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Headscarf

A woman wearing a headwrap and as shimmering blue and gold dress stands in front of a camera, with her hands to her hips.

Fashion, faith and culture come together through the global art of head wrapping

Culture

Head wrapping goes beyond style for one Detroit anthropologist. It’s also a way to bridge cultures.

Women wearing headscarves sit in chairs at a public beach in Alexandria, Egypt

In some affluent circles in Egypt, the hijab and burkini just won’t do

Culture
Sarah Zouak is one of the co-founders of Lallab, a new webzine featuring the voices of Muslim women in France.

One group aims to give Muslim women in France a voice

Religion
Religious headscarves, like the one this Palestinian woman is wearing, can be prohibited at the workplace in Europe, the European Court of Justice ruled.

Europe’s top court rules companies can ban Islamic headscarves

Religion
Rana Abdelhamid (C) demonstrates a move to a student during a self-defense workshop designed for Muslim women in Washington, DC, in March.

How to deflect a ‘hijab grab’ and other lessons from a Muslim black belt

Election 2016
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Two women discuss Turkish politics during a joint rally in Istanbul between the Islamist and secularist parties shortly after the attempted coup in late July.

Turkey’s fraught history with headscarves

Religion

It used to be that women who wore headscarves in Turkey faced harassment and discrimination. Lately, it’s the secular women bearing the brunt of it.

woman hijab

Women in Saudi Arabia have two choices: ‘Either lose your mind or become a feminist’

Development

Sometimes, taking off your headscarf is more difficult than putting it on, says Mona Eltahawy, who says in a new book that the Middle East needs a sexual revolution.

Statue of Liberty

Sorry, your skirt is too long for France

Culture

Twitter lights up with reaction to the story of a Muslim schoolgirl in France who was sent home from school for wearing a long black skirt to class. School authorities, citing concern over France’s secularity law, asked her to leave and come back with a more neutral outfit. See some creative photo-protests using the hashtag #JePorteMaJupeCommeJeVeux -“I wear my skirt as I please.”

A small collection of the submissions to the “Russian Beauty” contest (from both competitors and protesters).

Conservative group launches ‘modest dress’ contest for women. What could possibly go wrong?

Culture

How women’s activists, angry at what they saw as chauvinism, derailed a conservative group’s “Russian Beauty” contest.

Women shopping on Taksim St. in Istanbul.

Some in Turkey feel less free now that women are free to wear headscarves

Lifestyle & Belief

This fall, Turkey’s AKP party ended a law that kept women from wearing Islamic headscarves in some public places. It was supposed to provide more personal freedom. And for some women, it has. But others feel it has emboldened conservatives who want to restrict women’s behavior.

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