Research Paper: Difficulties for Women in Afghanistan

I am very impressed with the information presented in your article “The Plight of the Afghan Women”. I was not aware that Afghan women were treated so badly as you mention in the text. Besides, I had no idea they had so many restrictions and that men consider them inferior just because of their gender. After reading your publication and doing some research I couldn’t believe this type of things were happening.

Today in the post –Taliban era, women still struggle with their rights. Resolutions were produced and rights for women have advanced since September 11th but in order to move forward, much work needs to be done. Hundreds of years of repression for Afghan women will take a lot longer than a few years to actually revolutionize. There is violence towards women that are not practicing traditions customs and fear retaliations from the Taliban. Customs are difficult to change as well as government policies. (Bora Laskin Law). In Afghanistan, religious and cultural values, politics, and an uncertain acting government have played a major part in the struggle for women’s rights.

When you walk through the streets and enter into the houses of the village, you will notice boys and girls from the same family and parents but with a big difference between their lives. You will see the boy with ultimate freedom and many options to live the kind of life that he wants but to the other side you will face a girl with a desperate and hopeless smile with many wishes and dreams that are always wishes for her. Instead of having pen and books in her hand, she is doing all the type of hard and physical work all her life. She is always silent and powerless against the harsh rules of life. Furthermore, when it comes to the rest of her life. She cannot select the partner of her life with whom she spends the rest of her life. She never had a book in her hand or learned in school, to know that how she can have her freedom and can chose whatever she wants for herself. She never went to school and learned that how powerful she is and what big things she can do. That is the kind of life that a girl has in province of Wardak, Afghanistan. Lack of girls' school is a big problem in the Wardak, Afghanistan, and in order to solve it religious leaders and seniors of the province, and government can have a big role.

The Constitution that was created in Afghanistan during the 1920’s, stated equal rights for women and men. In fact, during the year of 1959, new policies created educational and career opportunities and voluntary removal of having to wear the burka. Women’s roles become similarly equivalent to male roles; they had the opportunity to acquire knowledge from universities, and were provided jobs in industrial, business, and entertainment settings. The atrocities that came about during the Mujaheddin and Taliban control were unheard of years prior, when women lived in peace and prosperity

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

The Taliban is an extremist Islamic group highly emphasizing a strong interpretation of sharia law that arose in the early 1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Referencing the BBC article, a common belief holds that the Taliban first emerged in religious seminaries that preached a hard line of Sunni Islam. The Taliban’s promise to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the surrounding area was to restore peace and security using their interpretation of the sharia law once they were in power (“Who Are the Taliban?”). Along with the many new policies and regulations of society, there arose a new interpretation of the role of women in society. Women became very restricted and had to live in a way that was extremely submissive to men to the point where it was almost dehumanizing, as many would argue. Although the Taliban has been out of control in Afghanistan since December of 2001, remnants of their oppression towards women remain. In this paper, I will demonstrate the Taliban’s remaining effects in Afghan society regarding many aspects of everyday life, such as the workforce, education, healthcare, and human rights. To begin, I will give a brief overview of how Afghan women participated in society before the Taliban came to power. I will then provide information and examples that shed light on women’s life during Taliban rule. In the final section of this paper, I will describe how the lifestyle of women has changed as a result of the Taliban’s oppressive laws and

In this paper I will be exploring the reasons why “young females in Afghanistan pretend to be males” (Norbderg). The article“Afghan Boys Are Prized, So Girls Live the Part”, by Jenny Nordberg, explores how bacha posh are present in Afghanistan and why families are doing this is discussed. The author’s point is that in Afghanistan, male children are valued much more then female children. The boys have many more privileges then the girls do is a large part of the article. Looking at the marked. The privileges that the males have span Afghan culture.

Today in the United States, freedom is taken for granted by almost all citizens. People think that because of the way our government is structured, not having freedom will never be an issue. This thought of peace and safety was similar to that of the women in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban reign, and before the government in Afghanistan was overthrown. Their fortunes would change in 1996 when the Taliban ended up controlling Afghanistan, and denying women of all their rights such as work, education, health care, and many more. The lifestyle women were accustomed to be forced to be drastically changed, and the country they once felt love for, they felt fear. Even though their regime only lasted for about 5 years, the Taliban took a

"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)

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 nation where segregation of two different sexes are strictly enforced, Afghan boys are seen has family’s most prized possession whereas girls are bounded by societal rules and culture that prevents them from having the most basic freedom such as running errands, playing outside the house and determining their own future.

In many religions there are problems facing the right for a girls education, luckily there are people all around the world like Dr. Yacoobi who fight against this even if they get criticism. The religion I have chosen to speak about is Islam and how these problems are being alleviated and how it all started for Dr. Sakena Yacoobi. How did Afghanistan become a place where families, especially women and children, where diminished and devalued in their own country? How did Dr. Sakena Yacoobi stand up against this oppression and build a stronger women presence throughout Afghanistan?

Today women are undergoing some of the biggest changes in its history. Leon Panetta said, ”Women have become an internal part of the military and have already demonstrated their willingness to fight during the wars of the last decade.” In 2008, for the fist time a female soldier in the US military is promoted as the four-star general. In 2009 many programs were offered to women. The female Engagement Tems. This was training for women to build relationships between Afghani women and children. It was a significant task to break down cultural barriers in order to win more information for the military and to provide aid to Afghani people. In 2013, Leon Panetta, the Defense Secretary rewrote a rule for banning women from serving direct combat roles. Around 95% of the military jobs were open to women. Women then started so sign for the Ranger training, a program involving physical advantages. Sexual assault and harassment was still a concern. 20,000 is the number reported for sexual assaults only in 2014. These women have been dealing with trauma, and injuries. In 2015, women make up about 15% of the U.S. military. More than 165,00 women are enlisted and active in the in the armed forces. And with over 35.000 additional women served as

The Taliban group is a group of men who formed in 1994 in the country of

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.