anushay-hossain

Anushay Hossain began her feminist career as an intern at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) where she worked on microfinance and primary education programs for women and girls in her native country, Bangladesh. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Anushay joined the Feminist Majority Foundation's Nobel Peace Prize nominated Campaign For Afghan Women. Anushay moved to the United Kingdom to complete her Master's in Gender and Development, and spent a year working at UNIFEM UK (United Nations Development Fund for Women) before returning to Washington, DC where she invests the majority of her work analyzing the impact of US foreign policy on the health and rights of women and girls around the world. In 2009, Anushay founded her blog Anushay’s Point, and became a blogger for The Huffington Post. She also regularly writes for Feministing, Ms. Magazine Blog, and NPR (National Public Radio).

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The Fight for Democracy: How Protests in Egypt/Iran Shatter Myths about Muslim Women

Anyone remember what one of the most striking images to surface from Iran’s uprising last summer over the fallout from the country’s so-called elections were? Iranian women protesting.

The world was shocked to see Iranians, 70% of whom are under that age of 25 yrs old, pour onto the streets demanding their votes be counted. But what was equally confusing for the world to see was the huge role Iranian women played in shaping this revolt against their government.

Why should people be surprised? Iranian women, who make up 65% of university students in the country, are also amongst the most educated in the Middle East. They have been organizing underground for years under a regime that specifically targets their rights. In fact at the end of last summer’s bloody protests, it was the face of a woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, brutally shot to death by an Iranian government sniper, who became the defining symbol for the “Green Revolution.”

Women in Egypt Demand Mubarak Step Down. Image Credit: Facebook Group

We are witnessing a very similar movement in Egypt.

Kate Middleton & The Trouble With Fairytales

Cross-posted from Anushay’s Point. Last week when news of Prince William’s engagement to long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton broke, I didn’t really have a reaction. After eight years of waiting around for her boyfriend (does it make a difference that he happens to be the future King of England?), I was happy for Kate that she finally got the ring she clearly was ready and willing to sacrifice plenty for. And the Comparisons Begin: Prince William Proposes to Long-Time Girlfriend Kate Middleton With His Mother’s Infamous Sapphire & Diamond Engagement Ring. Image Credit: Flickr

No feminist analysis immediately came to my mind until the media world got in a frenzy with ...

Cross-posted from Anushay’s Point. Last week when news of Prince William’s engagement to long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton broke, I didn’t really have a reaction. After eight years of waiting around for her boyfriend (does it ...

The Arab Emirates: Where It’s Okay To Beat Your Wife

Seems like Emiratis have been working so hard over the past decade to make sure one main message gets across to the International Community: we are modern, we have money, come build in our desert. Not enough water for you? We will import it in. Too hot for your liking? We will fly in snow (no joke) from the Swiss Alps.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the word “excess” have always gone hand in hand. But with the recent crash of Dubai, drowning in its debt, countless unfinished  real estate ventures, and a slew of bad press on migrant worker abuse, the Emirati states have gone into damage control overdrive to ...

Seems like Emiratis have been working so hard over the past decade to make sure one main message gets across to the International Community: we are modern, we have money, come build in our ...

The Best Place To Be a Woman: World Economic Forum Measures the Global Gender Gap

I had the opportunity to speak with Saadia Zahidi,  Head of the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program, and also one of the authors of the annual Global Gender Gap Report.

The Global Gender Gap Report looks at 134 countries around the world and analyzes “how well they divide resources and opportunities amongst male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources.”

The study focuses on how wide the gender inequality gap is in four key areas:

1) Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment; 2) Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education; 3) Political empowerment ...

I had the opportunity to speak with Saadia Zahidi,  Head of the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program, and also one of the authors of the annual Global Gender Gap Report.

Zulu Tradition Fuels Virginity Myths in South Africa

The first time I heard about “baby rapes” was almost eight years ago. Someone had dropped a report on my desk about the widespread belief in South Africa that having sex with virgins would cure HIV/AIDS. The myth was causing a surge in the rape of young girls and even infants, some as young as three months old.

Flash forward to last week, when I could barely hold in my disgust when I saw this headline as I scrolled through the UK’s Guardian website: “Zulu king condemns photos of virginity tests at annual dance.”

According to the Guardian, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini was angry and extremely concerned that the estimated 25,000 young women dancing ...

The first time I heard about “baby rapes” was almost eight years ago. Someone had dropped a report on my desk about the widespread belief in South Africa that having sex with virgins would cure ...

Bangladesh: Development Star?

This September, Bangladesh is expected to stand out as the “development star ” when countries meet at the United Nations in New York to reaffirm their commitments to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals . The 2015 deadline is looming on the goals, which include include ending poverty, achieving gender equality, and improving world health.

Bangladesh’s achievements may be surprising to many, as it is one of the world’s poorest and most densely populated countries. But as Women’s eNews puts it, a “precocious, gender-sensitive civil society movement stirring in Bangladesh since the 1970s” is largely responsible for the progress the country has been making towards the MDGs. In particular, Bangladesh is doing a great job in poverty reduction, ...

This September, Bangladesh is expected to stand out as the “development star ” when countries meet at the United Nations in New York to reaffirm their commitments to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals . ...

What’s Up Saudi? The Kingdom Insists on Keeping Women in the Stone Age

What’s up, Saudia Arabia? Did anyone tell you it is the year 2010 and you can stop with your ludicrous rulings and the continuous scaling back of women’s rights and more specifically, their mobility?

A court in the Kingdom just sentenced four women and 11 men between the ages of 30-40 years to flogging and prison for “mingling at a party.”

While this is an absurd charge to say the least, it is not nearly as crazy as what we saw in Saudi Arabia a few days ago when women agreed to start breastfeeding their drivers in an attempt to scale up their campaign to be able to drive.

What’s up, Saudia Arabia? Did anyone tell you it is the year 2010 and you can stop with your ludicrous rulings and the continuous scaling back of women’s rights and more specifically, their mobility?

A court in the ...

What Is So Controversial? First Arab-American Crowned Miss USA

Rima Fakih Becomes The First Arab-American Miss USA. Image Credit: AP

It has not even been a full 48 hours since 24 year-old Rima Fakih was crowned the first Arab -American Miss USA and gasp! Scandal has already hit.

Turns out Fakih has a small stripper past , but as the Salon article rightfully points out the pictures of her “working the stripper pole” are nothing compared to the official Miss USA glamor shots which were causing controversy, (ratings anyone?), just weeks before a winner was even announced.

All this is nothing but distractions from the real “scandal” here which is Fakih’s background. A Lebanese-American from Dearborn, Michigan, Fakih grew up “celebrating both Muslim and Christian ...

Rima Fakih Becomes The First Arab-American Miss USA. Image Credit: AP

It has not even been a full 48 hours since 24 year-old Rima Fakih was crowned the first Arab -American Miss USA and ...

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