Young girls illegally work the mines in north-east India, risking disease and death, while trying to better their lives at schoolWords by Elle Kurancid, photography by Walaa Alshaer Continue reading…
‘It’s not against Islam’: Pakistani trans actor tells of deep sadness over film ban
Exclusive: Alina Khan, star of award-winning Joyland, speaks out as the movie’s licence for domestic release is revoked, putting its Oscar contention in doubtA transgender star of an award-winning Pakistan film that depicts a love affair between a man …
Young girls being sold in India to repay loans, says human rights body
Notice issued to Rajasthan state government demanding police inquiry into ‘abominable’ practiceYoung girls in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan are being sold as “repayment” for loans their parents cannot afford, the national body that protects hu…
We fled the Taliban in chaos, shock and terror. A year later we have a new home and hope | Zahra Joya
My work as a journalist made us targets. Now we have a safe new home and I am determined to keep reporting on the bravery of Afghan women and girlsJust over a year ago, I watched in horror from my window as Taliban gunmen appeared on the corner of the …
‘The Taliban no longer wanted to kill me. Now they wanted to marry me’
Last August, one Afghan reporter told how her life imploded when the militants took power. One year on, she tells of desperate months trying to evade capture and flee the countryThe day the Taliban entered my city last August, I started to receive rene…
Hypocrisy or a reason for hope? The Taliban who send their girls to school
The Afghan rulers’ ban on female schooling has provoked global anger, but opposition is also growing from withinThe Taliban official’s wife apologised for keeping her visit brief. She needed to get her teenage girls ready to fly to Doha, the Qatari cap…
‘I was a policewoman. Now I beg in the street’: life for Afghan women one year after the Taliban took power
Students, mothers, widows, workers and artists explain how their world has altered under ‘gender apartheid’One year ago, the Taliban swept through Afghanistan, taking control of the country amid the chaos of the US and UK troop withdrawal.Now women’s l…
Female protesters beaten by Taliban fighters during rare Kabul rally
Shots fired into air and rifle butts used to attack dozens of women protesting outside Afghan education ministryTaliban fighters beat female protesters and fired into the air on Saturday as they violently dispersed a rare rally in the Afghan capital, d…
Send us a man to do your job so we can sack you, Taliban tell female officials
As economy collapses, women from Afghanistan’s finance ministry say they have been asked to suggest male relatives to replace themThe Taliban have asked women employees at Afghanistan’s finance ministry to send a male relative to do their job a year af…
More than 5,000 people are missing in Balochistan. I want my father back | Sammi Deen Baloch
Pakistan’s security services have ‘disappeared’ Baloch people for 20 years, yet we are portrayed as terrorists. We need justiceI started protesting after my father, Dr Deen Mohammed Baloch, was abducted from his hospital in Khuzdar, Balochistan, on 28 …
Tanzila Khan: disability rights campaigner tells young women ‘the world is yours’
Winner of the inaugural Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment award says she saw mainstream culture did not represent her, so she created her own spaceTanzila Khan does not like people feeling too sorry for themselves – or for her.“I don’t like sob stories …
Male Afghan TV presenters mask up to support female colleagues after Taliban decree
#FreeHerFace campaign gathers force as high-profile men rebel against crackdown on face coverings in AfghanistanMale TV presenters in Afghanistan are wearing face masks on screen to show solidarity after the Taliban issued an order that all women on ne…
Sisters allegedly murdered by husbands in Pakistan ‘honour’ killing
Six men arrested after Pakistani-Spanish women tricked into travelling to Gujrat where they were shotTwo sisters with dual Pakistani and Spanish citizenship were allegedly killed by their husbands, uncle and brother in a so-called “honour” killing a da…
Afghanistan face veil decree: ‘I’ve lost the right to choose my clothes’
Women say they fear going out in public despite Taliban vow to respect hard-won rights after 2021 takeoverDespite everything that has happened to her country since the Taliban seized power last August, 29-year old Nafisa still never believed there woul…
My grandmother is challenging patriarchal land values in India. I’m so proud of her | Shreya Kalia
Daughters too often get cut out of their inheritance, but more women are standing up for their rights – and change is comingWhen my 67-year-old grandmother, Poli, learned that her four brothers had divided all the family land among themselves, she was …