hijab

BEIRUT, June 28 – Before she begins her Wednesday morning, Iranian activist Masih Alinejad spends hours sifting through scores of videos and photos sent to her of women in Iran wearing white headscarves or white clothing as part of a growing online protest. To campaign against the obligatory wearing of headscarves – or hijabs –

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Saudi Arabia sparked headlines for her defiance of the country’s dress code. Merkel was seen without the headscarf on an official visit to the conservative Kingdom, which requires women to cover their hair by law. However, Merkel is not the only one to have snubbed the law. Here are

By Richard Lough PARIS, Aug 25 – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls defended a ban on burkinis in more than a dozen coastal towns on Thursday, saying France was locked in a “battle of cultures” and that the full-body swimsuit symbolized the enslavement of women. Photographs of armed police ordering a Muslim woman on a

Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny Outrage The year’s hottest swimsuit—and its most controversial—leaves a lot more to the imagination BY Leah Mcgrath Goodman Ah, summer! Long days, blistering heat, cool dips in the pool. And the burkini. Yes, the burkini is a portmanteau for burqa, a robe-like garment popular with some Muslim women, and bikini, a two-piece bathing

By Hadeel Al Sayegh and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI, April 17 – When Dubai businesswoman Negin Fattahi-Dasmal opened the first branch of her luxurious nail salon chain in Iran this year, it was met with both excitement and scepticism among image-conscious young Iranians. Despite — or perhaps partly because of — strict Islamic dress codes, cosmetics

BY Arfa Shahid Black Muslim women are fighting for recognition, one selfie at a time. The hashtag #BombBlackHijabis and #BombBlackMuslimahs has been making its round on social media this week, celebrating black hijabis – Muslim women who wear the religious headscarf – and commenting on the lack of representation of black Muslims. The social media

The government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sissi is increasingly concerned with how women dress BY Ruth Michaelson Gaber Nassar sits in his ornate office, behind a huge oak desk covered with piles of papers, as he explains why his university recently banned women from teaching while wearing the niqab, a veil that covers the face

Nahla Al Fahad’s take on the hijab has won critical acclaim BY Arfa Shahid In a conversation with Newsweek Middle East, Emirati filmmaker, director and producer, Nahla Al Fahad, is contemplative. A packed schedule and constant travelling have not fazed Fahad, who is now known for her Oscar-shortlisted hijab documentary, The Tainted Veil. Fahad had known

A hair dresser in America is challenging stereotypes, one strand at a time. BY Arfa Shahid “Brick walls are not there to keep us out. [They] are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something,” reads the caption under Natasha Somalia’s photograph on Facebook, followed by the hashtags #girlboss #womeninbusiness