Taliban Women's Roles

Before reading The Underground Girls of Kabul I assumed women in Afghanistan had at least some semblance of a meaningful life. I assumed female children had the opportunity to go to school. I assumed they were treated on a human level, and I assumed there was hope for equality in the not too distant future. None of these things seem to be the case. For the majority of women in Afghanistan your life is pre-determined from the moment you are born. “The ownership of an Afghan girl is literally passed on from one male—her father—to the one who becomes her husband. He will take over the ruling of her life, down to the smallest details if he is so inclined.”(Page 44).

This furthers the gap between the notion that most non-Islamic people have around the world, which relates to the aspect of vainglory, because in the US, like many countries around the world, women are seen as political figures, physicians, and have simple freedoms. Compared to other ares of the world that contain a predominantly Islamic ethnicity, the rights of women less restricted as they are in Afghanistan. In the US and other countries that allow freedom of religion and expression, the burka is completely optional based on the individuals preference. In order for the Taliban to gain power, they had to convince the public that they were in the best interests of women and not only men. However, the truth is that the Taliban regime has cruelly reduced women and children to poverty, worsened their health by denying them adequate healthcare, and deprived them of their right to an education. In some cases they are denied the right to practice their religion. As a result of these measures, the Taliban was ensuring that women would continue to sink deeper into poverty and deprivation of rights. This would ensure that their future would consist of them having limited skills needed to be considered a civilized individual in modern day

The Taliban started to control the country and their leadership directly impacted the women. Women who once had jobs outside of their home, using their skills to provide for their family were no longer allowed to work from anywhere outside of their home. Instead, they were forced to stay inside their house. The restriction that was put on the women made it harder on them to provide for their families and find ways to work. The restriction not only affected women who wanted to work but also women who wanted to further their education. It would be very difficult for a women to be educated just within the home, so not only were women limited in their work but also education. Whenever a woman wanted to leave the home, the rule was that a male

Women in Afghanistan still have very little say and are still being mistreated. Women before the Taliban had rights and were able to work and go out like men. During the 1920’s and before the invasion in 1979 women had some rights. When the Soviets invaded in 1979 and the war started women’s rights started to go away. In 1996 when the Taliban took over women’s rights were completely pushed back.

In 1979 the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan and took control. Being communists themselves, they turned the country into a communist state. From that time on until the Soviets left and the Taliban took over in 1994, women had many rights and were able to pursue an education and have careers. This changed when the Taliban — an Islamic militant group — came into power. Under the Taliban, strict rules were put in place for the people of Afghanistan, especially the women.

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement which came to power as Afghanistan’s government in 1996 but was overthrown by the U.S. after 9-11 in 2001. The official government put into power by the U.S. after the Taliban overthrow was headed by President Hamid Karzai, but he and his government mostly only had power in Kabul and Kandahar, urban cities. After the Taliban, the misogynistic Mujahedeen regained power in many rural parts of Afghanistan, where they forced women to stay indoors and constantly wear the burqa. Although the Mujahedeen oppose the Taliban, the two organizations are similar in many ways when it comes to women’s rights. The Taliban enforced Sharia law, which is strict Islamic law, according to the Taliban members’ interpretation of the Quran. According to this law, women have little to no rights. Women under the Taliban could never leave their houses unless they had a permit because of an emergency, and even then they had to be accompanied by a close male relative. Women were also forbidden from school and work. This was devastating for many women who didn’t have husbands supporting the family. Countless families were left completely impoverished with no income. On top of that, women were forced to wear the burqa, a garment that completely covers the body except a small screen for the eyes. Even though they had just lost their salary, and did not have enough money for food, numerous women had to buy these garments

These, and her being dehumanized due to her infertility, have repeatedly been shown to affect her, and at times, make her believe she deserves these cruel acts to be inflicted upon her. This characterizes how women are victimized and dehumanized in Afghanistan, for being women through systemic sexism, sexist religious beliefs in Islamic culture, and especially the religious based sexist laws the Taliban enforce that blame women for crimes that are yet to be committed, and in addition, interpersonal victimization and dehumanization. In addition to being seen as less than men, women are

Afghanistan is by far one of the most challenging places in the world to be a woman. During the rule of the Taliban in 1996 until 2001, women were treated with the upmost disrespect, worse than during any other leadership in the history of Afghanistan. They were living in a misogynistic society were they were confined to living in a house unless escorted by a male companion. They were not able to work or allowed to seek medical assistance from a male doctor. Under the Taliban regime, women are also forced to cover themselves completely from head to toe, even covering their eyes. Not only have these women lost their self worth but they have also lost any ounce of self-identity they had left.

The U.S Country Report on Human Rights Practises – Afghanistan (2001) detailed the physical requirements demanded by the Taliban, with men being required to have “a beard extending farther than a first clamped at the base of their chin”. Men were also required to wear their hair short and to wear a head covering. Sharia law was enforced by ‘religious police, who beat offenders with long sticks. Crimes such as theft were punished by amputation of a hand, rape and then public execution by a gun shot or by being stoned to death. Punishments were carried out in front of crowds in Kabul’s former soccer stadium. These bans and brutal punishments were enforced as they were detailed in the Holy Koran, which the Taliban interpreted as the law.

Women have had a tumultuous history within the country of Afghanistan. They have face many setbacks and have fought tooth and nail to get where they are today. But even today, a woman is subjected to death threats and violence because of her efforts to further women’s rights in the country. Years of Taliban rule has forced women into lower than second class citizenry, where it was acceptable and encouraged to treat women as property and nothing more than something which to abuse, demoralize, and trade as property in order to increase a man’s social setting. This lesson plan will address how women have been treated over the years, their roles, and the effect the Taliban has played on their lives.

Since the beginning of time, women have had to fight rigorously for basic human rights. In the western stratosphere, those human rights were achieved in the early 20th century, but in a lot of eastern countries the battle for the women is just beginning, or worse hasn't even started. Women in Afghanistan have been subject to heinous circumstances, even though their religion, Islam "demanded that men and women be equal before God,"(Qazi). Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner offers a very insightful view of the governing politics of Afghanistan pre-Taliban regime and during the Taliban regime, and the differing situation of women in both those eras. Based on the book and outside research, it is evident that the situation of women in

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.

Under Taliban rule, girls were not allowed to attend school or leave their home without a male relative or you could be beaten or even shot. Women also couldn’t wear nail polish and if they were caught, they risked having their fingertips cut off. The Taliban claimed that the treatment of women was safeguard women and their honor.

Before the rise of the Taliban in the early 1990s, women in Afghanistan were mostly treated as equals and with respect. Though women were still expected to be

Nettie is an interesting character and probably one of the most complex out of the women in the novel. Although, she is a minor character she gave me another perspective when I analyzed the females in The Color Purple. Nettie unlike her sister Celie is educated, and is a big thing for a woman, especially back in the early 1900’s. She is cultured since has an opportunity to do missionary work in Africa, and escape the rural South. Nettie is caring and loves her sister Celie that never changes.