NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Women of Afghanistan For many women all over the world discrimination is a serious problem. The US has shown some progress when it comes to this issue by allowing women to file lawsuits against discrimination. Although the US has shown some improvement, that is not the case in all countries, especially in Afghanistan. For the women of Afghanistan being discriminated against is a way of life. Women are seen as second-class citizens under the rule of men and these men are the cause virtually all of the problems that the women of this country face today. It would probably be best to start of with a little history of Afghanistan so that way the events that lead up to the Taliban taking over are better understood.
Up until the 1970 s Afghanistan was anarchy, the king at the time was Zahir Shah. In 1973, while in Italy Shah was overthrow by a relative, it was at that time that the mujahedin (holy warriors) were in their birthing process (Encyclopedia Americana). In 1978, Communism was attempted to be important into Afghanistan with Soviet Union aid. However, in 1979, Kabrak Karma who was the president at the time asked for Soviet Union assistance for some matters in Afghanistan. That was all U.
S. S. R. needed to hear; they came in as soon as possible and started running the country, but not with a fight of course (Fielding Worldwide Inc. ). As we are all aware of that time period was also when the Cold War was going on between the U. S.
and the Soviet Union. Therefore, the U. S gladly flooded Afghanistan with money in order to fight off the Soviet Union. The bloodshed between the Afghans and the Soviets lasted for years.
Finally in 1988 an agreement to end the strife was finally signed by the U. S. , Afghanistan, U. S. S.
R, and Pakistan. However, it was signed on the condition that the Soviets would leave Afghanistan. In 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew from the country they had invaded. In addition, those actions are what lead up to the events we have today in Afghanistan (Fielding Worldwide Inc. ). Afghanistan is a poor, struggling and slowly developing country. People there try to make ends meet and survive to the best of their ability.
In rural areas people do not care about rights, especially those of women, because they instead are too worried about not being able to feed their children. In the large cities, such as Kabul, awareness of the oppression of women is increased, but the forces behind eliminating the oppression of women are limited. The Taliban took over power and sought to make women not just obedient, but nonexistent and it succeeded. In 1997, during the Taliban's repressive rule, award-winning photographer Harriet Logan went to Afghanistan and encountered a group of extraordinary women whose strong characters and dreams for the future made an indelible impression on her. Despite the peril to her life and theirs, she captured their lives in a series of striking photographs.
The women risked their safety by speaking to and being photographed by her because they felt that the outside world needed to know what was happening to them. The images of women from 1997 contrast sharply with those from the 1970 s, when they were free to dress as they wished, speak up for their rights, and pursue their educations alongside men. After the Taliban's defeat at the end of 2001, Logan returned to Afghanistan, where she found many of these women again and met others. These courageous and intelligent women shared with her stories of unimaginable sadness and abiding strength through the long years of war and uncertainty.
Zargoona, a widow, reveals that she could not afford to treat her cancer because Taliban law prevented women from earning a living. Name, a schoolteacher, has vowed never to marry because even her own brothers beat her, Durkhanai, the daughter of a famous television anchorwoman, tells how she experienced the joys of family life and the pain of lost freedom all at once: "We were like birds in a cage. For me, maybe my cage was good -- my home was full of happiness. We love each other here and we are not hungry. But outside it was terrible. " Nine-year-old Sanam rejoices that she can carry her doll without being beaten for idolatry.
Latina lost her foot when she stepped on a mine and subsequently left her house only four times during Taliban rule. She begs of women across the world: Please help us Afghan women. We have just come out of a dark period into the sunshine. Learn from us so that what we have suffered will never happen again.
Logan's photographs reveal the world of these women, from portraits of them at home to the war-torn landscapes of Kabul and its marketplaces newly brimming with beauty products. This stunning journey in text and image will open the readers eyes to the Afghanistan of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. On September 27, 1996, the Taliban, an extremist militia claiming to be Islamic fundamentalists, seized power in a violent takeover of the government. It was at that point that the Taliban government instituted its sexist policy under the guise of religious observance. The Taliban came up with some rules that all women must follow: when in public, women are to be covered from their head all the way down to their feet; in order to go out a woman must be in the presence of her husband, brother, or father at all times; a woman can not work; a woman can not receive an education; if a woman is caught not abiding by these rules she can be beaten or even killed. The Taliban's excuse for these actions is that it is a turbulent time and the women must be kept safe.
However, that is not case. Organizations like Creating Hope International have gone as far as smuggling books into Afghanistan just so they can teach women illegally in the homes of some volunteers. If the Taliban is saying that they want to keep the women safe, why cannot the women learn how to read and write in their own homes? Recently, Creating Hope International reported the closing of one of their illegal schools in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Prior to the Taliban's arrival the women of Afghanistan made up 60 percent of the teachers at Kabul University, 50 percent of the students at Kabul University, 50 percent of the government workforce, 70 percent of the school teachers, and 40 percent of the doctors. It seems almost impossible to imagine that once upon a time the women from Afghanistan were going to college and had bright futures ahead of them, and all of a sudden they are subject to conditions where a woman cannot even walk outside without a male relative by her side. However, that is exactly what happens when a government does not govern, but threatens its people who not abide by its rules. And the saddest thing of all is that the Taliban is claiming to be working in the name of Allah (God), the one person that everyone calls on when they feel there is no way out of a tough situation.
For the past five years, women were viewed not just as submissive, but were made to be invisible. Taliban Rules were placed upon everyone, but especially upon women who were forbidden from speaking or laughing loudly; riding bicycles or motorcycles, showing their ankles, wearing shows that click or make up, leaving home unaccompanied by a close male relative, attending school, speaking to men who are not close relatives, working; with the exception of a few doctors and nurses. Rules such as those listed fulfilled their purpose of making women seem invisible to Afghanistan. On top of everything else women were not allowed to be seen in general. When in public women had to wear a heavy burka, which covered women from head to toe leaving only holes where the head is located for easier breathing and seeing. Women literally looked like ghosts, once again reinforcing the concept of making women invisible.
Women were not allowed to attend school, not allowed to read or become educated. Their only function was to serve their husbands or males in their lives. Life for these women, in the past five years, must have been hard. I personally cannot imagine living under such conditions and would revolt if such rules were brought down upon women in the United States. After reading much about this oppression in magazines and on the internet I thought to myself, Yeah, this type of treatment sucks, but what do I care it isnt affecting me. It could never affect me because I live in the United States where things like this do not happen.
Or do they? Are women in the United States made to be submissive? Are we in the same position as the Muslim women of Afghanistan are in? All these questions raced through my head after hearing most of the presentations in class by the other groups. I could not help thinking that there really was not a big difference between the women living in Afghanistan and those living in the United States. I personally believe that, like the women of Afghanistan, women in the United States and all over the world, for that matter, are to some similar extent made submissive and invisible just like the women of Afghanistan.
No, there are not any specific rules written down, unlike the Taliban Rules, but we as women are still being held back by the understood rules of society. These unwritten rules tell us how to act, what to wear, where to go and not to go as well as what to be. It is these rules that hold us back from being equals to men and from being seen as people instead of women. The first Taliban Rule is that women are not allowed to speak or laugh loudly. In the United States a subversion of this rule applies to women. We, as women are not forbidden to speak in public because we have the right of speech anywhere and anytime.
However, when women speak what they are saying is not regarded as highly as if it was coming from the mouth of a man. An intelligent woman that has...
Free research essays on topics related to: women were not allowed, u s s r, soviet union, oppression of women, past five years
Research essay sample on Past Five Years U S S R
