Women in Afghanistan

This excellent little cameo of rural empowerment was posted on Facebook by Claire in Afghanistan.

Considering our Medair value of dignity, I wanted to empower the women to describe their lives to me and highlight topics of their own choice. What is closest to their hearts? What consumes most of their time? So I provided some paper, pencils and modeling clay and they led the way.

There were a lot of smiles and giggles. It was a bit of an experiment as these women were illiterate and the majority had never held a pencil before. But they were really excited to have a go and some asked their children to help them. The modeling clay was more familiar as every day they use their hands to make bread and so they could shape the clay easily.

For more information, please visit www.medair.org

'women who know their place' in Afghanistan

I received this as an email and thought it was worth passing on  

Barbara Walters, of 20/20, did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.
 
She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands.
  
Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to, and are happy to, maintain the old custom.
 
Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, 'Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?'
 
The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said, 'Land Mines'.
 
Moral of the story:
No matter what language you speak or where you go, BEHIND EVERY MAN THERE'S A SMART WOMAN! 

'By Law women must preen for men' Times Online

From The Times    April 4, 2009

By law - women must preen for men

In male-dominated Afghanistan, women are treated like chattel. What's changed since the Taleban?

Åsne Seierstad

for full article written by the author of the BookSeller of Kabul  see Times online