Browsing Category
Gender and Feminism
Kurds and Turks are at the edge of a cliff
Ayla Akat, women’s rights activist, has for many years sought a political solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict while defending the rights of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. She has been arrested. Interview. Ayla Akat, lawyer, former…
The Hassar and the Dogs of my Father
Zhiwar Jawhar The Hassar and the Dogs of my Father is a well-known Kurdish novel by Sherzad Hassan, written in 1996 and translated into Persian and Swedish. Its overarching themes are dictatorship and patriarchy, particularly focusing on…
Rusty Razorblades and State of the Art Cameras: in search of human rights ‘for Kurdish Girls?’
Dr. Sandra M. Phelps Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney Rusty Razorblades and State of the Art Cameras: in search of human rights ‘for Kurdish Girls?’ Abstract On December 29th 2008 the Washington Post published an…
Why has the Iranian women’s movement failed?
By Ava Homa Since the 1910-era Constitutional Revolution, women in Iran have struggled to achieve gender equality, to no avail. In the 1930s, women had 14 magazines discussing their rights, and by the 1970s had gained some freedom of…
Why Culture Project?
By Houzan Mahmoud I NEEDED to do this. After many years as an activist, it felt like it was finally the right time to co-found this initiative, a project that has the potential to lift feminist and gender consciousness, to really challenge…
Kurdish Women As a Disciplined Body
By Shara Tahir The main purpose of this article is to figure out the common discourse that continuously claims the freedom of Kurdish women in different geographical areas in Kurdish society. An assumption being made and that has…
How to make sense of feminist art in a culture where women’s voices are absent
By Kani Kamal WHEN I studied art at university in Sulaymania 16 years ago, the course was based on an old fashioned way of thinking. There was a gendered mentality so, for example, in most cases only men could study painting and sculpture,…
The story of Malala: The Girl who stood up for equal right to education
The story of Malala: The Girl who stood up for equal right to education By Lazo Azad IT’S fair to say that the Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai, has become a global sensation. Shot three times after championing girls’…