Popular Literature and Culture of South Asia
Conditions of Afghan Women in Post-War Modern Era
Since 1979, the people of Afghanistan have lived in a country torn apart by war and have been constantly subjected to violence, killings, and imprisonment. Kabul fell to the Taliban after the Soviet war ended in 1996. It rose to power through promises of peace and had gathered many followers which included people who had attended conservative schools. They immediately banned women from the public stage, making it impossible for them to leave the house without a male escort. Women could not work, could not go to school, they were forbidden to wear brightly-coloured clothes and they had to paint the windows in their houses so they could not be seen from outside. Under the oppressive rule of the Taliban, women were forced to cover their whole body from head to toe, even cover the eyes with a small patch of gauze over the eyes! (Trust in Education) Women who were doctors, teachers or in any other profession were forced to be beggars and even turn to prostitution in order to feed their families. Quoting a woman refugee after Taliban took over, “From our palatial home, we are now beggars. They finished us. There is no one on our side.” (RAWA)
In this paper my goal is to highlight the plight of women during the rule of Taliban and show how gradually their living conditions (especially education) have improved after Taliban rule was overthrown by the US in 2001. So the paper will be divided into two parts: Conditions of women after Soviet War and during the rule of the Taliban, and after the Taliban rule. I will make use of documentaries and refer to academic texts to reinforce my views.
Before any of the wars plagued Afghanistan, women...
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Hosseini, Khaled: A Thousand Splendid Suns Riverhead Books. 2007
Khan, Ameen Amjad: Women, guns and education – And Malala Yousafzai University World News Issue No: 281, Higher Education Web Publishing Ltd. Web. 17 July 2013
McNamara, Melissa: The Taliban in Afghanistan CBS News, 31 August 2006 Web. Newspaper
“Osama”: Film. Director - Siddiq Barmak, 27 June 2003
PHR Interview, K6: The Taliban’s War on Women, a Health and Human Rights
Crisis in Afghanistan, Physicians for Human Rights interview. Print Report
RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan): Rise: Revolutionary Women Reenvisioning Afghanistan, RAWA/Witness, 2002. Web. 17 June 2008
Trust in Education: Life as an Afghan woman Web. Article.
Rugh, Peter: AFGHANISTAN'S WARLORDS CANNOT SILENCE MALALAI JOYA .Vice News. Web. Article. Oct 7 2013
The Taliban regime was infamous for its treatment of women. Windows had to be painted black so men could not look into the windows of houses and see the women inside. Women were unable to work. Under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to be educated, unable to go to school or university. 9 out of 10 Afghan women are illiterate. Unfortunately, Meena was unwillingly cast into the role of teacher to young girls who wanted to learn how to read. Because she had been to university, girls flocked to...
It is difficult to realize the harsh standards and obligations imposed upon women of different cultures. It is especially disappointing to note that women whom may seek to relieve themselves of such discriminatory practices, face little to no government support in terms of fighting inequality. Such as distinguished in text The War Against Feminism, women of Algeria must fight against patriarchal and incredibly sexist political movements, such as the “Islamic Salvation Front,” which although was banned, had won an election and the promotion of their platform’s ideas despite their notions consisting of extreme patriarchal views and their actual assassinations of individuals not compliant with their beliefs. I also strongly agreed with the United Nations decision to aid individuals from fear of the Taliban, in their stating of refusing to continue aid to Afghanistan if intense cruel practices were to continue. The interference of other government agencies in helping to promote the end of cruelty, such as was occurring by the Taliban, act as great movement of defiance against
In 1997, the Taliban made a law banning girls from ages 8 and up from going to school and forced all girl’s learning facilities to be shut down, according to Explora. Some girls still tried to go to school regardless of the Taliban and one of those girls is Malala Yousafzai. Her family did not hide their feelings toward the ban of girls in school to the public, when Malala was twelve she began blogging for the British Broadcasting Corporation about what life was like under the Taliban rule anonymously, and she also campaigned publicly for girls education rights, this enraged the Taliban. As a result, On October 9, 2012 when Malala was riding home from school, her bus was stopped by 2 Taliban members and they fired 3 shots at Malala, thankfully none of them killed her but she was seriously injured by this, as declared by NobelPrize.com. Furthermore, this is not the only harsh rule of the Taliban to women. Women were forced to wear a head-to-toe covering known as a burka, they were not allowed to leave the house without a male, and they made it a rule to publicly stone women who were convicted of adultery, as stated in The Other Side of the Sky, by Farah Ahmedi. Arguably, you can see their was a definite bias in sexes in the Taliban that is very unfair to women
The society of the Taliban is almost a polar opposite of that in the United States. The group looks at women as having little to no rights and believes that their holy book, the Quran, gives reasoning to the roles of women as virtually sexual objects in their society. Their political leaders were not elected into their positions, but took them by force. It operates fifteen courts of law in Southern Afghanistan in the...
The main reason behind the violence taking place against women are related to economic condition of a family, literacy level of a family, cultural background of the family as well as usage of drugs has caused several violation act by husband and their family members against a woman. In addition, the result of violence is almost the same in every place of the country (beating, sexual abuse, forced marriages, denial of access to education, emotional and psychological abuse and murder). In this paper I will focus on the policies taken place by the government of Afghanistan and their failure; as well, I will focus on establishing some policies in order to limit or to ban all the abuses happening against women in the country. 2. What is the difference between History:
Bibliography Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. N. p. : n.p., n.d. print.
Women in America do not have to worry about a terrorist group coming and taking their rights away. They have a government that protects them from these groups and makes sure they have the same rights as others. In the Middle East, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, women are scared to speak too loudly. These women live in fear each day of their lives because if they make one small mistake it could mean their life. Yet, there are some people who are fighting for women’s rights, especially women’s education. Malala Yousafzai is a girl who fought for women’s education. At the age of eleven, Malala began writing a blog for BBC Urdu. The blog described how she was upset that women’s education under the Taliban would be forced to stop. Malala also appeared on national television talking about women’s education. She has become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban. Even after Malala was put on the Taliban’s hit list, she continues to speak out about what she felt needed to be said. Malala would give her life for this cause, and she almost did. On October 9, 2012, Malala was on her way home from her morning classes when a man walked on to her bus and asked, “Who is Malala”. When she said it was her he shot her. The bullets hit her head and her leg. The Taliban ordered for her to be shot because she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas. In another case Mukhtar Mai stood up for women’s rights and was sexually assaulted by multiple men with orders from the tribal council. The tradition in Mukhtar’s tribe was that a woman who is sexually assaulted by multiple men should kill herself, but instead of committing suicide she fought for her cause (Samira 28-30). Although the Taliban restricts women’s education for religious reaso...
Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. It is the very same “legacy of change” that Nelson Mandela used that inspires what Malala Yousafzai does today. At the age of 15, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating for girls’ education. Since this appalling incident, Malala has gone on to be the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, start the “Malala Fund”, that funds education in developing countries, and is currently the figure of women’s rights. Malala has been constantly speaking, advocating and helping women and children acquire the rights they deserve. In her powerful speech to the U.N, she opened the world’s eyes to the truth about education
The women were not allowed to go to school. Many of the schools were bombed by the Taliban that where girls schools. The schools for girls, were hidden and very secretive. “As in most families, the girls stayed at home while the boys went to school.” (Yousafzai, 2015, p. 29). Women’s roles were to stay at home, cook, and raise children. Women had very few rights and could do very few things without a man. “A women couldn’t even open a bank account without a man’s permission.” (Yousafzai, 2015, p. 31). It was set up so women could not succeed without a man. They were oppressed to a point of being unable to anything. This blows my mind. Here in the United States, women are allowed to have bank accounts, go to school and have jobs. This hasn’t always been the case here in the United States either. Women have been oppressed all over the country and not given the same rights as men. Here in the United States, women are still struggling to get the same jobs and wages as
"Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights." New York Times. N.p., 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Women’s lives have changed drastically since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. They have been deprived of basic human rights and been reduced to faceless figures that roam the streets of Afghanistan like ghosts. Most of the world could never imagine the shock of not being able to go to work or wear your regular clothes, to be deprived of such things would be utterly terrible. The Taliban have tried to smother the flames of these women but they refuse to die they refuse to stop shining. These women are strong and will eventually overcome the oppressive rule and rise up from the ashes from which they have been forced to lay.
"Malala Yousafzai, 16, and Her Miraculous Story of Surviving Being Shot by the Taliban." ABC News. ABC News. Web. 17 Nov 2013. .
Brown, A. Widney., and LaShawn R. Jefferson. "VI. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES." Afghanistan, Humanity Denied: Systematic Denial of Women's Rights in Afghanistan. New York, NY.: Human Rights Watch, 2001. 16+. Print
“I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai is a beautiful and hard breaking book at the same time. This book is an autobiography that describes the author childhood and her support on the right for girls to have an education. Through this autobiography, Malala describes the restrictions that are imposed on females in her country. There are many that believe that woman of Pakistan should not be educated in the other hands there are a few that oppose this idea. Malala’s support on education for girls almost cost her life, since she was shot by the Taliban. From a multicultural perspective Malala’s story touches on topics such; culture shock, discrimination within your own culture, oppression, religion, family and woman’s right. Despite the opposition
From the 1950’s until around 1985 the Soviet Union had Afghanistan under its control. This Soviet involvement in Afghanistan caused the ideologies of communism to spread into the Afghanistan culture. One of the communistic ideas that were assimilated into was the thought that every person is equal. This idea made life a lot easier for the women of Afghanistan. One of the freedoms they were given under Soviet control was the allowance of woman being educated, “The government had sponsored literacy classes for all women. Almost two-thirds of the students at Kabul University were women now… women who were studying law, medicine, engineering” (135) Hosseini expresses this through the character Laila. Laila’s father, Babi, was a professor and strongly urged the necessity for Laila to get an education. He was so dedicated that he would help out Laila with her homework every night. Hosseini expressed this when Laila claimed “Babi thought that the one thing that communists had done right- or at least intended to- ironically, was in the filed of education… More specifically the education of women.” (135). To Babi there was nothing more impertinent than the education of woman in Afghanistan. He knew that when half the population is illiterate the country cannot properly aspire to new and better things. Along with the new right to learn, women’s requirement to cover their skin was relaxed all throughout Afghanistan. ...