Now that the Taliban are finished, we need to move on from here. Afghan women must participate in the new government and be elected to office. They have an essential role to play from now on. After Afghanistan’s 1964 constitution guaranteeing equality for women, they took their place in the professions and education. Afghan women made up 50% of government workers and 40% of physicians. All this time there have been many highly educated professional women waiting for the chance to return to their country and help rebuild it. Now the chance they have long expected has arrived.
If Afghanistan is to have any hope of reconstructing itself as a healthy nation, it must include women in government and ensure their representation. The surest way to redress the injustice of the Taliban years will be to bring women to the forefront in remaking the nation. As the Afghan people write a new constitution, it is imperative that they enshrine full equal rights for women and a voice in running the country, as is their due in Islam. No more can Islam be used as an excuse to exclude women, since Muslim women have now researched and published the evidence from original Islam that they had these rights in the first place, and are determined to regain them. Men and their wars have made Afghanistan into a disaster area. The only hope for the country to recover is to give the women a turn, let their female power restore and heal, and return their nation to sanity. With this opportunity for the Afghan people to make a fresh start, they have a chance to demonstrate what Muslim women are capable of, given their equal status in Islam. This turning point in history is a chance not to be missed for Muslim women’s advancement.
It is now time to plan for a future of women’s equality in Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslim world.
I don’t know if this is a hijack or not. If it is, then my apologies, but this is what struck me as I read the OP.
I won’t argue with the OP, but I think that what probably could and should be debated is HOW Afghan women are going to be represented in the new government, just how much power will they really have, and what kind of government will pose the best chance of success for Afghanistan and its women and men? Prejudice and just the general craziness and to my Westernized and womanist mind the misogyny that thrived under the Taliban regime and the general Afghan cultures who warred before the Taliban took control aren’t going to disappear overnight. I read and hear news accounts of how some Afghan women are still afraid to take off their burqas, and many of them have not had access to education, and so on. Even with them willing to brave possible cultural censure from their own patriarchal societies and the gross inequities in education they’ve been subjected to, how well can they rule? If Afghan women who’ve grown up outside of Afghanistan and therefore have not experienced firsthand the craziness that the women who’ve literally been in the trenches over there have experienced are the best answer and the ones most qualified to fill government positions, how much will the abused and undereducated Afghan women who’ve suffered under the Taliban trust them to lead them? I mean, Afghan women must to some degree be very scarred by the abuse they’ve endured under the Taliban, who’ve tried to brainwash men and women into believing that women have no place outside of the home. How will these “outsider” Afghan women gain the trust and learn to negotiate with the men who will also be in the new government and with the men who’ve grown up warped by the Taliban’s absurd interpretation of Islam?
Now I’m NOT any kind of expert on Afghanistan, its different tribes, or even on Islam, but I wonder if Muslim Guy or anyone else can kind of break down a REALISTIC way of making the concept of women having power in an Afghan government work? Do they model the government on what Iran’s doing now or do they follow the model Indonesia has or Pakistan? Do they follow an even more Westernized concept of government like Turkey has or American democracy or British monarchy + Parliament, and again how well will that go over with Islamic elements that are suspicious of Western ideals?
I’ll end this post by saying that ANY kind of position within government that Afghan women can hold would be wonderful and much-needed. I agree with Muslim Guy that the only way for Afghanistan to heal is with the inclusion of women as equals to men as the Qu’ran grants them. With this happening this war-torn country could actually move towards really being the ideal Muslim state.
Not knowing very much about Afghani culture, how seriously would Afghani men in power take women? While I wholeheartedly agree with the OP, how feasible is it?
I doubt that the majority of urban Afghani men agree with the Taliban’s opinions on women. (At least, that’s how things have been portrayed in the media, although it may be that it is to our advantage to portray Afghanis as being less in agreement with the Taliban (on all things) than they actually are. I’m going to assume that media coverage actually reflects how things are over there, since I have no other sources of information. Besides, that’s another GD entirely.) Would this go over well in the reportedly more conservative villages, where most Afghanis live?
Would Afghanis react well to such a law being imposed on them by outside powers, as I believe it would have to be? How democratic was the creation of the 1964 constition mentioned in the OP - was this something that most Afghanis agreed to then? What was the legislative structure under this constitution? Were women so highly represented on all levels, or only in a national legislative body?
[sub]How many questions can one include in a single post that contributes no new information?[/sub]
celestina, probably something like the Iranian parliamentary model would work well there (but without the mullas dominating the government). As you may know, the proportion of women representatives in Iran’s legislature is higher than in European countries or the United States Congress. Afghanistan already had women participating in the government, being elected to the parliament and serving as ministers, back in the 1960s and 70s. A lot of Afghans would like to return to those days before all the wars and stuff began. If it was accomplished once already, it can be accomplished again. The educated Afghan professionals who had to leave the country are now in a good position to bring their skills to help rebuild. This includes many educated professional women. I find it inconceivable that people would reject the contribution of Afghans returning from abroad. The skills they bring with them would be welcomed. People had become so sick of the Taliban that they would be open to a change of pace, something as unlike the Taliban as possible. I think right now is the right time to go for it.
Sadly, I don’t. Given the current state of Afgani society, I can very easily imaging the various tribal factions violently rejecting attempts at social engineering by educated, westernized Afganis.
[hijack] BTW, before we go any further here, what is the proper use of Afgan, Afgani, Afganistani, Afgans, etc., etc.? I have often used “Afgani” as an adjective rather than Afganistani. However, I now wonder if this is correct since we say “Pakistani” rather than “Paki.”
[/hijack]
Muslim Guy, what is your take in the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan? Are they likely to be political players? I can’t quite figure out where they stand on current events in Afganistan. They clearly condemn the Taliban and are, quite rightly, extremely fearful of the Northen Alliance. They also seem to be, at least mildly, against the U.S. intervention in Afganistan or at least the bombing. What do they advocate as the way forward?
NB to readers and mods. The RAWA site has some extremely graphic images of events in Afganistan. This is not material you’re going to see on CNN. For my money, they are far more “obscene” than anything you’ll find on a porn site. Unfortunately, they’re not some pornographer’s fantasy, they’re real.