Women+in+Afghanistan

Group Members: Keegan Hinson Lexi Ley Rachael Sorgi

=__ Women in Afghanistan __=

=__ Women's Lives Under the Taliban __=

Before the Taliban takes over Afghan women were:

 * == 70% of school teachers ==
 * == 50% of civilians in the government workforce ==
 * == 60% of teachers at Kabul University ==
 * == 50% of students at Kabul University ==
 * == 40% of doctors in Kabul ==

After the Taliban took over it issued a strict interpretation of Islamic law, stripping women of their rights.
== The new rules forbade all women from going to work or school. It also placed women under house arrest, unable to leave their homes without being accompanied by a close male relative. Those women who had lost all male relatives in war were literally trpped inside their homes unable to leave. == == Women were not allowed to be seen or heard. They were required to wear a full body cover in public called a burqa. Women were beaten and sometimes killed for showing a bit of ankle or wearing noisy shoes, or any other violation of these rules. Women were not permitted to speak in public, or to a man who was not a relative. Windows of their homes were painted black so they could not be seen. ==



Women accused of infidelity or prostitution were either stoned to death or hung in public places. If accused of homosexuality the women would be buried alive.
== Most women did not have any access to medical care since women were banned from the workforce, and male doctors were unable to treat females. This lead to higher female and infant deaths which could have been easily treated ==

__ Some other rules also include: __

 * == The ban of the use of cosmetics (Many women with painted nails have had fingers cut off). ==
 * == The ban of women laughing loudly ==
 * == The ban of women appearing on the balconies of their apartments or houses ==
 * == The ban of women's presence in radio, television or public gatherings of any kind ==
 * == The ban of women playing sports or entering a sport center or club ==

=__ Women's Lives Post Taliban __=




 * Overall, not much improvement has been made. In theory women have equal rights to vote, work and learn. **
 * ** In December 2001, women had the first boost to women's employment since the fall of the Taliban **
 * ** Women are seeking to return to their former jobs as teachers, doctors and civil servants **
 * ** In the election of 2004, 40% of voters were women **


 * H **** owever, many women are still being beaten and afraid to leave their houses. Especially in areas such as the Pashtun tribal belt of the arch-conservative south. **
 * ** Nothern Alliance came into power in 1992, immediantly after the Taliban (No official restrictions) **
 * ** 80% of girls aged between seven and 12 in Kandahar province do not attend school **
 * ** Women were allowed to go out, but many did not dare **
 * ** It is believed that a quarter of Afghan men still beat their wives **

=__ Sanaubar __=

Beginning in the late 1950's, the status of women was on the rise in Afghanistan. At first, school's for women were built, women began unveiling themselves, and women were given the right to vote and enter politics. With that, the Democratic Organization of Afghan Women (DOAW) was formed. Through the DOAW, women fought against illiteracy, forced marriages, and bride prices. In 1977, another organization, the Revolutionary Association of the Women in Afghanistan (RAWA), was created by an Afghan woman activist named Meena Keshwar Kamal. "RAWA's objective was to involve an increasing number of Afghan women in social and political activities aimed at acquiring women's human rights and contributing to the struggle for the establishment of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan." Many women were becoming active in groups such as the DOAW and RAWA during this time period in order to obtain the freedoms they deserved and rid of the previous, common precedents.

When the Russians took control of Afghanistan prior to the Taliban, they continued to better the lives of women in some ways. Under the Soviet Union, education for women became mandatory, bride price was abolished, and a minimum legal age for girls to be married was set at 16.

__** Khaled Hosseini purposefully includes Sanaubar in the novel to represent an activist of the Afghani women's rights movements. **__
 * Many women in Afghanistan during this time period wanted more independence and fought for it through rebellious acts.
 * In Sanaubar’s case, her rebellion was leaving her husband and son to become a musician, “a fate most Afghans considered far worse than death.”
 * When she returns to Hassan later in the story, she is very weak, her body has been beaten, and her faced has been mutilated by a knife.
 * Her return to her son is Hosseini’s depiction of women during the Taliban rule. Sanaubar had to return home because women were forced to stay inside, only to leave if being accompanied by a male family member (Hassan). She would be inside for the rest of her life without Hassan.
 * Taliban members are most likely responsible for the bruising and cutting Sanaubar received during her long journey home. Women such as her were commonly killed by the Taliban.

=__ Women According to the Qu'ran __=

"Wives have the same rights as the husbands have on them in accordance with the generally known principles."

“...So their Lord accepted their prayers, (saying): I will not suffer to be lost the work of any of you whether male or female. You proceed one from another ...” (Quran 3: 195).

“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to their actions.” (Quran 16:97

Woman according to Quran is not blamed for Adam's first mistake. Both were jointly wrong in their disobedience to God, both repented, and both were forgiven. (Quran 2:36, 7 :20 - 24). In one verse in fact (20:121), Adam specifically, was blamed.

"The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife." - Muhammad

Sources http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/nov/07/gender.afghanistan http://archives.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/11/19/saba.cnna/ http://www.un.org/events/women/2002/sit.htm http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-photos-multimedia/63295-after-taliban-back-normal.html http://frank.mtsu.edu/~msa/women2.htm http://www.afghan-web.com/woman/afghanwomenhistory.html http://www.rawa.org/rawa.html