Essay On Taliban Women

Under the Taliban rule, from 1991 to 2001, much of the Afghanistan population were heavily oppressed. The Taliban, formed in the early 1990’s, resisted the Soviet rule over the nation. As the years progressed from the fall of the Soviet Union, the Taliban began to seize control of territories and inflicted their governs on the people residing under their rule. Many of the laws enforced on the citizens restricted their daily lives. Men had to follow numerous guidelines for every aspect of their life. However, women had little to no basic human rights in the eyes of the Taliban. Seeing no importance of women except for childbearing, they are kept out of the public eye and show almost no importance to any aspect in the nation. The discrimination
of women in the country don’t go unnoticed but many people turn the other way. Due to the conditions of women, they are in no power to control anything around them and little to no women are advocating for women's rights.
In the 21st century, with the help of foreign involvement and continuing fall of the Taliban of much of the territory, women are rising up from the ashes after years of war and receiving the public outcry much need for the women of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan women still face basic human rights issues. In countless accounts, women are a subject to brutal violence and hate. Afghanistan has staggering maternal mortality rates, poor and inaccessible health care, decades of conflicts, and “near total lack of economic rights,” rendering the country “a very dangerous place for women”. With insufficient health care for women and no health education for people, women are placed in a position where they have nowhere to go in terms of the health of their own body (“Afghanistan Year 1380”). Years of war left behind enormous poverty, failing infrastructure, and a
widespread landmine crisis. Cultural practices with regard to women has an effect on women’s access to health care. With a very small amount of medical facilities and not having a male family member escort were listed as some of the most common reasons that continue to be a barrier for women when it comes to women receiving medical attention. In Afghanistan mental health services were reported as “not available” by a majority of women exposed to Taliban policies. Young girls fall victim to becoming child brides (“Afghanistan Year 1380”). This is a continuing problem in a country where women hold no societal power or value. Young girls are sold off to men, who are almost twice their age and targeted to domestic abuse from either the spouse or his family. Most families sell of their daughters because of the crippling debt that is on the families shoulders and by selling off their child, the older men who has a job, pays a sufficient amount of money. It is common that only middle aged men are the common purchasers of child brides because they have the status and money at that age and can provide for the bride. However, many families believe that by selling their daughter off, they’ll be in a better situation. With a roof over their heads and a steady head figure in the house to provide and take care of them. Yet ordinary women continue to experience domestic violence, sexual abuse, or being forced into marriage (especially young girls). “When she refused to prostitute herself or have sex with the man she was forced to marry when she was about 13, officials said, Sahar Gul’s in-laws tortured her and threw her into a dirty, windowless cellar for months until the police discovered her lying in hay and animal dung.” (Graham Bowely). Violence against women has never been higher: 87% of women report domestic abuse.
Not restricted from education but there is still a threat to their safety. Many girls who seek an education are pressured in not attending or even threatened. In the past few years schools have been closing behind the departing backs of phased-out foreign forces. Afghanistan “has one of the lowest levels of literacy in the world.” Female literacy rates are considerably lower than males in all provinces; female literacy in 2005 was 18%, and male literacy was 36%. There have been reports of schoolgirls poisoned and beaten, head teachers assassinated and classrooms firebombed (“Women in Afghanistan: A Human Rights Tragedy Ten Years after 9/11”). The majority of girls don't stay in school after the fifth grade and nine out of ten 15-year-old girls are illiterate. A decent amount of girls are enrolled in schools but never go. "When I go to classes, only half of my energy is spent on my studies because the other 50% is spent in dealing with harassment from the male students. The teachers do not interfere because they do not want to get involved. You cannot complain to the principal because they say there are not these problems at our university, and I often want to leave. I am so tired of it." (“We don’t want our burqas back: women in Afghanistan on the Taliban’s return”). Attacks by insurgents who oppose women’s education lead to regular closures of girls’ schools. According to the United Nations, 50% of schools do not have buildings and other necessities, and a dearth of textbooks, teaching materials and equipped laboratories, along with the large number of school closures or relocations directly affects the quality of education. Even if a women goes to school to receive an education, it’s having to choose between putting their lives in danger for an education. Various people have a mindset of women confined from the public eye and having no part in the outside world. Even the families of girls try to convince them out of attending school because they would be much more of use at home.
There is a very few amount of representation of women in the public eye. Representation is important and in Afghanistan, women who are in the public eye, are subjected to violence and hatred. Women politicians, activists, and journalists constantly face intimidation and threats, and a number of them have even been assassinated. "They threatened me and demanded why I was not at home. For a long time we argued, they said it was not right for a woman to run a company. I thought they might shoot me, but finally they left. They'll be back.” (“We don’t want our burqas back: women in Afghanistan on the Taliban’s return”). A woman having a strong a loud voice in Afghanistan is seen as a serious threat to many men. They usually think of women as something that is of less value and consideration. They’ll do whatever they can to redeem themselves. Therefore, the only resort is violence against the women who is a figurehead in the community, shutting down their voice. According to Aljazeera, “Barakzai, 42, is a high-profile advocate of women's rights and media freedom who has been a member of parliament for 10 years and her work has been recognised internationally with a number of awards. She has spoken about receiving regular death threats. “A [male] member of parliament stood up in our general meeting yesterday and said parliament is not a place for women, your time is up here, you must not pursue this fight for women’s rights”. The very fact of women in the public eye is a continuous threat to males who have always thought of women to be inferior to them. It a way of thinking in most developing or underdeveloped countries. By learning more about the world that surrounds them, they are able to understand what is happening and how it is affecting them and the very fact that men are threatened by this new shift in the politics is when people start to realize the power of an educated woman.
The rights of women in the area has gotten increasingly better.
The drastic change since the Taliban’s control is highly noticeable for women and there has been major improvements since then. According to Zulaikha Rafiq of Telegraph newspaper, “during the time of the Taliban, many women were simply invisible. They had to be accompanied by men in public, and they could be punished even for appearing outdoors without a male escort. Girls were not allowed to receive an education, except for a few “lucky ones” who studied in underground schools.” Today’s constitution of Afghanistan which was ratified in January 2004, affords equal rights to men and women. “Article 22 of the constitutions states: “Any kind of discrimination and privilege between citizens of Afghanistan are prohibited. The citizens of Afghanistan -whether man or women- have equal rights and duties before the law.” The Ministry of Education, with support from USAID and other donors, has built more than 13,000 schools, recruited and trained more than 186,000 teachers, and increased net enrollment rates for school-aged children past 56 percent. Today, more than 8 million students are enrolled in school, including more than 2.5 million girls. Afghan women are singing, writing, running businesses, getting degrees, teaching, learning, managing non-profit organizations, organizing protests and finding thousands of new ways to tell their stories.” (USAID). An access to education is an access to every potential a person
can have to offer. Many women are fighting for rights and implementing empowering words to women through education. With more women reentering the workforce it will shift to a whole new perspective of women in the society. It will continue the progression of finding it necessary to educate the daughter of the family instead keeping her bound to the house waiting to marry her off.