Newsaholic

  The earthquake has highlighted the ongoing plight of women in these regions, who are disproportionately affected by conflict, displacement, and poverty. Women in Syria and Turkey face significant obstacles to accessing education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, and the earthquake has only made these challenges more acute. In the aftermath of the earthquake, women have been left particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Displaced from their homes and communities, women are at increased risk of gender-based violence, including sexual assault, exploitation, and trafficking. Furthermore, women often lack access to essential reproductive health services, which can put their health and wellbeing at risk. The situation is particularly dire for women living in refugee camps, where overcrowding and poor sanitation make it difficult to maintain adequate hygiene and protect against disease. Women in these camps often lack access to clean water, medical care, and essential s...

  The Eiffel Tower in France has lit up with messages of support for protesting women in Iran. The slogan "Femme, Vie, Liberte" was seen on the landmark in Paris, which translates to "Women, Life, Freedom". Mass protests have been continuing since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini four months ago.  The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after being detained by Iran’s morality police has sparked unprecedented protests across the country. Videos have emerged across social media showing young protesters, often women, demonstrating in defiance and often facing a violent response from the police. The Iranian government says protesters are a dangerous threat, and has blamed the US and Israel for spreading the unrest. The BBC's Rana Rahimpour looks at why this movement is unlike any Iran’s seen before.

  Last month, a young woman went to work at Sarzamineh Shadi, or Land of Happiness, an indoor amusement park east of Iran’s capital, Tehran. After a   photo   of her without a hijab circulated on social media, the amusement park was closed, according to multiple accounts in Iranian media. Prosecutors in Tehran have reportedly opened an investigation. Shuttering a business to force compliance with Iran’s strict laws for women’s dress is a familiar tactic to Shaparak Shajarizadeh. She stopped wearing a hijab in 2017 because she views it as a symbol of government suppression, and recalls restaurant owners, fearful of authorities, pressuring her to cover her head. But Shajarizadeh, who fled to Canada in 2018 after three arrests for flouting hijab law, worries that women like the amusement park worker may now be targeted with face recognition algorithms as well as by conventional police work. After Iranian lawmakers suggested last year that face recognition should be...

  Saudi Arabia is known for having strict laws for women, but in recent years, the country has taken steps to give women more power and better opportunities. While it's well-known that Saudi Arabia has strict regulations and standards for women, the government has made great steps in recent years in empowering women and providing them with great opportunities to further their professions. One of these moves was taken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who saw the need to enhance the status of women in the country and acted. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has so far appointed five female ambassadors. These women will be in charge of representing their country at different events all over the world. All five of Saudi Arabia's female ambassadors are listed here. Let’s go to know them: Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud Princess Reem Bint Bandar Al Saud is Saudi Arabia's first female brand ambassador. She was chosen ambassador to the United States by Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...

  When Anhar Rashad’s soldier husband was killed two years into Yemen’s war, she quickly realised she needed to get a job so she and her then three-year-old son could survive. But like most women in  Yemen , a country that after nearly eight years of war is one of the  world’s largest humanitarian crises , the now 39-year-old had never planned to work outside the home.  With two years of business management studies but no work experience, Rashad’s 2017 job search wasn’t easy. Eventually she was hired as a tax collector in the southern city of Aden for the internationally recognised government, which alongside an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has been fighting Houthi rebels since 2015.  The job pays 30,000 Yemeni rials (about $27) a month. Even combined with her husband’s monthly death benefit of 50,000 rials ($45), Rashad struggles to make ends meet. Over the past few years,  inflation  has risen dramaticall...

    A tightening of restrictions on women in Yemen by the Houthi rebels – echoing religious regimes in Iran and Afghanistan – is dashing the hopes of those who dream to continue their lives elsewhere.  The Iran-backed Houthis, who have controlled swathes of the Arab world’s poorest country since  seizing the Yemeni capital Sanaa  in 2014, have increasingly enforced travel restrictions on women over the past eight months, according to residents and activists. Restrictions on female freedoms, which  parallel decrees  issued by the fundamentalist Taliban in Afghanistan, are not part of Yemeni law and are enforced arbitrarily through rebel directives.     "This is the first time that a decision limiting the freedom of movement of women has come from an official authority,” said Radhya al-Mutawakel, co-founder of the Yemeni rights group Mwatana. The travel restrictions set a "very dangerous" precedent and disproportionately affect women who ...

  As people around the world watch videos of men smiling and waving flags outside Doha’s stadiums, they are only seeing one side of the story : what this country is like for a man. In fact, they probably aren’t seeing many women at all. I’m a 23-year-old Qatari woman, and I don’t longingly look out towards the West and think, “I wish I wasn’t so oppressed.” Western experiences aren’t all the same. But since I was a child, I’ve come up against rules and restrictions that limit my freedom. The moment that I realised I was being treated differently from my brothers was when I was three or four, and I came home from a day out with my family. My three brothers went with my  father to the majlis, a room where he would entertain male visitors. I was not allowed in because I was a girl.  Masculinity in Qatar is tied to freedom: the ability to talk to people, to host and entertain. Even now, my younger brothers speak more fluently than I do and have better social skills, because t...