Women in Afghanistan

Throughout recent history, Afghanistan has been a country in turmoil. Famine, drought, civil war and Taliban rule have all had a significant impact on the Afghani people. While this has taken a very negative toll on all Afghan people, I believe, that none have been more negatively impacted than the women of Afghanistan. Having said that, not everything the Western world deems as a negative is also considered negative by the women and men of Afghanistan. One only has to read this quote, “Wearing the burqua is not mandatory, but few women are rushing to remove them” (Germani 14). While the Taliban and al-Qaida’s rule had a great negative impact from 1996-2001 and obviously oppressive to all Afghani women. They were not the sole source of oppression felt by the Afghan females as stated in this quote, “The roots of patriarchal oppression go deep in Afghan society - far deeper than the Taliban or al-Qaida.”(Rostami-Povey, E. 2007)

As shown in the movie, Enemies of Happiness ( ) Afghan women are still suffering from planned and child bride marriages. Even though marriages of females below the age of 16 are outlawed by the constitution, this movie clearly shows that this continues to happen. As well does the reading from the introduction of Afghan Women in this quote “Afghan authorities do not investigate women’s complaints” (Rostami-Povey 2). More proof comes from the Ms Magazine article Stones can’t Stop Them, when in April of 2009 the President of Afghanistan signed the Shia Personal Status Law, that included, recognizing child marriages (Tang 21). And although this law was later withdrawn, it shows that oppressive thinking that is still going on in the Afghanistan culture today.

Education is another way in which Afghan wo...

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... and I saw the civil war; I saw everything damaged and destroyed,” she says, “This thought was always in my head: ‘I have to be in construction; I have to help conditions here” (Lemmon 35). Afghani women are indeed making a difference; they are also doing it on their own terms.

Women of Afghanistan have endured many hardships and unfathomable oppression. A country plagued by war and continued rule by an inhumane régime or other unwelcome forms of governance. Despite all this, the women of Afghanistan have shown a tremendous resilience and human spirit that shows that women of the world, no matter how badly subjugated, will continue to strive for what they believe in. They are a true testimony to all women and one that I feel shows that the true spirit of mankind may inherently come from the female of the species and not from the much celebrated male!