カテゴリー: Life and style
As a child in Afghanistan, she pretended to be a boy in order to get an education, before starting her own women’s news agency. Now living in Britain, her fight continuesJust over a month ago, Zahra Joya left her house in Kabul to walk to her office, a…
Women around the world are sharing pictures of themselves in traditional colourful clothes in a campaign against the new strict dress code for female studentsAfter street demonstrations across major cities in Afghanistan, women have now taken to social…
Women’s protests led to prohibition in Bihar but can alcohol bans end domestic abuse and harassment?Holding sticks and brooms, the women marched to the liquor shop in the centre of Konar village. It was a rare ambush in the staunchly patriarchal Bihar …
The most vulnerable people will bear the cost of sanctions, as services and the economy collapseWatching Afghanistan’s unfolding trauma, I’ve thought a lot about Mumtaz Ahmed, a young teacher I met a few years ago. Her family fled Kabul during Taliban …
With at least four women, including a pregnant mother, targeted and killed by Taliban fighters, female ex-officers feel abandoned by the worldNegar Masumi, a female police officer with 15 years of experience, was determined not to flee when the Taliban…
One of Bollywood’s most bankable actors has written a revolutionary pregnancy book that lifts the lid on libido, caesareans and more. She discusses power, pay and the reality behind the glamourDays after giving birth to her first child – an emergency c…
Life for single mothers in Afghanistan has always been marred by stigma and poverty. Now with the Taliban in control, what few protections they had have disappearedThe day after Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital of Balkh province, fell to the Tali…
At least 12,000 women are still abducted and forced into marriage every year in Kyrgyzstan. But pressure is growing to finally end the medieval customAisuluu was returning home after spending the afternoon with her aunt in the village of At-Bashy, not …
Nilofar Bayat begins rebuilding her life in Spain after days of fear for her life under Taliban ruleWhen the Taliban entered Kabul, Nilofar Bayat, the captain of Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team, knew she had to get out.“There w…
The Burnt Sugar author remembers summer 2007, when her grandmother arrived to help her set up home – and teach her some life lessons• Read other authors on their memorable urban summersShe arrives with a small suitcase and several jute bags filled with…
Salima Mazari, one of only three female district governors in Afghanistan, tells of her motivation to fight the militantsIt is early morning in Charkint, in the northern Balkh province of Afghanistan, but a meeting with the governor is already well und…
The actor, who has died at 98, gave expression to the intense cultural complexities raised as independence met modernity – with respect, depth and subtletyRarely do Narendra Modi and Imran Khan agree, but the death of Indian film great Dilip Kumar unit…
It’s been dubbed ‘tangping’ – shunning tough careers to chill out instead. But how is the Communist party taking the birth of this new counterculture?Name: Low-desire life.Age: People – young ones especially – have been rebelling, dropping out, rejecti…
No laws were broken but brands failed to ensure workers were paid properly during the pandemic, says Clean Clothes CampaignCampaigners claim to have found evidence of “wage theft” in the supply chains of Primark, Nike and H&M in a report that outli…
Bao Yinan from East China University of Political Science and Law accused over WeChat statementsA Chinese academic has been suspended by his university after he advocated polygamy on his personal WeChat account, sparking a new discussion around China’…