...05/01/2013 The Women of Afghanistan: Culture and Educational Suppression In many parts of the world, the laws of a country are dictated by traditional customary practices and religious influence. Religion can heavily influence cultural practices, laws and in particular the extent of rights bestowed upon its citizenry. In Afghanistan religious beliefs dictate the way and the type of laws enforced upon men and women differently. Men are afforded a number of rights denied to women who include voting, driving, style of dress and education to name a few. The movie, Osama, describes how women are treated and what they go through to provide food, shelter and cloth for their family. The movie shows how the women of Afghanistan protests and try to fight for their right to work and be able to survive. Osama is a girl whose father died in war and was forced to change her identity in order to provide for her family. The movie Osama shows the obstacle a nine years old girl goes through and when she’s caught, the punishment is to either kill her or wed her to one of the oldest guy who already has three wives. In regards to education, Afghanistan legal stance has shifted over the last one hundred years. Subsequent to Afghanistan’s independence from Great Britain, King Amanullah in 1919 adopted reforms to enhance women’s rights overall including women’s right to education. This endeavor was short-lived as opposition to the women’s movement grew and...
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...Since the Nation of Afghanistan has been established, the role of women has been a debated topic. Afghanistan has experienced many rulers during its time of being a nation. Many had different views of what a women’s role in Afghan society should or should not be. While the Taliban had control over the country, they had a very extreme belief of women’s rights. The role of women in Afghanistan has changed significantly before, during, and after the Taliban wrested control. Before Afghanistan was an independent nation, Abdur Rahman Khan was in control. He decided to make many changes for women and how they were perceived during his ruling. He proposed many reforms including; women can choose if they would like to stay with their spouse, if they...
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...Women's equality in Afghanistan The soviet union intruded in on Afghanistan in 1979 to mess with the government , sparking a ten year war between Mujahideen Guerilla fighters and the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union did not back out there was a bloody civil war. “ For Afghan women, this was the start of the worst part of their lives,” said historian Scott Levi in the September 2009 issue of Origins. “ During the Afghan war there were little terms of that rule of law: Men died in large groups, widows were left to beg, rape was also very common, and women that were very low with hope left committed suicide” Taliban came to rule in 1996, enforcing strict laws that applied everywhere. Most laws were towards women such as, women were not allowed to work, to go to school, or even appear in public without a male escort. Women in Afghanistan...
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...Women’s Rights in Afghanistan Afghanistan is one of the worst countries to be a woman. Girls’ schools are frequently attacked, high-profile women’s rights advocates have been targeted and killed, and violence against girls and women continues to be a major problem (“Women in Afghanistan”). More females die during pregnancies and childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world. Life is hard for women fighting for their rights in Afghanistan. The Taliban, an extremist militia, seized control first of Herat and then Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on September 27, 1996 and violently plunged Afghanistan into a brutal state of totalitarian dictatorship and gender apartheid in which women and girls were stripped of their basic human rights. Upon seizing power, the Taliban regime instituted a system of gender apartheid effectively thrusting the women into a state of virtual house arrest. Under Taliban rule, women were stripped of all human rights – their work, visibility, opportunity for education, voice, healthcare, and mobility. When they took control in 1996, the Taliban initially imposed strict commands that banished women from work force. They closed schools to girls and women and expelled women from universities. The Taliban prohibited women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative. They also went as far as to ordering the publicly visible windows of women’s houses painted black and forced women to wear the burqa (or chadari) – which completely...
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...school, it devastated her. So she took a stand for her village, country, and almost all women without an education with her voice and fund (Malala Fund). The purpose of this paper is to learn more about education rights and women’s rights in Pakistan, and how one girl took a stand for her village that didn’t have a voice to stand up for themselves against the Taliban. Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 in Mingora, Swat Valley,...
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...Women of Afghanistan ANT 101 May 3, 2010 Women of Afghanistan Afghanistan is a very rugged country with various ethnic, religious, and tribal groups (http://www.iiav.nl). It is also a country that is rich in culture and tradition. But very little is known about the women that live in Afghanistan. No one really knows or understands how a women’s day to day life is. In Afghanistan most women are kept hidden away in their home and they are not allowed outside. Today the only thing that people hear or know about Afghanistan is that the United States is at war with a country that has known very little peace over that last one hundred years. Afghanistan is a place where time stands still and very little changes. One of the things that has not changed or has changed very little over the last one thousand years is the everyday life of women. The Afghan people are very simple and in some remote villages they have very little comforts. In some places midwifes assist mothers in the birth of their new born babes. They also bring water inside their house in pales, and they maintain their houses clean for their husbands. Most Afghans live their lives in a very traditional and private way; they have several customs and traditions that have been passed on from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. These people do not require or ask anything from the western world or from their government. They rarely let outsiders into their culture and this has led to many...
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...Women of Afghanistan Afghanistan is a very rugged country with various ethnic, religious, and tribal groups (http://www.iiav.nl). It is also a country that is rich in culture and tradition. But very little is known about the women that live in Afghanistan. No one really knows or understands how a women’s day to day life is. In Afghanistan most women are kept hidden away in their home and they are not allowed outside. Today the only thing that people hear or know about Afghanistan is that the United States is at war with a country that has known very little peace over that last one hundred years. Afghanistan is a place where time stands still and very little changes. One of the things that has not changed or has changed very little over the last one thousand years is the everyday life of women. The Afghan people are very simple and in some remote villages they have very little comforts. In some places midwifes assist mothers in the birth of their new born babes. They also bring water inside their house in pales, and they maintain their houses clean for their husbands. Most Afghans live their lives in a very traditional and private way; they have several customs and traditions that have been passed on from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. These people do not require or ask anything from the western world or from their government. They rarely let outsiders into their culture and this has led to many misconceptions of how women are treated and how...
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...Women’s rights in Afghanistan is an issue that must be brought to international attention. It has been only six years since the Taliban regime was taken out of power in Kabul. Many positive changes have occurred since then for improving Women’s rights and participation within society. When the Taliban were in power, women were not allowed to work, go to school, receive medical care from male doctors, travel without male relatives, and they were regarded as non-citizens without rights or representation. Over the past six years, women are now allowed to do these things; they are not oppressed like they were before. Women have a presence and voice in government and in the media. Things have impressively improved but there are still problems. Males still attend school in greater numbers because of security reasons and other restrictions. In the South and East of Afghanistan the Taliban is increasing its power. Nearly 150 schools have burned to the ground, 305 schools closed and 105 students and teachers have been killed because of the rising Taliban power in the mentioned South and East. This issue involves inequality because the Taliban is doing whatever possible to continue treating women like they did before they were kicked out of power. They are doing what they can to treat women as if they are not men’s equal. They are suppressing women’s rights that women have gained since 2002 with terror. They are taking away women’s personal freedom. There are several reasonable ways...
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...Taliban took over women’s rights in Afghanistan women where the top percentage of having a jobs and an education. 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women. In addition 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. When the Taliban came in to rule they took over the country, and executed all women rights. In this essay I will discuss the rise of women under the Taliban rule. The affects they had on the women, the restriction the forced on the women, and health issues that where caused by the Taliban regime. Taliban is a Muslim fundamentalist group in Afghanistan. They developed their extremist interpretation of Islam in the refugre camps of Pakistan during the war in 1979-1989. The Taliban fought against the Mujahedeen for control of the country. With this victory they came back to the heart of Afghanistan which is know as Kabul the capital of the country. On September 27, 1996 the take over of the capital where the streets was filled with young bearded men in black turban who raced around Kabul with whips and leather and cable, beating anyone who they felt where not un-Islamic. As the mobbed the way in to the Kabul. They felt as they where the new god in town. With this they could run the country under there own rules. As they became stronger in power the Taliban regime place and instituted system on gender mostly to the women. This system stripped women and girls of their rights holding the...
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...gender, while women were seen as inferior. One would think that since time has progressed and ways of thinking has evolved, the world would now be a place where men and women have equal rights; however, this is not the case. While in some countries women have been granted the same opportunities as men, there are still countries where women have little or no rights at all. Some of these countries include Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Sudan and Pakistan. Consequently, women who reside in these countries run the risk of being punished or even killed, if they were to stand up for their rights. A wise author once said “Great leaders are often defined not by their beliefs, but by how they react when those beliefs are tested to the limit.” Despite the fact that she lived in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai demonstrated her bravery by fearlessly petitioning for women’s rights and girl’s education. Yousafzai is a sixteen year old girl who was shot by the Taliban for being an advocate for girl’s education. Yousafzai survived the shooting and continues to be an activist for Women’s and children’s rights. As a result of her bravery she was invited to speak at the United Nations. In her speech, Yousafzai expressed her desire for every child to have a right to an education. She especially focused on women’s rights and girl’s education since they are suffering the most. Although one may argue that Yousafzai relied heavily on her use of...
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...reactions regarding the situation about women in the Middle East. Some supported, some chose to speak up, and others chose to oppose against women’s rights. There were also some restrictions against the women. In document 2, we see a picture of men wearing burqas...
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...It is no secret that females in developing countries are often unable to receive a proper education. With a lack of education comes unexpected risks, including reduced health, a decline in family income, and even a higher risk of trafficking and exploitation ("Girls' and Women's Education - Expertise - International - World Education, Inc."). For many women in underdeveloped countries such as Arab and Afghanistan, attempting to achieve an education could put their lives at risk. Two women, Laura Boushnak, and Shabana Basij-Rasikh discuss this issue in two different TED talk videos. In the first, Basij-Rasikh discusses how Afghan women should be able to earn a proper education, and tells the story of how her father fought for her to have that....
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...Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, India, and, more recently, Afghanistan, where the number of self-immolated female deaths has risen substantially since the first cases were documented in the mid-1990s (Raj, Gomez, and Silverman 2201). Unfortunately, this disturbing behavior seems to have developed into a horrific trend; according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), there were 106 reported cases in 2006, and 184 in 2007 (KhushKadamOva 76). However, perhaps more concerning than the epidemic itself are the underlying, direct, and perpetuating causes for the phenomenon: the widespread practice of child marriage, the culture’s generally misogynistic and violent treatment of women, and the government’s tendency to ignore these issues. War in Afghanistan has seriously crippled the country’s social structure, and the resultant lack of human security has prompted many Afghan families to forcibly marry their underage daughters into others. On the other hand, some families push their young girls into matrimony in order to repay debts or settle familial disputes (“Life”), but even worse are the alarmingly frequent instances in which parents arrange for their children to be married so as to avoid the cost of caring for them. More than 50% of girls in Afghanistan are married or at least engaged by the age of 10 (“Life”). Data collected by the AIHRC in 2009 showed that somewhere between 60 and 80% of all marriages that take place in Afghanistan are forced child marriages, and, as such...
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...Afghanistan Afghanistan is located between the southern and the central part of Asia. The country holds about 32 million people. The capital in Afghanistan is Kabul. There are a lot of different languages spoken in Afghanistan. This is due to the diversity of ethnicities in Afghanistan. Dari is the official language in Afghanistan although more people speak Pashtun. The country is currently facing a war which started in 1978 during the cold war. The war originated when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took action against the communism in Afghanistan. This revolution is referred to as the Saur Revolution. The war in Afghanistan blossomed because of different ideologies in the Countries and large groups were dissatisfied by how the country was ruled. Afghanistan was an independent country before the war but the Soviets saw an opportunity to invade the country. They invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and assigned a new leader in the Country. This lasted about 10 years before the Soviet decided to leave the country. Afghanistan is a Democratic country now but there are a lot of rebels in the country that belong to the Taliban groups. Their goal is to diminish the democracy in Afghanistan. Life in Afghanistan has been known to be hard, especially as a woman. Afghanistan have made progress with women’s rights but the conditions are still bad. Close to 60% of all women get married within the age of 16. The amount of women dying because of childbirth is pretty common in Afghanistan...
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...Afghanistan Afghanistan is located between the southern and the central part of Asia. The country holds about 32 million people. The capital in Afghanistan is Kabul. There are a lot of different languages spoken in Afghanistan. This is due to the diversity of ethnicities in Afghanistan. Dari is the official language in Afghanistan although more people speak Pashtun. The country is currently facing a war which started in 1978 during the cold war. The war originated when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took action against the communism in Afghanistan. This revolution is referred to as the Saur Revolution. The war in Afghanistan blossomed because of different ideologies in the Countries and large groups were dissatisfied by how the country was ruled. Afghanistan was an independent country before the war but the Soviets saw an opportunity to invade the country. They invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and assigned a new leader in the Country. This lasted about 10 years before the Soviet decided to leave the country. Afghanistan is a Democratic country now but there are a lot of rebels in the country that belong to the Taliban groups. Their goal is to diminish the democracy in Afghanistan. Life in Afghanistan has been known to be hard, especially as a woman. Afghanistan have made progress with women’s rights but the conditions are still bad. Close to 60% of all women get married within the age of 16. The amount of women dying because of childbirth is pretty common in Afghanistan...
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