CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – Laughter rings out in the salmon-colored living room of the parsonage at First Church in Cambridge, Mass. More than a dozen women - Christian, Jewish, and Muslim - are sharing insights garnered from "Gilead," a 2004 novel about the faith and struggles of a Christian minister in Iowa.
On November 30, 2005 The Christian Science Monitor reported, "Laughter rings out in the salmon-colored living room of the parsonage at First Church in Cambridge, Mass. More than a dozen women - Christian, Jewish, and Muslim - are sharing insights garnered from 'Gilead,' a 2004 novel about the faith and struggles of a Christian minister in Iowa.
The easy camaraderie as they discuss their...
On November 28, 2005 Reuters reported, "Leading Hindu hardliner K.S. Sudarshan has angered women and Muslims by pressing Hindus to have as many children as they can to avoid being swamped by Muslims.
Sudarshan, who heads the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party which led India until...
On November 27, 2005 the Lexington Herald-Leader reported, "Take away the sorority house and alcohol-drenched co-ed parties. Keep elements of sisterhood and community service. Now add the tenets of Islam.
The University of Kentucky is slated to become the site of the first campus chapter of Gamma Gamma Chi -- the only Muslim sorority in America... [Boushra Aghil, 20,...
On November 24, 2005 The Guardian reported, "Imperial College London has banned staff and students from wearing hijabs or hoodies on its campuses as part of an effort to improve security.
The college's management board approved the new dress code at the beginning of the month. 'Clothing that obscures an individual's face is not allowed on any of the college's campuses,' it...
On November 23, 2005 AltMuslim.com ran an opinion piece by Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari, a journalist who freelances for The Friday Times, Chowk.com, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Naseeb Vibes. "I’d frankly had enough of hyped up ethnic literature from the immigrant East that embellished the shelves of American bookstores describing the 'other.' The women in them were almost hidden behind the glitter...
On November 17, 2005 The Times reported, "Islamic groups across Europe have campaigned for years for the right of Muslim women to wear the religious headscarf, or hijab. Now a Muslim woman in the Netherlands has won the right not to wear it.
Samira Haddad, 32, won her case against the Islamic College of Amsterdam, which insists that all Muslim women wear the hijab. The secondary...
On November 16, 2005 The London Free Press reported, "The London Baha'i community is bringing prominent gender equality expert Elizabeth Wright to London for four workshops.
Wright, the Canadian director of the Baha'i Office for the Advancement of Women, located in Quebec City, kicks off her London seminars with a public meet-and-greet tomorrow afternoon, followed by a...
On November 15, 2005 The Tribune reported, "'Each girl born in this world is special — that is the feeling I want to convey through KAURS. Women have a special world of their own that sustains life on this earth and we need to celebrate it'... Roma Kaur [said to] leading figures of the Sikh Community at the Toronto launch of the Sikh women's first international magazine, of which she is the...
On November 10, 2005 BBC News reported, "Turkey can ban Islamic headscarves in universities, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.
The court rejected an appeal by a Turkish woman who argued that the state ban violated her right to an education and discriminated against her.
Leyla Sahin had brought the case in 1998 after being excluded from class at Istanbul University.
But the judges ruled...
On October 31, 2005 The Guardian reported, "Marching under the banner of a new 'gender jihad', Islamic feminists from around the world this weekend launched what they hope will become a global movement to liberate Muslim women.
The meeting, which drew women from as far apart as Malaysia, Mali, Egypt and Iran, set itself the task of squaring Islam with feminism. That meant...
