thousand splendid suns
Change in Gender Equality
Afghanistan wasn’t always a country of turmoil and gender inequality.
Afghanistan was a great place to live, a place with endless freedoms, rich history,
and a thriving economy. It wasn’t until the Taliban overthrew the preexisting
government that everything changed. The norms of the previous afghan society in
ruins. The Taliban changed many things in Afghanistan, but the biggest being the
equality indifference between men and women.
Women in the Muslim and Afghan culture have little to no control over their
career paths and love life’s. Nana is a golden example of the arranged marriages.
She if forced to marry a boy at the young age of 15 without her approval. If that’s not
shameful enough, she ends being rejected by him, because he doesn’t think she is
healthy enough to give birth. “Like a compass that always points North, a mans
accusing finger always finds a woman (Chapter 1, pg. 7).” These words are spoken
from Nana to Mariam as a heads up to what she’s going to find out about life later on
in modern day Afghan. Women will go through a surplus of injustice with the
Taliban in control of Afghanistan.
The Taliban used religion to try and justify beliefs like women can’t go to
school. “What’s the sense in schooling a girl like you? Its like shining a spittoon
(Chapter 3, pg. 17).”
Nana says this to Meriam upon her request to go to school. Women were looked at
as nothing but a material item almost. They were to be married to their husband,
and perform household duties such as cook and clean. Schooling was unnecessary
when the only tasks women were to perform, were glorified chores. “Marriage can
wait, education can not (Chapter 16, pg. 103).” Hakim preaches this longer
monologue to his daughter, Laila. Hakim realizes that when the Taliban are finally
overthrown, Afghan society is going to need women if it wishes to be
Afghanistan wasn’t always a country of turmoil and gender inequality.
Afghanistan was a great place to live, a place with endless freedoms, rich history,
and a thriving economy. It wasn’t until the Taliban overthrew the preexisting
government that everything changed. The norms of the previous afghan society in
ruins. The Taliban changed many things in Afghanistan, but the biggest being the
equality indifference between men and women.
Women in the Muslim and Afghan culture have little to no control over their
career paths and love life’s. Nana is a golden example of the arranged marriages.
She if forced to marry a boy at the young age of 15 without her approval. If that’s not
shameful enough, she ends being rejected by him, because he doesn’t think she is
healthy enough to give birth. “Like a compass that always points North, a mans
accusing finger always finds a woman (Chapter 1, pg. 7).” These words are spoken
from Nana to Mariam as a heads up to what she’s going to find out about life later on
in modern day Afghan. Women will go through a surplus of injustice with the
Taliban in control of Afghanistan.
The Taliban used religion to try and justify beliefs like women can’t go to
school. “What’s the sense in schooling a girl like you? Its like shining a spittoon
(Chapter 3, pg. 17).”
Nana says this to Meriam upon her request to go to school. Women were looked at
as nothing but a material item almost. They were to be married to their husband,
and perform household duties such as cook and clean. Schooling was unnecessary
when the only tasks women were to perform, were glorified chores. “Marriage can
wait, education can not (Chapter 16, pg. 103).” Hakim preaches this longer
monologue to his daughter, Laila. Hakim realizes that when the Taliban are finally
overthrown, Afghan society is going to need women if it wishes to be
Bibliography: Hosseini, khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.