First they sliced off her ears. Then they cut off her nose.
Now, 18-year-old Aisha ‘adorns’ the cover of the latest Time Magazine.
That is today’s Afghanistan. Where MDG 3 is something to laugh with. Where the existence of that goal is only an illusion. And where its fulfilment is nothing but a dream.
Imagine being a woman in Afghanistan. I know it's hard, but I will try and help:
First of all, you have 60% chance that you won’t see any school from the inside. If you are lucky and you do, you might get injured or murdered in one of the approximately 171 attacks on girls’ schools that happen during one year. This will probably result in you being a part of the 87.4% women in your country who can’t read or write.
You might escape marriage until the age of 15, but it will be harder to do the same in the next three years; 43% of the women surrounding you are less than 18 when they marry. Most likely it won’t be a man of your own choosing; it happened that way in 70% of the marriages so why would you be the lucky one? There’s a big chance you will happen to become a reconciliation gift; 80% of the Afghan population relies on the traditional dispute-resolution mechanisms. Your father might just trade you to make peace with any man he’s got in conflict with.
And that’s only the beginning.
Don’t think you will see much from the world. Only 55% of the Afghan men think women should be able to work outside the house; 95% of their women are trapped inside. Thank your president and the year 2009 for this. First ask permission to leave the house, will you?
Being a prisoner in your own home you will be the perfect victim of domestic abuse, just like every other Afghan woman making up the 87% suffering from it. One of the forms you will experience almost certainly is rape. Maybe – when you’re very courageous – you will be one of the 2269 cases that get reported that year. But probably you won’t, because you might just end up in prison serving 20 years for illegal sexual relations. Oh and don’t try to run away from your abusive husband; you could lose your ears and your nose.
Enough reason to become depressed, isn’t it? Well, that is likely to happen while the number of women with acute depression in Afghanistan is 28%. Every year 2300 of them will try to commit suicide – maybe you would give self-immolation a shot; it’s increasingly popular these days. If you’re not up to that or you didn’t succeed at it, you can still try to ease the pain with opium.
And then there it is: the day of childbirth. Every 27 minutes a woman in Afghanistan dies whilst giving birth. You are living in this country with one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world.. Let’s hope you won’t die. And let’s hope you won’t give birth to a girl.
Very impressive post Hanna, thank you!
Hanna, you put it perfectly—“being a prisoner in your own home.” Very important post.
Let me add that I hope there will be a lot of media attention about the lives of women here because their struggles are really important.
Hanna, brilliant and thorough study.
Kudos!
Thanks for the compliments everyone! Very nice to hear that my research is appreciated.
And to Iris: I wished there was more attention to it, but it has been like this for ages and nothing seems to change. That’s because people don’t know how bad it really is. It’s time these women get the appreciation they deserve. Why don’t the Afghan men see how much they are worth? And not in the sense of dowry or something, but really their value in being a woman?
An important account, Hanna.
With all the problems Afghanistan has, the war hasn’t helped Afghan women much. It is often suggested that in many cases it actually made matters worse, which if true is something the Allies have to account for. And you rightly note the biggest problem of all in your first paragraphs: equality (what equality? in this case). That is the root problem, the parent of numerous other problems, and this is something we have to work on.
Impressive, disturbing. What a read, Hanna. Thanks for calling our attention to this stark, oft-neglected reality.
Thanks!
Giedre, I know the war hasn’t helped women much or maybe even made it worse, but that doesn’t really matter. That’s how I see it. Why do we always blame the Allies for the horrific reality in Afghanistan? It has been like that for ages, what did we expect? That the Americans could change all that in a few years? I am not a defender of the war that is fought there, but I do think it’s way too easy to put the blame on the Allies all the time. In the first place, it is Afghanistan’s fault, religion in its extreme form is to blame and I am angry the most with the Afghan men who do not seem to change their view and behavior any time soon.
Very depressive post. Some positive exemples of iniciative of Afghanistan woman you will find in my post http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/empowering_disabled_women_in_afghanistan
Thanks for the link to your article, Iwona. However, although the initiatives you mention are great, they will not change the bigger picture. All these problems and atrocities that I mention in this post will only disappear when the Afghan mentality changes. We need awareness projects there for MEN. Too often we focus on the women, but it are the men who need to change.
Of course I do not underestimate the importance of the projects you described, but I always miss something. It are the Afghan men who need to be educated.
Hanna, of course I agree with that. However to change mentality the generations changes are needed and it will work for future generation of women. And projects that I have described help women now. And of course it is not so sustainable but still it making a small change.