MER Article

Shifting Approaches to Women and Gender in Labor, Politics and Society

It took MERIP some five years and 50 issues before it finally addressed women and gender in its pages. In August 1976, the two feature articles explored questions about working women, my own “Egyptian Women in the Work Force” and “The Proletarianization of Palestinian Women in Israel” by Najwa Makhoul

Judith Tucker • 6 min read

MER Article

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

MER Article

Where Will You Find That Many Women?

Aysel Tuğluk is a Kurdish politician, a founding member and the first co-chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey. She was elected as a member of parliament in 2007 and banned from politics for five years when the Constitutional Court outlawed the DTP in 2009. Tuğluk was elected

Aysel Tuğluk • 14 min read

MER Article

Yemen’s Women Confront War’s Marginalization

Despite advances gained from women’s strong participation in the 2011 uprisings against the dictatorship of Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Salih, and despite the fact that they continue to play an essential role in the day-to-day survival of their communities, three years of war and militariz

Afrah Nasser • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Onwards and Upwards with Women in the Gulf

An examination of women’s struggles to gain the right to vote in Kuwait, and ongoing efforts to promote women’s football in Qatar, provide useful in-depth case studies. They cannot predict the future course of change in Saudi Arabia, but they illustrate the need for ongoing political engagement and

Charlotte Lysa, Andrew Leber • 16 min read

MER Article

Virtual Space and Collective Action in Egypt

Traffic crawls as usual through Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, making its noisy way around the 65-foot pole flying the Egyptian flag newly erected in the middle of the plaza. It is hard to imagine that in January 2011 this very spot was the epicenter of the grassroots revolution that toppled Presi

Sherine Hafez • 11 min read

MER Article

“ISIS Is One Piece of the Puzzle”

Yifat Susskind is executive director of MADRE [http://www.madre.org/], an international women’s human rights organization based in New York. Jillian Schwedler spoke with her on October 28, 2015, the week after Yanar Mohammed, head of MADRE’s partner group the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

Jillian Schwedler • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Some Thoughts on November 13 and After

My son and I were both so excited. It was my first time attending a soccer game at a stadium. And it was a momentous match, pitting the French national team against their counterparts from Germany. The Stade de France just outside Paris was full of almost 80,000 spectators of different social groups

Azadeh Kian • 5 min read

Current Analysis

Iran's Unfair Nationality Laws

At an October meeting of young Iranian-American leaders at the residence of the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, I asked Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the country’s unfair nationality laws. By these statutes, no Iranian woman married to a non-Iranian man can pass on her citizen

Narges Bajoghli • 3 min read

Current Analysis

Turkey’s AKP and Public Morality

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey is known for his strong pro-natalist sentiments. In 2012 his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP, by the Turkish acronym) passed a law to constrain women’s choice [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/15/turkey-caesarian-ban-silence-hurts-w

Evren Savcı • 3 min read

Current Analysis

Women's Rights Activists Between State Violence and Intervention

The November 15 attack on an armored car [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/world/asia/suicide-bomber-attacks-car-of-afghan-womens-leader-3-killed.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1] transporting Shukria Barakzai, a women’s rights activist and parliamentarian in Afghanistan, shook me to the core. The attack, w

Parastou Hassouri • 4 min read