Afghanistan is a war torn country located in central Asia. There are currently approximately 319, 000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan. (Encyclopedia of the Nations, 2012) The poverty is extreme, there are frequent natural disasters that tear down cities and villages, (Refugees International, 2001) and the people are in continual danger of violence. This violence includes constant suicide bombings, ambushes, abductions and rocket attacks. In 2009 there were at least 12 of these incidences every day. (Kazem-Stojanovic, 2011) They are living in fear of their lives 24/7. Due to a severe drought in 2011, there is a lack of food and therefore thousands are suffering from starvation. (Refugees International, 2001) There is also the current issue of the coalition forces deciding to take their troops out at the end of 2014. (Amiri, 2012) Citizens fear that once they are gone the Taliban will regain full control again.…
The majority of Americans are uninformed about the injustice of the Afghanistan women in the many recent years. The women in Afghanistan didn’t always have a burka hiding their face from others in public. There was a time when the women had a life very much like today’s ordinary American woman. In the book, The Dressmaker, we get to know of how oppression changes the lives of each and every person in a family along with the changes in their community. For the community of Kabul changes lead to a financial and economical struggle. The women’s lives are transformed after the Taliban take control of Kabul. The rights of women are stripped from them and they are left with basically nothing. This change in the lives of the women brings more responsibility…
Cassie Gilham 1/16/18 W4 Social Injustices in Afghanistan The past several years have not been kind to the people of Afghanistan. More than a decade of conflict and war has left Afghanistan defenseless against the infamous Taliban regime. The several different factions of Afghanistan found the power to unite against the Russians, overthrowing the Marxist Government in the early 1990’s but failed to establish a strong and united government due to cultural and religious differences. The Taliban took advantage of the Civil War raging in Afghanistan and took control of the country, ruling with brutality and force.…
The Taliban have created a war in their homeland, which in turn causes civilians to pay for their behavior, as “many people have been killed by American bombs” (Staples 172). The Americans have no choice but to bomb these areas to protect their own citizens, and sometimes civilians might get in the way. The lives of innocent Afghans have been ruined and “you can tell by looking at them that they have no food and little clean water, all they live on is dreams of their farms, which no longer exist” (Staples 186). The Taliban are greedy and have no feelings towards people other than themselves. Rumors have been spreading around villages that “they lock the people of entire villages inside their houses and burn them down and how they slaughter men like goats” (Staples 12). These terrible acts have turned lives upside down and brought havoc upon a once peaceful place. The people are constantly abused by the Taliban, and “many are missing a hand or a foot or an eye. So many of them have terrible wounds or scars” (Staples 185/186). The way the Taliban treat women is disappointing. Najmah has heard how they “whip women whose shoes make a sound on paving stone" (Staples 180). The Taliban have scared the women so much that they "hide their bangles away because if they're caught wearing any jewelry it will be stolen and they will be beaten” (Staples 180).…
One reason women’s rights are restricted is the lack of education and illiteracy of Afghan women. Being illiterate prevents a woman from studying Islam. Therefore, when someone tells her something is Islamic, she automatically believes him because she has no way of knowing otherwise. Not only does illiteracy prevent Muslim women from studying Islam, but it also prevents them from studying their legal rights and the Qur’an. Studying the Qur’an and legal rights would cause women to understand what really is Islamic. Women may lack knowledge of how women live in other nations. Therefore, these women do not resist their lack of rights because they are uninformed of alternative lifestyles of women. In 1921, women’s…
This essay investigates the question “To what extent did the strict Taliban rule force Afghanistan women to fight for their education and healthcare rights in comparison to before Taliban rule?”…
In the 1900s, life for women in Afghanistan was advanced and satisfying for Afghan women. There were many opportunities for females to form their own lives and live for themselves, with no men or law holding them back. However, once the Invasion of 1979 began, the Taliban began to rise seizing control of the government. Changing laws and restricting women’s life in educational, social, and governmental aspects, life for women became an everyday challenge. Now, women are being to grab the reigns of their life and take back their freedoms, but seem to find challenges on their way to success. The harsh rule and laws from the Taliban has set freedoms in Afghanistan backwards, poorly affecting all levels of Afghan society. Because of the Invasion of 1979 and the rule of the Taliban, Rights…
Theocracy is a government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme ruler of the land. The God’s rules are interpreted through government officials. One of the most infamous theocracies in world history was the Taliban from 1991- 2001. Under this government, kite flying and music playing was prohibited, all men were required to grow out their beard, change their name to Islamic names, ordered that all people attend prayers at mosque five times a day. If any of these rules were broken, punishment would ensue. Punishment included fingers being chopped off, public beatings at what used to be a school stadium and so on. On top of all these rules and regulations, there were more specific ones for women. Women were not allowed outside unless accompanied by a male relative, they were to be covered from head to toe. Women had to stop studying and conform to living at home with the windows boarded up. Women were not allowed to wear perfume or nail polish. The only use for a woman was to procreate, satisfy a man’s sexual needs, and do housework. The Taliban felt that all these regulations and prohibitions were needed in order to protect a women’s honor, and preventing adultery and honoring the Islamic religion. The novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” depicts the life of two women living together in a polygamous marriage during the Taliban rule. This novel is allegorical to theocracy because it shows how different characters represent objects or authority under the Taliban rule.…
Throughout the past 200 years, women have fought against male-dominated societies to gain the basic human rights of freedom, safety, and equality. Despite the significant progress that has been made by women and the United Nations, this ongoing struggle towards women’s rights is still felt in many parts of the world today. Women and girls alike continue to be oppressed, and must fight against the authorities that try to abase them. One of Pakistan’s most determined young women, Malala Yousafzai, spoke openly against the Taliban’s destruction of girls schools. This courageous act made Malala a target for the infamous Taliban.…
In the novel “A Women Among Warlords” the author, Malalai Joya, educates the reader on the historical suppression of both men and women in Afghanistan. While the novel focuses on Joya’s upbringing and ultimately her career as a teacher and as a member Afghan parliament, the novel brings to the light her encounters as a progressive leader, with both men and women whom has faced hardships due to unequal rights. Joya uses her encounters to educate the reader on not only the hardships women have faced but the truth behind the “false image” of a better Afghanistan the west has created since the declaration of the “War on Terror” (Joya 28). Specifically, Joya notes how over eighty percent of women and over fifty percent of men are illiterate to allude to the greater focus of lack of education in society, thus alluding to the larger…
Although they are not in complete power of Afghanistan as of now, their influence is still apparent in women’s lives. In an interview with a woman soccer player, Khatolsha Mazem Raquel, she stated “Someone called my home number. He promised to kill me if I continued to play. I changed my number but I’m still scared” (cbsnews.com). Compared to the time when the Taliban had full power, these Afghan women have much more freedom to do as they please, but they still have many restrictions and issues to deal with. After decades of prejudiced treatment, it has become hard for women to think highly of themselves after being treated so poorly by men. Likewise, men have become accustomed to treating ladies badly and cutting off their freedom, which is why they continue to do so even after the Taliban have lost much of their power in Afghanistan. The rise of the Taliban in 1996 has shaped and transformed Afghanistan into a sexist country that continues to oppress and control women’s…
Upon seizing power, the Taliban not only prohibited women and girls from school but also banished women from the work force, the Taliban’s gender apartheid was effective in stripping women from visibility, voice and mobility. Female employed was at its highest during the Soviet invasion and the numbers decreased when the Mujahidin factions were fighting for control, however it came down to being virtually nonexistent when the Taliban took over. Women were the breadwinners of their families as men were killed, disable or went missing in the years of fighting between the Soviets and the Mujahidin factions. Afghani women held various position in the country from government, education, healthcare to engineering. Once professional working women…
The rise of the Taliban traces back to the Reagan presidency when he did not fulfill his promises to Afghanistan after the Afghan-Soviet War. From there Islamic Fundamentalists formed an extremist’s party known as “mujahideen” or as we know it, The Taliban. The Taliban has continuously used questionable tactics to run their regions and are constantly under scrutiny from western nations such as the United States. One problem in particular is their treatment of women. The Taliban also resents western influence, which is a main source of their bad reputation through their unwillingness to conform. They look at the United States as revealing and barbaric through its culture and hobbies. In the Middle East they are also convinced that public execution and brutality is acceptable, which is one of the top reasons their tactics are so scrutinized. The real problem is that they are very close-minded minds and they believe that everything they do is gospel and anyone who differs or goes against it is completely wrong, no ways around it. When they took away the rights of women in the 1990s, the Taliban believed that what they were doing was moral because of their anti-American sentiments regarding the American attitude towards women’s education and sexuality. The Taliban believe that taking away women’s rights will protect the Islamic people from corrupt western influences.…
Although the two women differ greatly they share the same heartache, pain and tribulation of living in a country ruined by political oppression and war. The role of women in Afghanistan is an unjust and unreasonable position in which they are continuously denied many freedoms and rights.…
Before the Taliban was removed from power, rarely did girls attend school. Today that has changed. It has caused some conflicts. Many see this change as being disrespectful. They fear that the girls seeking to get an education will become more self-dependent. That many of the girls will grow up to become less submissive. They will be able to maintain careers and compete with men in the workforce. Some will even seek out political position to bring about changes for women.…