Hijabs And Helmets: Toronto Program Encourages Hijab-Wearing Women To Get On Two Wheels
New
Age Islam News Bureau
27
August 2023
• Hijabs And Helmets: Toronto Program Encourages
Hijab-Wearing Women To Get On Two Wheels
• Women’s Art Movement In Baha Explores Region’s
Heritage; Elevating The Saudi Art Scene
• London Exhibition Makes The Case For Raising The
Visibility Of Arab Women Artists
• Arab Women In Shengal Write Letters To Öcalan
• Meet Zulekha Daud, One Of Dubai’s Richest Indian
Women; Labourer’s Daughter Who Now Runs Rs 3600 Crore Firm
• Indian-Origin Women Given Radioactive Rotis In 1969
Research, UK MP Seeks Probe
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijabs-helmets-toronto-wheels/d/130534
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Hijabs And Helmets: Toronto Program Encourages Hijab-Wearing
Women To Get On Two Wheels
Shaira Tasnia, 16, puts her
helmet on while on a group cycling trip with community program Hijabs and
Helmets, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, August 17, 2023. REUTERS/Laura
Proctor Acquire Licensing Rights
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REUTERS
August 26, 2023
TORONTO: For Tagreed Elhassan it’s the feeling of the
wind in her face.
Cycling gives her a sense of independence and a way to
exercise. She learned the basics growing up in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and now
a program in her new home of Toronto has taught the 24-year-old Eritrean
refugee how to steer and basic bike mechanics, giving her the confidence to
teach others.
Hijabs and Helmets aims to provide education and a
welcoming environment toward people new to cycling and the city — especially to
Muslim women who may come from backgrounds where cycling was not the norm.
The program was created three years ago to meet a
community need, said Menna Badawi, a community health worker at Access Alliance
Multicultural Health & Community Services and program lead for Hijabs and
Helmets.
It gets most of its funding from Maple Leaf Sports and
Entertainment, which owns Toronto sports teams including the Maple Leafs ice
hockey team and the Raptors basketball team.
The group realized “there was a gap in services for
Muslim women in the community ... who are interested in cycling and kind of
don’t know where to go,” Badawi said.
HalaElhassan puts on her helmet before cycling to meet
up with community program Hijabs and Helmets, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada,
on August 17, 2023. (REUTERS/Laura Proctor)
Elhassan said she got involved in the program last
year with her sisters. Soon she felt comfortable enough to bike to the
supermarket, bags balanced on handlebars.
The deliberate inclusion of hijab-wearing women “means
a lot,” Elhassan said. “I felt like, oh, we are recognized.”
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2362116/offbeat
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Women’s Art Movement In Baha Explores Region’s
Heritage; Elevating The Saudi Art Scene
Women artists in Baha have
been influenced by local and global experiences, which is reflected in many of
their works. (SPA)
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ARAB NEWS
August 26, 2023
RIYADH: The women’s art movement in Baha is elevating
the Saudi art scene by showcasing regional and national heritage.
Visual artist Samia Al-Othman told the Saudi Press
Agency that the women’s art movement in Baha has witnessed significant
development in recent years. Al-Othman has taken part in local and
international exhibitions and forums, and undergone training courses in
different art schools, utilizing a range of techniques since 2012.
Nada Al-Jabiri said that she discovered her talent at
an early age, adding that aspirations for the future can be seen in her
drawings, which aligns with empowering women and using their artistic ideas.
She added that visual art is sending a great message
by highlighting national identity and introducing Saudi cultural, historic,
social and artistic heritage to the world.
Artist Jawhara Al-Ghamdi believes that the significant
development in the art movement, cultural and artistic dialogue and
multiculturalism has empowered women in recent years to assert their presence
in the art scene. She added that the women’s art movement in Baha has boosted
tourism in the region and showcased its historical and social heritage.
Sarah Al-Ghanem, another visual artist, said: “Visual
art, in general, is part of a social movement, notably women’s visual arts,
which express the woman’s perspective, her future, roles and distinguishing
traits.”
Artist Azza Al-Hasen’s journey began in an art class,
after which she attended training sessions that honed her talent. Those
included acrylic paint pouring, impressionism and palette knife painting
sessions. Al-Hasen is now a certified trainer in visual arts.
Ahmed Saleh Al-Muntasheri, a visual artist and member
of the Association of Culture and Arts in Baha, said that the region’s women’s
art movement, though young, grew rapidly in 2012 when there was a noticeable
increase in female artists.
He added that women artists in the region have been influenced
by local and global experiences, which is reflected in many of their works.
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2362061/saudi-arabia
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London exhibition makes the case for raising the
visibility of Arab women artists
Pauline Nasri
Aug 27, 2023
Growing up between Jordan and Lebanon in the 1980s and
'90s, Dia Al Batal would often hear the repetitive "tick-tick-tick …
tick-tick" of a hammer and chisel as her mother, Mona Saudi, worked for
hours on her stone sculptures.
As an Arab female artist, the path for Saudi wasn't
easy. Al Batal said her mother was turned down by exhibitors in Europe and the
United States multiple times.
The Jordanian sculptor died in 2022, but one of her
abstract sculptures, called "Continuity," was part of a recent
exhibition at Christie's auction house in London called Kawkaba
("constellation" in Arabic).
"This is how my mom always wanted for her work to
be displayed, in collections where the public would be able to access them, and
not kind of hidden and tucked away," Al Batal said in an interview in
London.
Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East
Institute at the University of London, said the exhibition, which ended Aug.
23, is an important contribution to changing how the artistic history of the
Arab world is imagined and understood.
"A gender-balanced approach is hugely important,
because it proves that the Arab world has no shortage of talented women
artists," Khatib said. She said a key challenge women artists face in the
region is adequate recognition.
"There are many internationally renowned Arab
women artists, but also many others whose great work is not as known as it
deserves to be."
Dia Al Batal said her mother faced many challenges as
a woman starting her career in art. Mona Saudi's father did not encourage her
passion, and at the age of 17, she ran away from Amman, Jordan, and moved to
Beirut to pursue art.
In 1963, Saudi had her first exhibition in Beirut, and
collected enough money to take a ship to Paris to continue her studies in art
the following year.
"She came from a generation who did everything by
themselves," Al Batal said. "She built her own name and supported
herself … the opportunities that were created, she created them for
herself."
Despite challenges, Saudi ended up having solo and
group exhibitions around the world, and her work has been showcased and held in
collections in galleries across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
Bahia Shehab, an artist, historian and professor at
the American University in Cairo, said Arab women artists often struggle with a
lack of funding and infrastructure.
"If you take the challenges of any male artist,
double those and you have the challenges of women artists in the region,"
Shehab said.
Kawkaba came together thanks to the efforts of
RidhaMoumni, the deputy chairman of Christie's Middle East and North Africa,
and two members of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an initiative from the United
Arab Emirates that preserves and exhibits Arab art: curator SuheylaTakesh and
its founder, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi.
Al-Qassemi, a collector, said the artwork in Kawkaba
represents political and cultural issues in the Arab world in the 20th century,
covering themes like gender dynamics and Pan-Arab nationalism.
Al-Qassemi said that as he was collecting pieces for
his foundation, he found it challenging even to get the names of female
artists, to authenticate their work and to document and archive their history.
SamiaOsseiran, who paints on canvas and also works on
paper, often takes her inspiration from the sun. Her painting "Formative
Radiation" was selected to be the main painting of Kawkaba.
Mohamed said his aunt came from a family that
encouraged the arts. She studied the craft in Lebanon, then Florence, Italy,
and earned a scholarship to continue her studies in Japan.
But he said her work got very little notice before
Kawkaba. Since the start of the exhibition in mid-July, he said he's been
getting daily calls from people asking about Samia's art.
AfafZurayk, 75, a Lebanese painter and writer who
calls her art "poetic rendering," said she never felt discouraged
from pursuing an artistic career.
"Men have it as difficult as women. It's just
that they pretend it's easier," said Zurayk, who has two paintings in the
exhibition, from a series called Human Form.
As the exhibition in London came to an end this week,
he posted an Instagram story saying a number of works from the collection will
be loaned across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
Source: Www.Cbc.Ca
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/arabic-art-women-kawkaba-london-1.6947538
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Arab women in Shengal write letters to Öcalan
26 Aug 2023
Arab women in the Yazidi town of Shengal (Sinjar) in
the Kurdistan Region of Iraq wrote 100 letters to Kurdish people’s leader
Abdullah Öcalan, expressing their love, loyalty and hope for his freedom.
“We have experienced a constructive change thanks to
the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan. Arab women dream of meeting Leader Öcalan one
day. Their biggest dream is his freedom,” wrote the Arab women in their
letters.
Shengal (Sinjar) is the last contiguous settlement
area of the Yazidi community. Thousands of Yazidis were murdered and thousands
of women and children were taken prisoner in the 3 August 2014 onslaught on
Shengal by ISIS militants. While ISIS gangs began murdering Yazidis in Shengal,
the Peshmerga left, leaving the Yazidis behind. HPG-YJA Star and YPG-YPJ
fighters came to the Yazidi people's aid in the face of ISIS aggression.
After months of resistance, the fighters who saved the
Yazidi people from a larger genocide liberated Shengal. After the liberation of
the city, the HPG and YPG/YPJ subsequently withdrew in 2017. People who
returned to their land after Shengal's independence reformed, established
defensive units and built their institutions.
UN bodies and the European Parliament have recognised
ISIS crimes as genocide, as have Armenia, Australia, the US House of
Representatives, the Scottish Parliament and the German Parliament (Bundestag).
Source: Anfenglish.Com
https://anfenglish.com/women/arab-women-in-shengal-write-letters-to-Ocalan-69002
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Meet Zulekha Daud, one of Dubai’s richest Indian
women; labourer’s daughter who now runs Rs 3600 crore firm
Aug 27, 2023
The success story of Dr Zulekha Daud is nothing short
of inspiring, since she ended up touching new heights in business and
healthcare, despite of being from a low-income family in Maharashtra. Zulekha
Daud is considered to be one of the richest Indian women in Dubai.
Dr Zulekha Daud, born in Maharashtra, came from a
family witnessing financial instability. Zulekha’s father was a construction
worker and often used to make ends meet by working as a daily wage labourer in
Nagpur.
Defeating all odds, Zulekha got into a government
medical school in Maharashtra and later decided to move to the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) in 1964. Dr Zulekha Daud became the first Indian woman to
practice medicine in UAE, but her journey didn’t stop there.
Dr Zulekha Daud, who has now performed over 10,000
deliveries as a top gynecologist in Dubai, started her career as a doctor in
UAE with very basic equipment and at times, a lack of electricity and supplies,
which eventually inspired her to open the Zulekha Hospital Group, aiming for
top-notch healthcare for all.
At the age of 84, Zulekha Daud is the Chairperson and
Founder of the Zulekha Hospital Group, established in 1992. Based in the UAE,
the physician-turned-entrepreneur received India's top honors for overseas
Indians – the PravasiBhartiyaSamman Award 2019.
Zulekha Daud also landed on the list of Forbes Middle
East’s top 100 Indian leaders in UAE. Zulekha Hospital Group, established by
the renowned doctor, now has a global revenue of over USD 440 million, which
comes out to over Rs 3632 crore.
Not just in UAE, Dr Zulekha has also made strides in
India by spreading awareness about affordable and necessary healthcare,
securing a Rs 198 crore deal with the World Bank to open a top medical facility
in Nagpur, and contributing over Rs 20 crore to her facility in Sharjah.
Source: Dna India
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Indian-Origin Women Given Radioactive Rotis In 1969
Research, UK MP Seeks Probe
August 27, 2023
London: A UK Opposition Labour Party member of
Parliament and shadow minister for women and equalities has called for a
statutory inquiry into medical research dating back to the 1960s that led to
Indian-origin women being given chapatis containing radioactive isotopes to
combat iron deficiency.
TaiwoOwatemi, who is the MP for Coventry in the West
Midlands region of England, said in a post on X - formerly Twitter - recently
that she is "deeply concerned" for the women and families impacted by
the study.
Around 21 Indian-origin women identified through a
general practitioner (GP) in the city were given the bread containing Iron-59,
an iron isotope, as part of a research trial in 1969 into iron deficiency in
the city's South Asian population.
"I will be calling for a debate on this as soon
as possible after Parliament returns in September followed by a full Statutory
Inquiry into how this was allowed to happen, and why the recommendation of the
MRC [Medical Research Council] report to identify the women was never followed
up so that they can share their stories, receive any support needed, and so
that lessons are learnt," she said.
An MRC spokesperson said an independent inquiry,
commissioned following a documentary on Channel 4 in 1995, had examined
questions raised.
According to a BBC report, it emerged at the time that
about 21 women were involved in the experiment after seeking medical help from
a city GP for minor ailments. The study was carried out due to concerns of
widespread anaemia among South Asian women and researchers suspected
traditional South Asian diets were to blame. Chapatis containing Iron-59, an
iron isotope with a gamma-beta emitter, were delivered to participants' homes.
They would later be invited to a research facility in Oxfordshire to have their
radiation levels assessed.
It was reported that the MRC said the study proved
that "Asian women should take extra iron because the iron in the flour was
insoluble". The MRC said in a statement it remained committed to the
highest standards, including "commitment to engagement, openness and
transparency".
"The issues were considered following the
broadcast of the documentary in 1995 and an independent inquiry was established
at that time to examine the questions raised," the statement said.
Source: Ndtv.Com
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijabs-helmets-toronto-wheels/d/130534