Women
The Prison of Empire
In 1915, a 20-year-old named Vartuhi Kalantar was unjustly jailed in Istanbul for promoting Armenian independence. Her prison memoir, the first by a woman in the Middle East and a fascinating window into the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, has now been translated into English.
Divorced, Desired and Devout
Secret marriages and serial divorce reveal how faith and intimacy are being renegotiated in the rapidly growing cities of Mauritania, one of the world’s few Islamic republics.
Solace and Community in a Tigray Spice Mill
For the matriarchs operating a spice mill in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the ancient work brings comfort in the aftermath of war, an act of resilience that is helping preserve their social and cultural identity.
How Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Championed Women’s Rights
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s legacy extends beyond being the mother of the legendary Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti or the first Nigerian woman to drive. Bolanle Austen-Peters’ biopic reveals her role in Nigeria’s independence and women's liberation movements.
How Two Zambian Players Have Raised the Profile of African Women’s Soccer
Two Zambian players defied the odds to emerge as the world's most expensive transfers in the history of women’s soccer. Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji overcame resistance from their families, unfair treatment compared with the men's team and the controversy of gender verification tests imposed by the Confederation of African Football.
Love, Life and Hope: Returning to Help the Women of Afghanistan
I knew how lucky I was to have other options, to be able to make the choice to leave a war without being a refugee. I had been given a Special Immigrant Visa for the U.S. and left Afghanistan in 2016, still haunted by guilt. I studied at college in Virginia. I wanted to pursue a career in education that would one day help me make more substantial changes in Afghanistan. I went on to study at Georgetown and Columbia universities and continued to tell myself that all of this was in aid of my life’s mission to work for, and with, Afghan women. But who knows when I will be able to return to Herat or Kabul now?
A Timely Film in Chad Examines Abortion
“Lingui, The Sacred Bonds,” by Chadian director-writer Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, is his first film with female leads. It’s a venture he takes to broach abortion, a subject that carries stigma and shame familiar to American audiences after the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade.