Women in Afghanistan M
by Sabita Manian, professor of international relations
ental and visual images of Afghanistan conjure the pic- ture of a land that is moun-
tainous and barren, its cities and towns pockmarked with bullet holes, its build- ings, monuments, bridges, railways, and roads dismembered by Soviet tanks. Te Soviet invasion was followed by subse- quent civil wars that eventually led to the establishment of Taliban rule in the mid-1990s. Te Taliban rule over Afghanistan,
though barely five years long, forced the segregation and disempowerment of women. Te Taliban promoted the Pash- tun ethnic group at a severe cost to other minority groups such as the Hazara. (Anyone familiar with Khaled Hosseini’s novel Te Kite Runner would be familiar with the ethnic divisions accentuated by the Taliban.) Tis Taliban misrule led to their being de-recognized as a legitimate government. Following “Operation Enduring
Freedom,” the fleeing of the Taliban across the border into Pakistan and the subsequent emergence of constitutional democratic government in Afghanistan, the status of women improved under the constitution that came into effect in 2004. First, Article 44 assures women that:
“Te state shall devise and implement effec- tive programs for balancing and promot- ing of education for women, improving of education of nomads and elimination of illiteracy in the country.” Second, in the Upper House of Elders, the Afghan
president is constitutionally required to appoint women to ensure that 50 per- cent of that chamber is constituted by females. Tese institutional provisions, theoretically, allow women access to education and the political chambers. Additionally, they have created an
environment that fosters advocacy for women by international organizations, as well as local non-governmental organ- izations (NGOs) dealing with women’s issues including the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an anti-fundamentalist, women’s rights advocacy group which has existed since 1977, Afghan Women’s Network, Shuhada, and the Noori Foundation group to name a few. But Afghanistan is still the land that
has NATO troops fighting to secure portions of it beyond Kabul against resurgent Taliban militants (and other extremists including various Al Qaeda factions) who thrive across the border in Pakistan and make inroads into Afghan territory regularly. While both the gov- ernment and the NGOs may see some success in Kabul and its proximity, other areas of Afghanistan battle fundamen- talism, underdevelopment, poverty, illit- eracy, and gender discrimination. All these problems are set against the fore- ground of a possible re-emergence of the Taliban if the Karzai government, the U.S.’s AFPAK (Afghanistan-Pakistan) policy, and the international commu- nity do not succeed in their objectives
of sustaining the promotion of democ- racy, human security, and development. What the foregoing imagery fails to
remind us is that Afghanistan was once more enlightened toward women. For a decade, in the 1920s, Queen Soraya, the wife of King Amanullah, was instrumen- tal in establishing girls’ schools, women’s shelters, and women’s periodicals while King Amanullah’s sister, Princess Kobra, instituted the Organization for Women’s Protection – an advocacy organization for women’s rights. King Amanullah himself was an ardent champion of women’s equality and fought against fundamentalist Islamist dogma that negatively affected women, including the veiling of women. Queen Soraya is reported to have torn off her veil in public one time as she addressed a public gathering, a novel act for the time. King Amanullah was forced to abdicate and seek exile in 1929 as the royal couple was seen as too liberal and modern by the fundamentalists and as potential
“socialists” by the British colonial powers in the region. Afghanistan has for centuries fallen
victim to power-seekers and power- mongers within and outside the state. Tat there was a decade of enlighten- ment in the 1920s that offered opportu- nities to women, initiated by a female role model, provides hope for many in Afghanistan and in the international community.
Spring 2012 LC MAGAZINE 19
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