Afghanistan Women Work

Although it isn’t as apparent in America as Americans tend to reject these connotations, gender roles exist all throughout human culture, causing things other than genitalia to be associated with the terms man and women. While gender roles vary with culture, typically these associations consist of men are expected to be strong, dominant and opinionated, while women are expected to be more reserved, submissive, and dedicate. These expectations leak into our views of people, causing people to judge others based off their gender first, instead of simply judging everyone as an individual from the get-go. while these generalizations can’t be helped as generalizing things is what people inherently do, the Taliban took it to another level. when

During the last twelve years low literacy rates have been progressing within females. Afghanistan is among the lowest in the world. Only 40% of girls attend school in Afghanistan. Approximately there are three times more boys in school than there are girls. It is rare if girls go beyond the 6th grade. Families believe that it is unnecessary for girls to be educated. Married girls do not continue of their education. 85% of women residing in Afghanistan are uneducated and illiterate.

Being a woman in Afghanistan is hard for so many reasons but some of the reasons are that over half the Afghan girls are married or at least engaged by the age of 12. 60% of the Afghan girls are married actually married by the age of 16 and up to 80% of the marriages in the poor/rural areas are arranged or forced marriages. The men these young girls marry are usually a lot older, some of the men even in their 60’s or older and the girls might not meet the man they were arranged or forced to marry till the actual day of the wedding. With the widespread of poverty parents arrange marriages for their young daughters for many reasons like to repay debt, solve a dispute, to get rid of them so they don’t have to support them, they even do it to reduce

In a male dominated society, the women of Afghanistan face many pressures and limits that are taught and ingrained in them at a very young age. Women and girls are seen as less than men and boys. They are viewed as being weak and unimportant. They are often pulled out of school and shunned to the house during their middle school years. Society sees no reason to educate girls when the whole point of girls is to serve as wives to their husbands and mothers to sons. They are taught that their entire worth depends on how happy they make their husband. As depicted by Jenny Norberg in The Underground Girls of Kabul, Afghanistan is a horrible place to be a woman. The pressure to birth sons, uphold a perfect reputation, and the economic disadvantages women face often force them to become men to have basic human respect and survival.

Women in the far reaches of Afghanistan have been in need of justice for many years. Subjected to a forced reality with no choice in the matter, these women live through segregation, persecution, and inequality. Within the Catholic Social Teaching, all persons are born with unalienable rights as children of God, created in his image and likeness. However, in Afghanistan the treatment these women endure not only stems from a radical religious law, but is also a side effect of the country’s established culture that has not evolved. In the article, "These Five Women Are Risking Their Lives To Make Afghanistan A Better Place For Women", Beenish Ahmed, examines the death of a woman, Farkhanda. In an effort to protect her own belief as a practitioner of the Islamic faith, and completing her own religious studies, Farkhanda, spoke out against men who were selling amulets. Farkhanda felt these men preyed on people’s hopes, and was attacked and beaten to death when she spoke her mind. (Beenish, These Five Women.) The loss of this woman's life helped sparked a fight and calling against injustice suffered by women, with

"And in Afghanistan, 85% of women are illiterate and 50% of girls are married or engaged by the age of 12."("Life as an Afghan women”, n.d. para 1)

Peacebuilding in a country full of war and poverty seems far fetched to those living in the wreckage left behind after the Taliban regime ran its course. “The constant debate over land, water, ethnicity, and family based issues continue to fuel the local disputes that often flare into violence.” Resolution in Afghanistan is difficult due to the fact that many Afghans distrust the idea of peace and reconciliation. After one failed attempt after another in building reconciliation it is not surprising the overwhelming skepticism the citizens of Afghanistan have especially women.

There was once an Afghan woman who was repeatedly raped for 5 days by a local police officer. The police officer got his justice by being locked up, but the Afghan woman is now in hiding in fear of being punished by the other local policemen. This is just one sad story of what an Afghan woman has to go through on a daily basis. Stories like this are happening because of the results of the Soviet-Afghan War. Before the war, Afghanistan was a fairly free place. Women could go out on their own, wear what they wanted, and go to university. Now they are restricted from almost anything that involves the outside world. The Soviet-Afghan War, which happened in 1979, was a war in which the Soviet Union, who did not like what was happening in Afghanistan,

Over 62 million girls around the world are denied an education. Some start elementary school, but most don’t even make it to junior high. The girls in Swat Valley, Pakistan are specifically told that they cannot go to school by the Taliban. According to the

Many families only allow their daughters to attend all-girls schools close to their home and not many of these schools exist. Other families believe it is unnecessary for girls to be educated because the woman’s place is at home, not in the economy. “Life as an Afghan Woman” explains, “Schools for girls have been burned down, hundreds of teachers educating girls have been threatened or killed,...[and] physically harmed…. Only forty percent of Afghan girls attend elementary school, and only one out of twenty girls attend school beyond sixth grade.” Education has been presented to girls, but because of the lack of girls attending, this advancement of women’s education has not made as large of an impact as anticipated. Central Statistical Organization states “Based on the data of Statistical Yearbook 2014, the total numbers of civil servants of the government are 398,195 persons of which, 77.8 percent male and 22.2 percent are females.” Women have much less involvement in government and it is rooted from the lack of education received by the women as a young girl. A 2014 data analysis from the Central Statistical Organization shows in the “Zabul province in terms of girls’ enrolment in school is at the lowest level as girlboy ratio is 22/78.” Education equality has long suffered throughout Afghanistan due to the results of a patriarchal society, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t looking up in the

In 2010 a young Afghan women had her nose and ears cut off. Aesha Mohammadzai, first appeared on the cover of time magazine in 2010, shared her story on how her husband and in-laws cut off her nose and ears as punishment for trying to run away. Mohammadzai said: “Every day I was abused by my husband and his family. Mentally and physically; Then one day it became unbearable so I ran away." Three years later Mohammadzai began her reconstructive surgery. Aesha Mohammadzai now lives with a foster family, and is studying English in school. A true inspiration to Afghan women, Aesha Mohammadzai tells women who are being abused to stay strong and never lose hope (Phillip Caulfield.2013). This is just one of the many common punishments Afghan women receive. Mohammadzai is proof that still in today’s society women in Afghanistan are still suffering with extreme punishments. The life expectancy for a woman in Afghanistan is 44, one of the lowest in the world (Life as an Afghan Women.2013). Throughout the years, women have been forced to live in fear because of the way they have been treated. The consequences of punishments are not balanced with the actions that are performed, and women fight to hold their own. Afghan women have struggled with extreme, cruel and violent punishments. Women’s punishments are the result of the loss of their basic human rights.

In America, girls and boys across the country have the privilege to be enrolled in an educational system. For thirhteen years, students are taught by college educated teachers and learn material to help us move forward in our carrier. Americans take this opportunity without even thinking about it, but do not realize how much students take this for granted. In the school I have been placed in, my teacher took it upon herself to show us education in different cultures, and the outcome of the lesson was shocking for me. In the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, readers realize how much women are looked down upon in Afghanistan, yet it was eye opening for me to see what these girls are missing out on. From birth, they are categorized are lesser than men. Never getting the same chances, their life is centered around pleasing their husband. Education is not even an option for most women. I believe all women should have the same opportunity in this world, despite what country they reside in.

1. Abu Lughod argues that the “liberation” from burqas, wanted by American women for Afghan women, is an extension of colonialism and western domination because the western women fail to understand what liberation is for the Afghan women. Western women think that the Afghan women are unhappy with their religion because it physically restricts them. On the contrary, Afghan women like their burqas because they feel it brings them closer to Allah. They also culturally disagree with the openness of American fashion. The idea that western women do not take into account the Afghan woman’s perspective on life, and automatically assume that they are trapped by their way of life, can be compared to America’s way of “helping” nations that they believe

Education drastically improves the well being of both women, and their families. Research has found that if all students in developing nations were educated with basic reading skills, 100 million women could be lifted out of poverty (Improving Health and Well-being). Education is also one of the most efficient ways to develop more rights and opportunities for women. Each year that a girl attends school beyond fourth grade results in a 20% increase in wages later on. When an educated woman’s income increases, she will invest 90% of that money in her family and community (Improving Health and Well-being). Finally, educated women wait longer to marry and start a family which makes them better parents. Their children have improved health and nutrition, lower mortality rates, and are more likely to attend school, creating a chain reaction throughout

The Taliban became responsible for punishing those who committed crimes by killing the criminals. These acts started a small fear in the Afghanistan people. Soon, the Taliban group became a well armed and well funded militia with the support of a province in Pakistan. As soon as fear stirred among the Afghani people, the president of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, tried to create an alliance against the Taliban in Kabul, the capitol. This alliance fell through, and the president eventually fled Afghanistan. In December of 1995, the Taliban took hold of Afghanistan as a result.