A... historical soap opera based on the life of... Suleiman the Magnificent, it’s just one of more than 100 shows produced last year by Turkey’s booming TV-drama industry. The programs are becoming a wildly popular cultural phenomenon across the Middle East, bringing in their wake a renaissance in Turkey’s soft power and ushering in a low-key social revolution among the housewives of the Arab world.

In a historic move, the General Assembly is set to unanimously vote today to create a single United Nations body tasked with accelerating progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.