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Religious rituals, while comforting for believers, may be uncomfortable for those who do not share their manifold meanings. Catholic Filipinas who marry Muslim Iranian men face mandatory conversion to Islam, necessitating ongoing negotiations between Christianity and Islam. My research suggests that these Filipinas held their first religion dear while participating in – for them – unpleasant Shi’a Muslims rituals. Their Filipino/Iranian children, familiar from birth with Shi’a Islam, felt at home with both religions, no matter which one they chose for themselves. The discussion of converts’ perceptions of Shi’a rituals contributes to the literature on transnational marriages and marriage migration.

Political events can serve as an impetus for civic engagement or disengagement. The events of 9/11 have directed attention toward US Muslim communities and occasionally inflamed anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiments. This article explores the impact of the 11 September events on hijab-wearing Muslim American women. These events and the negative perception of Islam have paradoxically given rise to Muslim women's public presence and paved the way for their political engagement. Their efforts, however, have been hampered by Orientalist and Islamic fundamentalist ideologies, each advancing its own constructs of Muslim women; one seeking to ‘save’ them and the other to ‘protect’ them. Muslim women have found both ideologies oppressive. As a result, they have been actively challenging these ideologies in American society at large and within their own Muslim communities. Through civic engagement and participation in Muslim organizations, these women have been making efforts to redefine themselves, claim their sp...

Synopsis The migration and overseas education of Iranians in the post-revolutionary era have increased the number of transnational marriages between Iranians and non-Iranians. With these marriages, Iranian families have become increasingly diverse in terms of social class, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, and culture of daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. This article examines the transnational marriages of Muslim Iranian men and Christian Filipinas. It explores the challenges these Filipinas face in Iran and the ways in which they overcome these challenges by negotiating between different religions, cultures, and social expectations. Over time, they have made social adjustments, become increasingly integrated into Iranian society, and established a Filipino–Iranian community to preserve their heritage and transfer their home culture to their bi-cultural, bi-racial, bilingual Filipino–Iranian children. The paper depicts the Filipinas' agency and highlights their determination to claim emotional and social spaces within transnational marriages.

This article examines the history of the veil and its changing social meanings in Iran. Embedded in the meaning of the veil is the erotic meaning of female hair. The symbiotic relations of the “cover” (the veil) and the “covered” (female hair) are central to this history. Iranian political regimes have assigned to the veil meanings corresponding to their own ideologies. Through imposed unveiling and re-veiling, these regimes have constructed an ideal image of Iranian women and in turn of Iran as a modern or an Islamic country. This essentialized singular image has led to the empowerment of some women while marginalizing others and violating their rights. Re-veiling has served as an impetus for the politicization of Iranian women, and they continue to contest the social meaning of the veil and protest its imposition.

With the emerging political stability in Afghanistan, Afghan refugees residing in Iran are scheduled to repatriate to Afghanistan. Many Afghan men have married Iranian women and their repatriation has caused a major dilemma for their Iranian wives. The dilemma stems from the Iranian citizenship laws which disadvantage Iranian women in transfer of their citizenship to their non-Iranian husbands and their children. Thousands of children born of these Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers are not recognized as Iranian citizens. They are considered Afghan nationals and are, thus, not entitled to benefit from state-funded education and health services. These children's uncertain futures have magnified the unequal status of Iranian women as mothers and served as an impetus to demand change in the Iranian citizenship laws. This paper seeks to explain gendered citizenship in Iran and explores the socio-legal challenges faced by these women.

Imbedded in widowhood are emotional loss and change in personal life. For women, depending on social constructions of gender relations, widowhood can also lead to identity change, role adjustment a...

Acknowledgments Introduction Jennifer Heath Part I. Perceptions and Realities 1. The Politics of Zan from Amanullah to Karzai: Lessons for Improving Afghan Women's Status Shireen Khan Burki 2. Between Covered and Covert: Traditions, Stereotypes, and Afghan Women's Agency Margaret A. Mills 3. Centuries of Threat, Centuries of Resistance: The Lessons of Afghan Women's Resilience Anne E. Brodsky 4. Don't Say What, Who, and When, Say How: Community Development and Women Wahid Omar 5. Afghanistan Blues: Seeing Beyond the Burqa on YouTube Dinah Zeiger Part II. A Woman's Place 6. Women's Political Presence: A Path to Promoting Gender Interests? Anna Larson 7. Voices of Parliamentarians: Four Women MPs Share Their Thoughts Massouda Jalal, Malalai Joya, Fawzia Koofi, and Azita Rafat 8. Nothing Left to Lose: Women in Prison Lizette Potgieter 9. Selling Sex in Afghanistan: Portraits of Sex Workers in Kabul Alisa Tang 10. Between Choice and Force: Marriage Practices in Afghanistan Deborah J. Smith Part III. To Be Whole in Body and Mind 11. The Hidden War against Women: Health Care in Afghanistan Sima Samar 12. Challenges to Cripple the Spirit: A Midwife's Experiences Pamela Chandler 13. Women with Disabilities: Recollections from Across the Decades Mary MacMakin 14. A Question of Access: Women and Food Security Elizabeth Stites 15. Psychological Impacts of War: Human Rights and Mental Health Nahid Aziz Part IV. Making the Rubble Bloom 16. Mending Afghanistan Stitch by Stitch: How Traditional Crafts and Social Organization Advance Afghan Women Rachel Lehr 17. Rural Women's Livelihood: Their Position in the Agrarian Economy Jo Grace and Adam Pain 18. Chadari Politics: Translating Perceptions into Policy and Practice Lina Abirafeh 19. When the Picture Does Not Fit the Frame: Engaging Afghan Men in Women's Empowerment Ashraf Zahedi Part V. "Don't Eclipse My Happy New Moon" 20. Empowering Women through Education: Recipe for Success Sakena Yacoobi 21. From Both Sides of the Mic: Women and the Media Aunohita Mojumdar 22. Painting Their Way into the Public World: Women and the Visual Arts Lauryn Oates 23. A Hidden Discourse: Afghanistan's Women Poets Zuzanna Olszewska Epilogue: Great Expectations 24. Hopes and Dreams: Interviews with Young Afghans Amina Kator Selected Bibliography About the Contributors Index

In the late 1970s, labor relations in construction equipment manufacturing became increasingly conflict-ridden. Record-length strikes over job security, wage and benefit concessions, and the handling of grievances from 1979 into the early 1980s ended two decades of relative industrial peace in this industry. We focus on this shift in labor relations which occurred as automation, foreign competition, and other factors changed the nature and organization of work in the industry during the years 1960—1984. In doing so, we apply the social contract model as a means of analyzing the changing labor relations in this industry.