Paradise Beneath Her Feet
In Paradise Beneath Her Feet, Isobel Coleman shows how Muslim women and men are fighting back with progressive interpretations of Islam to support women's rights in a growing movement of Islamic feminism.
Senior Fellow and Director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative; Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program
Democratization, economic development, civil society, gender, Middle East
Women and Foreign Policy, Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative, U.S. Foreign Policy Program
In Paradise Beneath Her Feet, Isobel Coleman shows how Muslim women and men are fighting back with progressive interpretations of Islam to support women's rights in a growing movement of Islamic feminism.
It is time for multinational corporations to come to the same realization -- funding education and training female business leaders is good for business.
Isobel Coleman says the Egyptian elections are a roller coaster, and what the role of Islam will be in a new Egypt is uncertain.
See more in Egypt, Elections, Political Movements, Religion and Politics
Addressing Egypt's economically debilitating subsidy system will be hard amid political transition, but with the country's social contract under review, the time is ripe for reform needed to put the country on a more viable economic path, says CFR's Isobel Coleman.
See more in Egypt, Economic Development, International Finance
The winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election will have to address shifting priorities and maintain the relevancy and impact of U.S. foreign aid as government assistance is dwarfed by other forms of capital flows and new donor countries emerge, says CFR's Isobel Coleman.
See more in Foreign Aid, U.S. Election 2012
A preview of world events in the coming week from CFR.org: Iran and the P5+1 resume nuclear talks; the Summit of the Americas convenes in Colombia; the trial of foreign NGO activists resumes in Cairo; and World Health Day is marked.
Isobel Coleman discusses the role of women in the Arab Spring.
See more in Middle East, Democratization, Political Movements, Women
Isobel Coleman says the recent women's protest in Egypt may breathe life into a movement that desperately needs new energy.
See more in Egypt, Political Movements, Women
Isobel Coleman argues that in Libya, Egypt, and elsewhere, overthrowing male dominance could be harder than overthrowing a dictator.
See more in Libya, Middle East, Egypt, Democracy and Human Rights, Political Movements, Women
Isobel Coleman discusses the importance of leveraging new resources, such as commitment accounts and mobile technology, for poverty alleviation.
See more in Civil Society, Economic Development, Poverty, Foreign Aid
USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg discusses the challenges facing the organization in an environment of constrained budgets.
See more in Economic Development
Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argue that U.S. investments in midwifery programs in Afghanistan promote sustainable development in Afghanistan and allow the United States to keep its promise to bring a responsible end of the war.
Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir discusses U.S.-Pakistan relations and the fragility of the Pakistani democracy.
See more in Pakistan, Democracy and Human Rights
Isobel Coleman argues that increased access to voluntary family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve health and reduce poverty.
See more in Society and Culture, Health, Poverty, Women
Isobel Coleman argues that a stable, prosperous Libya undergoing a process of democratization will enhance the chance of successful transitions in neighboring countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.
See more in Libya, Civil Society, Economic Development, Political Movements
Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, discusses the gender gap in access to mobile technology. Research conducted by Blair's organization has found that the gender gap is particularly wide in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
See more in Economic Development, Technology and Foreign Policy, Women
In awarding the prize to three women activists, the Nobel committee is honoring the fact that women's full participation in society is essential to peace, says CFR's Isobel Coleman.
See more in Liberia, Yemen, Democracy and Human Rights, Women
Expert Robin Wright discusses the unfolding developments of the Arab Spring with CFR's Isobel Coleman. Wright argues that a "counter-jihad" is happening, which is "challenging the political status quo."
See more in North Africa, Middle East, Democracy and Human Rights
Investment in maternal health in Afghanistan provides a cost-effective way to promote strategic U.S. foreign policy objectives including reducing maternal and child mortality, improving public health, empowering women, and fostering economic stability, and therefore, as part of a responsible drawdown in Afghanistan the U.S. government continue its commitments to training midwives and improving other maternal health programs to expand the advances made in women’s health since 2001.
See more in Afghanistan, Health, Women
Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon say the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan places maternal health programs for Afghan women in jeopardy.
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, Health, Women
This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow and Director of CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative, discusses how the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011 influenced a debate over social and economic challenges and opportunities in the Middle East.
See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Attacks
Isobel Coleman discusses the Women2Drive campaign in Saudi Arabia and says the next generation of Saudi rulers will have to face the issue of women's rights.
See more in Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Democracy and Human Rights, Civil Society, Political Movements, Women
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CFR Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy and author of Paradise Beneath Her Feet.
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| Thalia Beaty |
This week marks the one-year anniversary of the January 25th protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Isobel Coleman joins Steve Paikin to discuss the progress and setbacks for women's rights in Egypt one year later.
Isobel Coleman speaks with Foxnews.com's DEFCON3 with KT MCfarland about whether the election victory by the Islamist party in Tunisia is a cause for concern.
Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Isobel Coleman, author of Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East, visits Zócalo to discuss Islamic feminism, the women behind the movement, and why their success is crucial to fighting extremism and creating progress and stability in the Islamic world.