Women's Rights Violations in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Women’s rights were very denied and completely dismissed. Women were treated horribly. They were beaten, abused verbally, and even killed. Under the rule of the Taliban, women were better off staying in the safety of their own homes.

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.

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

Prior to the rise of the Taliban, life for women in Afghanistan was improving dramatically. In Laila’s father’s words, “Women have always had it hard in this country… But it’s true, it’s a good time to be a woman in Afghanistan” (Hosseini 121). Women were able to teach in universities and schools and even hold office in the government. However, once the Taliban came to power in 1996, women were stripped of their basic rights and practically ordered on house arrest.

I do not agree at all with how women are being treated in Afghanistan. They are being put in jail for getting out of bad situations and the government is calling it “moral crimes.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that reporting if someone’s husband raped me is a crime against his wife. In the article, it says, “A woman named Gulnaz was jailed and sentenced to 12 years in prison after reporting she was raped by her cousin's husband. Her daughter was the product of the rape.” That is absolutely ridiculous. Why should that poor women be punished because her husband decided to rape her cousin’s cousin? If I was her, I would fought for my rights even if it killed me. It’s also disgusting how women are forced into marriage, then thrown

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

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.

According to BBC News, The latest data shows that 36% of girls in Afghanistan are now enrolled in school, previously none were allowed to be educated, adult woman are also now creating opportunities for themselves in government and are now even employed in police and army positions (BBC New Asia). The UN After WWI setting standards involving Women's rights, with other political movements by woman to gain the suffrage, has motivated this small but significant improvement in Afghanistan.

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

Soon afterwards with the help in the form of money and weapons from the US, the mujahedeen defeated the Soviets and there was internal struggle for power among them from which Taliban emerged the most powerful. In 1996 they captured Kabul and imposed their totalitarian dictatorship. 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women. In addition 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. (FMF). The Taliban justified their brutal regime with the need for a pure Islamic society, but I think their oppression of women, in particular, had more to do with consolidation of power. This view is reinforced by Jan Goodwin’s interview with CNN. She said, “And this is something that when I was last in Kabul a couple of years ago, I was interviewing the then-deputy foreign minister. And he said to me -- he admitted as much, he said, basically, these repressions of women are necessary until the country learns to obey

Armed battle has disastrous effects on all citizens, however women face major challenges. Afghanistan has a weak state system and armed opposition groups, as well as serious problems with human security, human rights, and women’s participation. In Afghanistan’s highly patriarchal society, women have been subjected to violence by husbands and other male family members. The male head of the household whether it be brother, husband, father, or other family member makes all major decisions regarding the woman’s life: whether she gets to go to school and who she marries. Furthermore, wars, and especially occupation by foreign powers, have been accompanied by crises of masculinity that have led to restrictions on women’s mobility and increase in violence against women. Women are

Violence and torture against women is an accepted form of submission that is institutionalized and encourages the assault of the body, mind and sexuality. During the time of civil war and the Taliban regime, the extremist took the role of enforcing repercussions resulting from disobedience in the form of rape, gang rape, public beatings, mutilation, and torture (Sharif, 2015). The society promotes men – husband, father or brother, to decide how the women in their family will look, dress, marry, the activities she will engage in, and if she is allowed to pursue education. This absence of choice is reflective of the patriarchal society which still exists within Afghanistan. For any disobedience of a women towards the men in her life brings

In afghanistan, women and girls face this horrific abuse everyday. But this isn't just the case in afghanistan. There are hundreds and thousands of stories from around the world of similar incidents. Whether its in developing countries or in places like North America and Europe. Women and girl of all races are being oppressed by those who feel that males should be more

Because of this strict law that was implemented throughout all of Afghanistan by the Taliban, women were stripped of any rights or freedoms they enjoyed. This was the fall of women’s rights in Afghanistan and to this day has affected the way that women in Afghanistan live. Woman during the Taliban control were denied health care, which included healthcare to have children. This imposed many health problems because women in Afghanistan have on average around 6 children. 30-40% of women’s healthcare problems were related to this. The literacy rate of women in Afghanistan, although never that high, was even lower because women were restricted from being educated or employed and many of them were forced into prostitution. The women were banned from leaving the house without either their brother or father present. The were banned from being involved in politics or public speaking and what we notice most is women were banned from showing their skin in public which meant they needed to be covered from head to toe. Women were basically invisible in public life and were prisoners within their own home. Punishments for disobeying any of these laws were extremely harsh and mostly lead to being stoned to death or

Because of this difference every effort needs to be made to fully incorporate women into Afghani society as men’s equals. This will accomplish two main things. The first is that it will increase the work force for Afghanistan helping to strengthen the economy. The second is that if women become so enmeshed and accepted into society it will help to wear away a large amount of support that is given to the Taliban because they support the repression of