Women's Rights In Afghanistan Research Paper

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.

This is all because the laws in Afghanistan that gives most rights to men and not women. Making it Very difficult for women to live their daily lives in

Khaled Hosseini presents the struggle Afghan women go through every day by discussing honour, marriage and the place of women in society in Afghanistan.

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

Women from America have equal rights but sometimes are treated unfairly so one can only imagine the struggle of how Afghan women are treated when the come to America. Although women from Afghanistan who come to America may not be treated fairly or equally all of the time, they are still better off in America than Afghanistan, even before the Taliban seized power. In Afghanistan, married women are often seen as property and can be treated as property by their husbands as well; this also means that they have no voice or freedom to be themselves. While this unfortunately happens in America, sometimes Afghan women who come to America have more freedom and have the ability to be independent and make their own choices. The noticeable absence of women

This short video covers women’s rights in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban, the mid-90’s. The makers of this video often post informative videos, in fact, that’s all they post. In this video, Paula Bronstein, a woman that studies Afghan culture with a main focus on women, is interviewed about the information she found in her studies. This video’s content explains the oppression of Afghan women.

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.

“Cosmetics are forbidden,” “ You will not make eye contact with men,” “ Women are forbidden from working,” “ You will not paint your nails”- These are just a few harsh rules the Taliban decided to enforce upon the Afghanistan women. The rules here are followed by terrible consequences if not followed. If the women of Afghanistan break a law, the accused are subject to beatings, stoning to death, and even the possibility of having a finger cut off. Women are treated terribly by men. Men are allowed a magnitude of freedom compared to women. And if a man does something or gets in trouble and a women is involved, the majority of the time, the woman is blamed.

The history of Afghanistan reflects its patriarchal nature; mostly men and their actions are recorded in the history, which leaves women without a space. The women’s role in Afghanistan’s history is a work in progress; nevertheless women have played an influential and significant role. Women’s contribution is building the Afghan society have not been well document, but Afghani women ricked their life in defending their country from invaders, and educated the next generation of both men and women. The constitution of 1923 gave women equal rights; relatively speaking women had agency and autonomy. Afghan people had progressive attitude toward women and equality, but the Soviet invasion and emergence of the Taliban change the course of the history.

Oppression of women, especially in the thirds world countries like Afghanistan have been an ongoing struggle. An Afghani woman’s roles and identity is strictly associated with her family and tribe, the woman is a part of society, but her identity does not belong to her it belongs to her family at large. Afghanistan is a traditional and religious countries, therefore Gender roles is clearly market in the Afghan society. Afghani women had a difficult road toward getting their liberty in society where male are superior to women in status. In the past four decades, Afghanistan has been under the rule of different political ideologies, the Soviet communism from 1979-1989 and the Taliban regime from 1996-2011. Both the Soviet Union and the Taliban oppressed women in one way or another, the systematic oppression of Afghani women portrayed them as passive members of the society.

Having always been interested in the history of women’s rights, the oppressive rule of the Taliban on Afghan women has always been an interesting topic to research. Prior to Taliban control of Afghanistan, women enjoyed living the freedom that they were granted. They were very crucial to the development of the Afghan society, but when the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan in 1996, the rights of Afghan women began to dwindle. Although they negatively affected Afghanistan, for instance, politically, economically, and socially, the major negative impact their rule had on socially specifically was the Afghan women’s rights.. Even though the Taliban claimed “that it was acting in the best interests of the women,” according to a report on the

Afghanistan is a war-torn country that has been plagued by death, turmoil, and terror. Ever since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December of 1979, the country has been an unstable battlefield that has showed no remorse for any groups of people; especially women. The war zone, known as Afghanistan, has affected women the worst out of all groups of people affected by the many wars. From getting their rights to education, health, and careers taken away, to being treated like a useless piece of trash, women have experienced a drastic amount of inequality, pain, and fear. Ever since the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, Afghan women have been physically, mentally, and sexually abused, denied access to basic human rights, and subjected to the worst of Sharia Law (thesis).

Women in America have talk shows; women in Afghanistan must stay silent. Women in America can choose a path while women in Afghanistan paths are already chosen. So many rights are being violated for woman most clearly amendment one, eight and amendment nineteen. Women don’t have freedom of speech, if a woman disobeys a law a group will kill the woman which breaks

Throughout time, Afghan women have dealt with rights inferior to those of men; although tragic, it is actually accepted by the majority of women living in Afghanistan due to the fact that traditions in the Afghan culture significantly contribute to the formation of women's values (Text 3). The reason regarding this is the fact that Afghan women are identified by their roles as mothers and wives (Text 4). Women feel as though men are

In the article, Afghanistan: Human Rights “ In 2009 a law was passed in Afghanistan where they criminalized child marriage, forced marriage, giving away a woman or girl to dispute, forced self- immolation, forced prostitution, and other acts of violence against women, including rape and beating.” hoping this will change the way these muslim women are being treated some countries have noticed how badly they are being treated so these countries have taken action and are changing some laws about oppression against women. Some countries like in Saudi Arabia for instance are taking small steps to help with women's rights although there are still very little laws helping women (Manal- Sharif| A Women Who Dared To Drive) This still doesn't seem to be enough though, these women need to take action, most women just ask when something is going to happen instead of taking action on it now. These Islamic countries need to create new laws so that the women's rights are the same as men. Women and men need to realize that they are created equally in the eyes of God and they should both equally have the same rights. Overall, this whole world needs to be a better place, even though these muslim women are just following their religion they should have the right to have a voice and speak up. These women are human beings and they deserve to be respected and loved and treated right, they shouldn't have to be sold for marriage at a