Yvonne Ridley: In Defense of Muslim Women

An award winning journalist Yvonne Ridley is a well known Muslim feminist who is well known for her outspoken views to defend women and Islam. She first made headlines when she was captured by the Taliban on a undercover assignment as a journalist. She was soon released, and soon after studying Islam she converted to Islam. Since her conversion, she has been a pioneer and one the few women Muslim leaders in the west. She supports and defends women and Islamic religion through her outstanding articles, interviews and television broadcast.

Yvonne Ridley operates a website called http://www.yvonneridley.com/. She post articles which she has written for other major news papers such as The Sunday Times, The Observer, Daily Mirror and other various magazines and newspapers.

She is also currently employed by Press TV where she has her own show, which is one of the top rated shows on the channel called The Agenda. In this show she speaks about issues facing Muslim women internationally and other political issues facing the Muslim world.

I think publications such as the television show The Agenda and Ridley's blog/website where she post all of her articles is necessary because there aren't many women representing Muslim women in the west. Yvonne, being a British born white women can relate to many people and can act as a middle man (or woman) between Islamic issues for women and the west. Many times she describes the Muslim view point to her western readers who may not understand for example why women wear the veil, or why women are oppressed in the Middle East. It is necessary to have someone who understands eastern and western societies and cultures, and to speak about them to the public. Ridley currently is battling, through her articles and television show, the ban of the Hijab, (the veil Muslim women wear).