Standing With Afghan Women

Standing With Afghan Women

by Dana E. Jones

As the world responds to the events of Sept. 11, long overdue attention is being focused on the plight of Afghan women, providing an opening for members of United Methodist Women to renew commitments to stand in solidarity with them. For more than 20 years under multiple ruling groups, Afghan women have been denied their human rights.

Since the fundamentalist Taliban government took control of 90 percent of Afghanistan in 1992, denial of women’s rights has become official policy. Women are denied access to education and employment. They must follow strict dress and conduct codes, which largely confine them to homes and lives dominated by male relatives. Women cannot be treated by male doctors and can be publicly beaten to the point of death for breaking Taliban laws.

"The nature and range of crimes perpetrated against Afghan women by fundamentalists have no precedence in modern history," says a statement from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an organization of Afghan women, most living in exile from their country, fighting for women’s rights. "Their ultimate objective is to keep women under their absolute power, in the status of chattel."

Oppression of Afghan women did not begin in 1992. RAWA formed in 1977 to oppose Russian forces. Throughout years of war with forces inside and outside Afghanistan, including existing groups that oppose the Taliban, women have been subjected to rape, kidnaping and forced marriage.

They have faced severe poverty compounded in recent years by drought. The U.N. World Food Programme predicted recently that 5.5 million Afghans -- a quarter of the population -- will be dependent on food aid to survive the winter.

Many Afghans have no formal education. Even before Taliban rule, estimates are just 20 percent of men and 5 percent of women were educated.

Taliban restrictions on women include:

A ban on women working outside the home with the exception of a few doctors or nurses;
A ban on women’s activity outside the home unless accompanied by a mahram -- close male relative;
A ban on women of all ages attending school;
A requirement that women wear burqa -- garments that cover them from head to toe;
Whipping, beating and verbal abuse of women who break Taliban law;
Public stoning of women accused of having sex outside marriage;
A ban on women laughing loudly as no stranger is to hear a woman’s voice;
A ban on women producing sound while walking as men must not hear women’s footsteps;
A ban on women wearing brightly colored clothes;
A ban on women washing clothing in rivers or other public places or bathing at public baths; and
Compulsory painting of all windows so women cannot be seen from outside their homes.

Non-Muslim minorities, women and men, must wear badges or stitch yellow cloths onto their clothing to be differentiated from the majority population. Converting from Islam is illegal and punishable with death.

RAWA says the only way to restore stability to Afghanistan is to disarm all groups operating in the country and their accomplices and assign peace-keeping forces that do not include people from nations that have been involved in conflicts in Afghanistan, including Russia and the United States. RAWA stands for separation of religious and political processes and establishment of a democratic, secular government that can ensure women’s rights.

"We believe wearing the veil is a cultural issue, not a religious one," RAWA leaders said. "No one has the right to impose the veil on us."

Eve Ensler, a leading U.S. advocate for Afghan women, offered direction to members of United Methodist Women:

"This is the time more than ever to stand up for the Afghan women. These women have had their rights deprived for years. They have asked the United States for help but the United States has done nothing for them. It is time to save the Afghan women, not bomb them."

Dana E. Jones is editor of Response.