a ladder. I was trying to reach a loft space,...
Dear Madame X, My boyfriend needs to look at porn while we have sex. It bothers me because I...
Mrs. Dalloway is yet another feminist classic that I had to grow into. Wrapped up in Woolf’s instantly recognizable...
Last week saw a Big Thing come to our soggy little island. Well, it was a Big Thing for...
Last weekend I was entertaining a guest, you know, the sort I was planning to have lots and lots...
All little girls want to be princesses… right?! It’s bad enough that toy aisles are separated out by what...
