The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.
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Latest items for RCDW-PRACTICE-2
Prince Accelerates Changes for Women
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-2
"In public spaces, people tend to follow common rules about modest dress and interactions between unrelated women and men. But in private, Saudis can largely do as they please" (para 12). Public spaces may require women to cover their faces while in private they are not required to (HGM - CODER COMMENT). "[Picture shows Saudi women at the opening of a women's book fair in Saihat] Because the event was on private land, attendees had the freedom to take off their veils" (para 4). "Because of strict rules in conservative circles, men rarely mix with female relatives in their extended family. Some Saudi men never see the faces of their...more
Saudi Arabia - 2015 HR
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-1, RCDW-PRACTICE-2, RCDW-LAW-1, RCDW-LAW-2
"Widespread societal exclusion enforced by, but not limited to, state institutions restricted women from using many public facilities. The law requires women usually to sit in separate, specially designated family sections. They frequently cannot consume food in restaurants that do not have such sections. Women risk arrest for riding in a private vehicle driven by a male who is not an employee (such as a hired chauffeur or taxi driver) or a close male relative. Cultural norms enforced by state institutions require women to wear an abaya (a loose-fitting, full-length black cloak) in public. The CPVPV also generally expected Muslim women to cover their hair and non-Muslim women from Asian...more
Uzbekistan - Supreme Court challenge to female hijab ban
Countries: Uzbekistan
"Exiled Uzbek Imam Fazliddin Parpiyev, human rights defender Urlayeva and Yakubov emphasised to Forum 18 that according to Islamic tradition, women must cover their heads, hair, shoulders, breast, which is why Muslim women traditionally wear hijab. 'Muslims must live according to the moral principles from the Koran,' Urlayeva said. Yakubov stated that 'The enforcement of the dress code for the Academy is totally against Islamic norms'" (para 53).
Afghanistan - Woman beat by Taliban for no burqa face mesh
Countries: Afghanistan
"Aziza, who like many other Afghan women only uses one name, was rounded up by the Taliban's shadow police for being out of her house without her husband and not being fully veiled. She was beaten so badly she lost consciousness. A resident of Afghanistan's Sancharak district in Sar-i-pul – a northern province, where the Taliban has tried to impose strict sharia laws and restrict women's mobility – Aziza spoke to the Guardian after the flogging last month" (para 2-3). "She was wearing a burqa without mesh covering her face" (para 4). "During the Taliban's period of control in Afghanistan from 1996 until its fall, public executions and lashings were...more
Syria Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015
March 21, 2019, 11:12 p.m.
Countries: Syria
"Da'esh also beat persons because of their dress; several sources reported Da'esh members beat women for not covering their faces" (para 99)
Iran - Minister offers referendum on hijab
Countries: Iran
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-1, RCDW-PRACTICE-2
"President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in 2013 promising a more moderate stance, has previously said it is not the job of police to enforce religious rules such as those forcing women to cover their hair. But in April 2016, officials said there were 7,000 undercover morality police reporting on things like 'bad hijab' - a blanket term usually referring to un-Islamic dress by women. Figures are rarely given, but Tehran's traffic police said in late 2015 they had dealt with 40,000 cases of bad hijab in cars, where women often let their headscarves drop around their necks. These cases generally led to fines and a temporary impounding of...more
Women in Egypt
Countries: Egypt
"But the Muslim Brotherhood also has a reputation for wanting to keep women at home and for requiring them to wear headscarves." (para 10). "To ask Mrs Ghaneya about making headscarves compulsory appears irrelevant in the Egyptian Delta. Everyone is wearing one. She herself wears a voluminous blue garment that covers everything except her face and hands." (para 11).
Mali Infidelity Stoning-WUNRN
Jan. 7, 2019, 11:47 a.m.
Countries: Mali
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-2, DTCP-LAW-1
"During their brief control of key towns in the north, jihadist groups imposed a version of Sharia law which forced women to wear veils and set whipping and stoning as punishment for transgressions" (para 6).
The Netherlands - Dutch lawmakers approve partial ban on burkas and niqabs
Countries: Netherlands
"But rights groups say they discriminate against Muslim women, some of whom view garments like niqabs, which cover a woman's face but for a narrow slit left for the eyes, and burqas, which cover the entire face, as a religious obligation" (para 4).
Iraq 2015 State Department Human Rights Report
Sept. 24, 2018, 10:50 p.m.
Countries: Iraq
"Da'esh severely restricted women's freedom of movement in areas under its control. Patrols checked to make sure that women wore suitable attire and male relatives or guardians accompanied them outside the home" (para 172). "The IHCHR reported cases of Da'esh executing women for not wearing the veil" (para 252)
Yemen - female scientist
Feb. 14, 2018, 10:32 a.m.
Countries: Yemen
"And then there's the black veil. Many women in Yemen wear a niqab — a black veil that completely covers their faces, except for a tiny slit across the eyes" (para 9).
Bulgaria Bans Veil
Countries: Bulgaria
"But recently there has been a small rise in the number of women wearing the niqab among ultra-conservative Muslim communities of the Roma minority" (para 6).
Egypt Veiling
Jan. 6, 2018, 8:12 p.m.
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-1, RCDW-PRACTICE-2, IIP-PRACTICE-2
"Although she felt she was obliged to wear the hijab [in Egypt], Sara says she would not have taken part in such a demonstration had it taken place in Cairo when she was still veiled. 'If this is what I think, I shouldn't impose my opinion on the public,' says Sara, who now works as a simultaneous interpreter and lives with her husband in New York.'I can't really imagine a protest taking place in New York against a certain attire, though there are a lot more freedoms here'"(3)
Countries: Kuwait
"'Many people would think women in Kuwait, as a Gulf country, have less freedom than in Egypt. As a matter of fact it's completely the opposite,' says Sara, who speaks Egyptian Arabic almost perfectly"(1). This statement was made by Sara who lived in Cairo for a year and remarked on the social pressure to wear the hijab as well as the sexual and verbal harassment on the street regardless of whether she was wearing the hijab or not (ENB-Coder Comment)."Sara wore the veil for five years. But the headscarf gave her little respite throughout the remainder of her time in Cairo, and she took it off following her departure. 'It...more
"Veil or no veil, Egyptian women are often stigmatised, or worse. Calls for women to take off their veils at a demonstration in Cairo initiated debate over Islamic attire for women in Egypt"(1).After spending one year living in Cairo, Muslim teenager Sara decided to adopt the Islamic veil, dressing modestly to show only her face and the palms of her hands in public as per mainstream Islamic teachings for women. She was not following her religious beliefs by wearing the hijab, but rather succumbing to social pressure and seeking to avoid recurrent harassment. Sara had visited Cairo beforehand. But when she began living there in 2001, she says, she experienced...more
Turkey Women March-WUNRN
Countries: Turkey
"Since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) took office nearly 15 years ago, restrictions on wearing the headscarf have been eased and more women in the country have chosen to wear it" (para 10).
Germany burqa ban WUNRN
Dec. 2, 2017, 3:53 p.m.
Countries: Germany
"Thomas de Maiziere said on Friday that the face veil does not belong in Germany society, where more than four million Muslims live, calling the proposed ban a 'preventive measure'" (para 2).
Morocco Bans Burka - WUNRN
Nov. 30, 2017, 5:19 p.m.
Countries: Morocco
"The niqab, which leaves the area around the eyes uncovered, is also worn in Salafist circles and in more conservative regions in the north, from where thousands of jihadists have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq" (para 7).
Morocco Burqa Ban
Nov. 8, 2017, 10:50 a.m.
"The Moroccan version of a burqa, which costs between 50-60 dirhams (about 5-6 euros), is different than the long Afghan dress with an eye screen"(para 4)
"Morocco's Interior Ministry has banned the production and sale of the burqa, the full-length covering for women that leaves only the eyes visible, according to notices delivered by law enforcement to street vendors, wholesalers, tailors, and industrial producers. Security forces made the country's highest police authority, the caid, compile a form that trickled down to local vendors. 'It is prohibited to produce and sell burqa. You are invited to get rid of your stock within the next 48 hours. Those who contravene will have their merchandise seized and their store closed,' read the notice. The Moroccan version of a burqa, which costs between 50-60 dirhams (about 5-6 euros), is different...more
Bangladesh Child Marriage
Nov. 7, 2017, 9:21 p.m.
Countries: Bangladesh
"'Women are now aware of their rights and can raise their voices. Before [the formation of a community development committee which women are included in] we couldn't do this,' said committee president Kalpona Begum, 55.The community's meeting hall, a tin-roofed shed with a cardboard ceiling and orange tarp stretched over its concrete floor, is plastered with hand-drawn posters illustrating ways to reduce earthquake and fire risks and to combat social ills - including one image of an old man and a young girl in a red wedding veil, with a big red X marked over it"(para 17-18)
Canada - face coverings
Nov. 1, 2017, 12:59 p.m.
Countries: Canada
"As for those who cover their faces, local estimates peg the number of women in the entire province of Quebec — population 8.39 million — who wear the niqab or burqa at 50 to 100" (para 16).
Denmark - burqa ban
Countries: Denmark
"This would effectively mean a ban on the niqab and the burqa, he added. Around 200 women in Denmark wear such garments, according to researchers" (para 6).
Iraq - women suffer under ISIS
Oct. 3, 2017, 3:27 p.m.
"They said they were only allowed to leave their houses dressed in full face veil (niqab) and accompanied by a close male relative" (para 4). "All 21 of the Sunni Arab women and girls Human Rights Watch interviewed reported being forced to wear the niqab, which covers body, face, and head, with veils over their eyes, gloves, and socks whenever they left their houses. All clothing had to be black and without decoration. Many said that with their eyes veiled, they could not see where they were going and sometimes stumbled and fell. Before ISIS took over their areas, they said, they wore headscarves with their faces showing, and colored...more
Austria - bans burqas
Oct. 2, 2017, 12:48 p.m.
Countries: Austria
"Although there are no reliable numbers, the ban is likely to affect only a few hundred Muslim women in the country who now cover their faces. Also affected are some of the estimated 70,000 Arab tourists who visit Austria's popular Zell Am See ski area every year" (para 5).
India Sexually Abused Women
Countries: India
There are eight photographs of women and each one is wearing a scarf over their head. The scarves do not cover their faces (ENB-Coder Comment)
Iran Women Activists
"Compulsory 'veiling' (hijab) laws empower police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence and imprisonment regularly"(para 17)
Burkini Ban
Countries: France
"France's highest administrative court on Friday overturned a town's ban on burkinis, the full-body swimwear used by some Muslim women, setting a precedent that challenges similar bans in at least 30 other municipalities, most of them on the French Riviera"(para 1)."Critics of the [burkini] bans have said they unfairly targeted Muslims in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks in France and elsewhere in Europe. The bans provoked a backlash, particularly photographs spread online showing armed police officers confronting women wearing burkinis, or other clothing — like a veil, a tunic and leggings — covering most of the body"(para 13)."Villeneuve-Loubet, a seaside resort of about 14,000, adopted the ban on Aug....more
Afghan Rape- Cleric
Aug. 9, 2017, 11:34 a.m.
"The mullah sat on the floor, shackled with chains attached to handcuffs, Bahram said, while his young victim kept her face covered with a scarf" (para 26).
Algeria Mass Wedding
Aug. 8, 2017, 3:35 p.m.
Countries: Algeria
"Gathered in a tent in the Algerian desert, 30 young women are preparing for a big day many thought they could never afford — a wedding. Draped in beaded fabrics, the women lift their veils so make-up can be applied to their faces and hold out their hands for henna tattoos, the smell of incense wafting through the tent"(para 1-2)."In the evening, the girls will be brought to the grooms' family homes, lifting their veils to reveal their faces to their new husbands"(para 5)