The claim was that a U.S. military victory over the ruling Taliban regime would end rape, forced marriages, domestic violence and the wearing of the burqa. In a post-Taliban era the mainstream media reported, women would have access to education, employment, health care and positions of power in the new government. Afghan women would finally be free.
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AFTER 10 years of war and occupation and over $18 billion in international aid to rebuild Afghanistan, the lives of the majority of Afghan women are unchanged or worse. Statistics from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs paint a grim picture:
-- Every 30 minutes, a woman dies during childbirth.
-- 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate.
-- One in every three Afghan women experience physical, psychological, or sexual violence.
-- As many as 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan.
-- Life expectancy for women is 44 years
The government of President Hamid Karzai, put in power by the U.S., has presided over the deterioration of women's rights, and in some instances actively promoted taking them away. Karzai signed a law that legalized rape in marriage.
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In the latest attack on women's rights, the Afghan government wants to take over the running of domestic violence shelters. A new rule would forbid women accused of "moral" crimes, like running away from home or zina (adultery), from gaining admission to a shelter. As Manizha Naderi, a member of Women for Afghan Women wrote, "This is going to turn back women's rights. I'm really afraid for Afghanistan, for the Afghan women. It's going to be like living under the Taliban." According to Human Rights Watch, there are only 14 shelters in the entire country.
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In the latest attack on women's rights, the Afghan government wants to take over the running of domestic violence shelters. A new rule would forbid women accused of "moral" crimes, like running away from home or zina (adultery), from gaining admission to a shelter. As Manizha Naderi, a member of Women for Afghan Women wrote, "This is going to turn back women's rights. I'm really afraid for Afghanistan, for the Afghan women. It's going to be like living under the Taliban." According to Human Rights Watch, there are only 14 shelters in the entire country.
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The Western media promotes racist and sexist stereotypes of Islam and depicts Afghan women as passive victims of domineering Muslim men, who therefore need to be rescued by "enlightened" Western men in military uniforms. But under the most difficult circumstances, Afghan women have always struggled against sexist cultural traditions and misogyny.
But Afghanistan is still an overwhelmingly poor, rural society where women are a degraded currency, exchanged and sold to settle tribal feuds and opium debts. A community and group identity is the norm--Western feminist ideas of independence from men and separation from family barely exist.
THE LIBERATION of Afghan women can't be separated from the socioeconomic development of Afghanistan. Access to education, employment and health care for all women is a prerequisite. Reproductive rights are crucial to advancing women's status in Afghan society. The average Afghan woman has seven children and spends most of her adult life pregnant, nursing and taking care of children.
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The women of Afghanistan are waging two struggles--the first is to liberate their country from the U.S.-led war and occupation and the second is for their own liberation. Those of us in the U.S. who oppose the war, believe in the right of self-determination for all nations and support women's rights have to stand in solidarity with Malalai Joya and the people of Afghanistan--and declare: "Here, we are your mahram."
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Their empty talk of liberating Afghan women « RAWA News
