The chowdry, or burqa — the Saudi, North African, and Central Asian version of the head, face, and body shroud — is a sensory deprivation isolation chamber. It is claustrophobic, may lead to anxiety and...

Encountering gender apartheid and waged slavery shook me to my roots more than half a century ago in Afghanistan. Oh, the women of Afghanistan, the women of the Muslim world. I was no feminist —...