Ala kachuu directly translates to “to take and run away” in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and is known to the world as the practice of bride kidnapping. It can occur both consensually, as a staged elopement, and non-consensually. In the non-consensual form, a woman is forcibly taken to a man’s home where his family members will …

In 1998, Srđa Popović helped to found the Serbian nonviolent resistance group, Otpor! Two years later, this nonviolent movement helped to remove Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević from power. In 2003, Popović established the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action (CANVAS). As Director, Popović has worked with pro-democracy activists from more …

The literacy rate of women in Afghanistan is among the lowest in the world, with UNESCO reporting only 24 percent of women over the age of 15 as literate in 2015. The Afghan Institute for Learning (AIL) has led a creative initiative to combat low literacy rates among women. The initiative brings mobile phones into […]

In higher education as well as the worldwide workforce, women are underrepresented in the STEM fields, particularly in computer science and technology. According to the National Science Foundation, only 25 percent of the workforce in computer and mathematical sciences is composed of women. Although women earned over 57 percent of …

Over 20,000 foreign fighters have joined the conflict in Iraq and Syria, including around 3,400 from the Western world, according to a recent report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence. ISIS’s digital presence and online strategy are largely attributed to its success in attracting foreign …