The nation of Mali, and much of Sahelian West Africa, has long standing moderate Muslim practices dating back to the 9th century. This broadminded intellectual, spiritual and cultural tradition is being undermined by a new wave of religious colonialism emanating from outside of the region, an especially violent and intolerant form of fundamentalist Islam. The […] … learn more→

A new study suggests that a woman\’s most intense relationship in her 20s is with a member of the opposite sex, but after the age of 45 this relationship shifts to a much younger female who is likely to be her daughter. The researchers suggest that women are more strategically driven than men in how […] … learn more→

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, recognized reproductive health and family planning as fundamental human rights. Delegates committed to making voluntary family planning services universally available by 2015. Now just three years from that deadline, at least 215 million women want to prevent or delay pregnancy but are not […] … learn more→

When it comes to addiction, gender matters. A new brain imaging study by Yale School of Medicine researchers suggests stress robustly activates areas of the brain associated with craving in cocaine-dependent women, while drug cues activate similar brain regions in cocaine-dependent men. The study, expected to be published online Jan. 31 in the American Journal […] … learn more→

A landmark project which seeks to map out the different routes through which women convert to Islam, and describe their experiences on entering the faith, has reached its conclusion. “Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain”, which is being run at the Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge in association with the […] … learn more→

Women report more-intense pain than men in virtually every disease category, according to Stanford University School of Medicine investigators who mined a huge collection of electronic medical records to establish the broad gender difference to a high level of statistical significance. Their study, published online Jan. 23 in the Journal of Pain, suggests that stronger […] … learn more→

Voters often regard politicians with derision — so often, in fact, they may lose sight of the extent to which elected officials are role models for younger people. Indeed, new evidence suggests that when those politicians are female, they play a highly influential and positive role in the lives of young women. A newly published […] … learn more→

After a half-century of forming new states from former colonies and from the breakup of the Soviet Union, the international community is today faced with the opposite situation: the disintegration of states. Failing states are now a prominent feature of the international political landscape. The most systematic ongoing effort to analyze countries’ vulnerability to failure […] … learn more→

Do job references describe men and women in different terms? In subtle ways executives routinely use different terms to refer to men and women in recommendations, negatively affecting job candidates they are effectively trying to praise, according to a new study. Executives, men and women alike, routinely praise women using terms “helpful,” “kind,” “sympathetic,” “nurturing” […] … learn more→