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BORN FEMALE IN AFGHANISTAN A DEATH SENTENCE

The Women’s movement has continued to fight for women’s rights on many levels in North America and around the world especially since WWII when women became actively involved in the workforce. Women in Afghanistan, however, have had far greater struggles to earn even the most humane rights. Afghan women live in a Patriarchal society where men rule and women are like slaves as decreed by the often extremist interpretation of Islamist law. Although many women in Afghanistan have been well educated becoming doctors, lawyers and teachers, they can still be “Stoned” for actions like asking for a divorce or stepping outside the home without a male chaperone. It’s difficult to fathom that simply being born female in Afghanistan is like a death sentence yet Afghan women, with the help of Coalition forces, continue to fight for their rights and those of female generations to come even at the risk of death.

Through decades since 1928 when King Amanullah Khan tried to adopt reforms that included schooling for girls and a restriction on polygamy; women’s rights in Afghanistan have been violated. In the 60s and 70s the Afghan government tried to implement some affirmative action policies to help women overcome discrimination. The People’s Democratic party of Afghanistan tried enforcing its policy of compulsory education for women in 1978 which some Afghani’s felt was a dishonour to families. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Mujahedeen, a coalition of Islamic tribal groups fought to push the soviets out of Afghanistan and were ultimately successful. The Mujahedeen’s, however, rejected the reforms for women and the atrocities against women continued.

“Amnesty International in its 1999 report entitled "Women in Afghanistan: Pawns in Men's Power Struggles" describes how "women were treated as the spoils of war" by the Mujahedeen:

“Particularly between 1992 and 1995, armed guards have used these (cultural) norms as weapons of war, engaging in rape and sexual assault against women as an ultimate means of dishonouring entire communities and reducing people's capacity to resist military advances.”

(Valentine M. Moghadam. "Revolution, Religion, and Gender Politics: Iran and Afghanistan Compared" Journal of Women's History Vol. 10 No. 4 (Winter 1999) pp. 172-204)

The Taliban, an extremist Islamic group led by Mullah Omar, gained control of two thirds of Afghanistan in 1994 and denied women and girls secondary education, proper health care, employment and restricted their movement as dictated by Islamic law (law-lib.utoronto.ca). The Taliban enforced this policy through beatings and extreme violence. In November 1996 the Taliban religious police were instructed to impose the “Islamic Sharia” regulation which decreed that women were not to step outside their homes. If they needed to leave the home for any reason they had to be covered completely in a Burqa; a full length garment with mesh covering the face. Husbands were instructed to have tight controls on the women in their family otherwise the women would be threatened and the family investigated by the “Munkrat”, religious police. The Munkrat had full control in enforcing the rules all the time. During the Taliban rule, women teachers risked their lives to set up secret schools for girls. Each day girls would hide their school supplies under their Burqas and go to school in these women’s homes. Some areas of Afghanistan, however, were still under democratic control by the United Front whose leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, signed the Women’s Right Declaration. Massoud was assassinated by Al-Quaeda 2 days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, U.S and British Special Forces launched “Operation Enduring Freedom” on Oct 7, 2001. The Taliban fled Afghanistan within weeks of the U.S. led invasion yet continue to inflict atrocities against Afghan women. The Revoluntionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) reports that “rape and forced marriage continues to rise and the Ministry of Women’s affairs has no legal jurisdiction and no power to implement orders.” A 2003 Amnesty International report states that “the Afghan justice system is too “weak” to offer protection of women’s right to life and physical security and subjects women to discrimination and abuse” (cbcnews.ca/news/backround/afghanwomen).

Coalition Forces based in Afghanistan have been fighting a war against the Taliban and Al- Queada for a decade now. Although Osama bin Ladin has been assassinated, the Taliban will undoubtedly continue to terrorize women in Afghanistan. The role of Coalition Forces is changing like Canada’s decision to withdraw soldiers from its combat mission July 2011. Canada, however, is setting an example by maintaining its humanitarian role in the protection of women by advocating “for women to be represented in peace talks, expanding literacy programs for girls and providing gender sensitivity training to Afghan security forces”(theage.com.au). Afghan women continue to stand up for their rights at the risk of intimidation by death threats and many women have been murdered in the process. There is hope, however, that one day the Women of Afghanistan will enjoy the same rights as women do in North America and most of the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/afghanwomen.html www.histori.ca/peac www.cbc.ca/news/background/Afghanistan/afghanwomen.html www.amnesty.org www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/protection-for-afghan-women-a-crucial-role www.Wikipedia.org/wiki/women_in_Afghanistan