This week’s Peace Links focuses on the Middle East and women’s rights, which took center stage in both print and online media this week.  (They must have read our experts forum on the topic!) Enjoy everyone.

Have you plugged in to this debate over Muslims’ attitudes towards women?  First, Foreign Policy featured this story from Mona Eltahawy, and then Monica Marks’ push-back against it.  And this one from the Guardian. Interesting stuff.
And here’s another piece on women’s rights and the Arab Spring courtesy of PublicService.co.uk.

- By Mary Liepold, Editor in Chief
According to UNWomen’s first annual report, gender violence is legal in one-third of the world’s nations. Though women routinely suffer abuse in countries that criminalize it, impunity for abusers is all but certain where the culture accepts violence as normal. Fortunately for us all, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has made ending violence against women a hallmark of his tenure since he took office in 2007. He reinforced the seminal SC Resolution 1325, on Women, Peace, and Security, with resolutions 1820, 1888, and 1889, all …

“We aim to empower women and strengthen their relationship with their body image and self-esteem by criticizing the mainstream media discourse that stereotypes their roles and objectifies their bodies.”
The authors of this article will remain anonymous to ensure their personal safety.
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We are Kherrberr. We are not an organization. Rather, we are a grassroots feminist media monitor. Kherrberr in Arabic means dental drill, and the concept behind it is that it aims to remove cavities from media—specifically, sexism, racism, homophobia, and violence. Our activists are kept anonymous to protect their personal …

Nela Milic
Turkey/United Kingdom
“When you tour Istanbul’s palaces you learn about the weapons of the army as the biggest treasure of the nation.  But women do the opposite – they negotiate, they communicate, they share and collaborate. “
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Recently I visited Turkey on business and pleasure – I was holding a workshop with my colleagues at the new media conference at Sabanci University, but I came to Istanbul before it started and stayed after it was over with friends.  In the process I got an overview of the city from some of …