Women's Rights In Afghanistan Essay
Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is one of the worst countries to be a woman. Girls’ schools are frequently attacked, high-profile women’s rights advocates have been targeted and killed, and violence against girls and women continues to be a major problem (“Women in Afghanistan”). More females die during pregnancies and childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world. Life is hard for women fighting for their rights in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, an extremist militia, seized control first of Herat and then Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on September 27, 1996 and violently plunged Afghanistan into a brutal state of totalitarian dictatorship and gender apartheid in which women and girls were stripped of their basic human rights. …show more content…
Almost 60% of girls are married by 16. Women activists say up to 80% of marriages in poor rural areas are either forced or arranged (“Life as an Afghan Woman”). Most girls marry far older men – some in their 60s – whom they meet for the first time at their wedding. A lack of security from three decades of war, and the risk of kidnapping and rape, has also promoted many families to force their young daughters into marriage to repay debt or resolve a dispute. The implications of child marriage cannot be underestimated. Married girls do not continue their education and remain illiterate. They have babies while still young teenagers, increasing health problems and risking death for themselves and their children. Young wives also have a low status in the family and more likely to be abused by their husbands and/or in-laws.
Most girls do not go to school for more than six years. Currently there are almost double the amount of boys enrolled in school than girls. Only 40% of Afghan girls attend elementary school, only one in 20 girls attend school beyond sixth grade (“Life as an Afghan Woman”). Many Afghan families will only permit their daughters to attend all-girls schools close to home and few such schools exist. Other families believe it is unnecessary for girls to be
Afghanistan is one of the worst countries to be a woman. Girls’ schools are frequently attacked, high-profile women’s rights advocates have been targeted and killed, and violence against girls and women continues to be a major problem (“Women in Afghanistan”). More females die during pregnancies and childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world. Life is hard for women fighting for their rights in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, an extremist militia, seized control first of Herat and then Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on September 27, 1996 and violently plunged Afghanistan into a brutal state of totalitarian dictatorship and gender apartheid in which women and girls were stripped of their basic human rights. …show more content…
Almost 60% of girls are married by 16. Women activists say up to 80% of marriages in poor rural areas are either forced or arranged (“Life as an Afghan Woman”). Most girls marry far older men – some in their 60s – whom they meet for the first time at their wedding. A lack of security from three decades of war, and the risk of kidnapping and rape, has also promoted many families to force their young daughters into marriage to repay debt or resolve a dispute. The implications of child marriage cannot be underestimated. Married girls do not continue their education and remain illiterate. They have babies while still young teenagers, increasing health problems and risking death for themselves and their children. Young wives also have a low status in the family and more likely to be abused by their husbands and/or in-laws.
Most girls do not go to school for more than six years. Currently there are almost double the amount of boys enrolled in school than girls. Only 40% of Afghan girls attend elementary school, only one in 20 girls attend school beyond sixth grade (“Life as an Afghan Woman”). Many Afghan families will only permit their daughters to attend all-girls schools close to home and few such schools exist. Other families believe it is unnecessary for girls to be