For Zarqa Nawaz, a hijab-wearing Muslim woman living in the Canadian prairies, life in the west has always provided certain conundrums. For example, is a woman obliged to cover herself in the presence of a gay man?
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women have published some "Frequently Asked Questions" around the issue of the Arbitration and Family Law Acts in Canada.
A recent report by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), Engaging Muslim Women: Issues and Needs, reveals Canadian Muslim women’s affinity and affection for Canada but a lack of engagement in the political, social and economic life of the country.
The primer is designed to provide information comparing Muslim and Canadian family laws to a range of audiences, including Muslim women, lawyers, social service providers, students, and the judiciary.
Recently, there has been controversy around the veil worn by some Muslim women to conceal their faces. Many have viewed this as a conflict between Muslims on one side and the "Islamophobic" west on the other. Not so.
Canada is violating its international human rights obligations regarding women and children by allowing polygamy to persist unchecked, says a new study commissioned by the federal Justice Department.
From a hard knot of contradictions a further thread has unravelled, and the most preposterous rationalization of all, particularly coming out of the mouths of men - that the niqab is a feminist declaration.
Ingrid Mattson, new president of the largest Muslim organisation in North America, is the first woman, nonimmigrant or convert to Islam in this role. Despite this, her election has been greeted with caution by some women's rights activists.
Please join us for a reception for the WLUML exhibition "Dress codes & modes - women’s dress in some Muslim countries and communities," on 28 September, 5.30-7.30pm in the EVDS Gallery of the University of Calgary.
A controversial Pakistani scholar is illegally living in Canada who, critics charge, teaches her female students a fundamentalist brand of Islam promoting polygamy and subservience to men.
