Islam and women

Canadian opposition leaders accused Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper of playing divisive politics on Sept. 24 in a French-language debate ahead of next month's election.

Harper has been promoting a law to ban the practice of Muslim women wearing face veils while swearing the oath of citizenship. The anti-niqab law is popular in Quebec.

Afghanistan is turning its back on female activists and leaving them vulnerable to threats, assassinations and sexual assault, Amnesty International said April 7, urging the international community to preserve hard-won gains for women.
 

Parents are demanding that a teacher of religion classes in northern Turkey be fired after he told some of his female students that they "deserve rape" for not wearing an Islamic headscarf.

Thank God. Finally, we have heard something nice about women from the president: ?Violence against women is a betrayal of humanity.?

I think the latest public service announcement currently on TV is great. However, the fact that I liked it does not mean I believed it. I do want to believe the president, that?s correct. But I don?t.

Turkish citizens are now allowed to pose wearing a fez or a niqab in photographs officializing their wedding, due to a new change in marriage regulations.

The most hotly debated issue in an amended article that passed into law on Feb. 10 is the new stipulation that couples would not have to acquire a "license to marry" before they can wed.

U.S. President Barack Obama visited Saudi Arabia last Tuesday, to pay respect to the late Saudi King Abdullah. His wife, first lady Michelle Obama, was also on the trip, and one particular feature initiated controversy on the Internet: She was not veiled! In fact, her dress was quite modest by Western standards, but she was not covering her hair.

Canada's Immigration Minister Chris Alexander Wednesday unveiled plans to ban entry to migrants who practice polygamy and what he termed "barbaric cultural practices."       

The headscarf is again the issue; the newly-introduced freedom to wear it at the elementary school level is now being debated.

After headscarves were allowed in schools starting from fifth grade and up, two issues emerged: One is the issue of who will decide how minors will dress, and the second is the social pressure

In a not-so-surprising move, the AKP government announced earlier this week that female students as young as 10 years old will be allowed to wear headscarf at schools