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Afghan women have faced the brunt of war
Afghan women have faced the brunt of war By Deepali Gaur Singh
The average life expectancy for Afghan women is 43 years, nearly half compared to that of Americans.
November 2011 will mark a decade into the invasion of Afghanistan by foreign troops riding in on the slogan of the war on terror. ‘Rescuing’ the women of Afghanistan from the Taliban was one of the other purported goals of this global military campaign that appeared to have guided Washington and its allies to finally enter the country themselves after having spent years in the mid-80s arming the mujahideen to fight their political battles.
Nine years since then, exit strategies are already being worked out by the governments involved in the face of the domestic pressures when the actual costs of the war — not just in human lives — are being calculated back home. These talks of exit raise some very serious questions regarding Afghanistan and the fate of its people. The war on terror aside have the other components of this war been addressed?
In a country where instability and insecurity continue to be critical factors guiding the lives of the people as life beyond Kabul continues to be restricted the situation of women continues to be extremely vulnerable. The crucial question, then, that needs to be raised in domestic politics of the participating nations is why despite the high price of human lives Afghan women continue to struggle for basic human rights and equality.
Abysmal maternal health
Amidst 23.9 million people in Afghanistan, women make up almost 49 per cent of the population. Mostly illiterate and married off extremely early — sometimes as debt pay-offs or retribution — many are even widows of the three decades of violence. The percentage of forced marriages for Afghan women is believed to be between 60-80 per cent. Often children themselves when they have the first child the average number of children an Afghan woman bears is around six. What this translates into are abysmal maternal health statistics in the country with the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world where one woman dies every 29 minutes in child birth.
The average life expectancy for women in Afghanistan is at 43 years, nearly half when compared to the life expectancy of American women. Only 15 per cent of Afghan girls can read and write as they struggle to attend schools amidst constant threats of violence like acid attacks.
The country’s endless cycle of violence has meant that women (and children) have had to bear the brunt of it not just outside but inside the supposed safe confines of their homes as well. According to a recent survey by the UN Development Fund for Women, 87 per cent of Afghan women report being beaten on a regular basis. Eighty per cent of the violence against women is perpetrated by family members and of the incidents reported about 30 per cent each were related to physical and psychological violence, 25 per cent was related to sexual violence and the remaining was a combination of all three categories.
While women enjoy reservation in the national legislature it is not an easy profession to negotiate given the restrictions randomly imposed on them by local leaders almost always accompanied by the threat of violence. This is hardly surprising given that the upper echelons of President Karzai’s government are dominated by warlords, drug lords and human rights abusers for whom gender equality continues to be an unwelcome appendage of western involvement.
Ideological conflict
The passage of the controversial Shiite Personal Status Law was just one of the several manifestations of this ideological conflict. The President’s pardon of rapists and the UNAMA’s report only confirm the impunity enjoyed by rapists and murderers while women fighting for their rights face certain death.
Before the war began in 1979 women occupied nearly 50 per cent of government jobs, like teaching and nursing, in the urban centres quite contrary to the misogynistic culture that Afghanistan is seen as a representation of. Today it is this very work force that the country needs if any sustainable measures towards education and employability are to be implemented making women’s security a critical component of this growth.
It would be erroneous to blame all the atrocities against women on the Taliban. The real culprit has been the unceasing conflict of the past three decades. Even as each group pitted against the other for political control it was the women who were caught in the crossfire, quite literally. While the Taliban became the face of the gender apartheid in Afghanistan, today, nine years later, how do the foreign governments explain to these very ‘rescued’ Afghan women the proposals of negotiating and involving the ‘reformed’ Taliban in governance?
Afghan women have faced the brunt of war
The average life expectancy for Afghan women is 43 years, nearly half compared to that of Americans.
November 2011 will mark a decade into the invasion of Afghanistan by foreign troops riding in on the slogan of the war on terror. ‘Rescuing’ the women of Afghanistan from the Taliban was one of the other purported goals of this global military campaign that appeared to have guided Washington and its allies to finally enter the country themselves after having spent years in the mid-80s arming the mujahideen to fight their political battles.
Nine years since then, exit strategies are already being worked out by the governments involved in the face of the domestic pressures when the actual costs of the war — not just in human lives — are being calculated back home. These talks of exit raise some very serious questions regarding Afghanistan and the fate of its people. The war on terror aside have the other components of this war been addressed?
In a country where instability and insecurity continue to be critical factors guiding the lives of the people as life beyond Kabul continues to be restricted the situation of women continues to be extremely vulnerable. The crucial question, then, that needs to be raised in domestic politics of the participating nations is why despite the high price of human lives Afghan women continue to struggle for basic human rights and equality.
Abysmal maternal health
Amidst 23.9 million people in Afghanistan, women make up almost 49 per cent of the population. Mostly illiterate and married off extremely early — sometimes as debt pay-offs or retribution — many are even widows of the three decades of violence. The percentage of forced marriages for Afghan women is believed to be between 60-80 per cent. Often children themselves when they have the first child the average number of children an Afghan woman bears is around six. What this translates into are abysmal maternal health statistics in the country with the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world where one woman dies every 29 minutes in child birth.
The average life expectancy for women in Afghanistan is at 43 years, nearly half when compared to the life expectancy of American women. Only 15 per cent of Afghan girls can read and write as they struggle to attend schools amidst constant threats of violence like acid attacks.
The country’s endless cycle of violence has meant that women (and children) have had to bear the brunt of it not just outside but inside the supposed safe confines of their homes as well. According to a recent survey by the UN Development Fund for Women, 87 per cent of Afghan women report being beaten on a regular basis. Eighty per cent of the violence against women is perpetrated by family members and of the incidents reported about 30 per cent each were related to physical and psychological violence, 25 per cent was related to sexual violence and the remaining was a combination of all three categories.
While women enjoy reservation in the national legislature it is not an easy profession to negotiate given the restrictions randomly imposed on them by local leaders almost always accompanied by the threat of violence. This is hardly surprising given that the upper echelons of President Karzai’s government are dominated by warlords, drug lords and human rights abusers for whom gender equality continues to be an unwelcome appendage of western involvement.
Ideological conflict
The passage of the controversial Shiite Personal Status Law was just one of the several manifestations of this ideological conflict. The President’s pardon of rapists and the UNAMA’s report only confirm the impunity enjoyed by rapists and murderers while women fighting for their rights face certain death.
Before the war began in 1979 women occupied nearly 50 per cent of government jobs, like teaching and nursing, in the urban centres quite contrary to the misogynistic culture that Afghanistan is seen as a representation of. Today it is this very work force that the country needs if any sustainable measures towards education and employability are to be implemented making women’s security a critical component of this growth.
It would be erroneous to blame all the atrocities against women on the Taliban. The real culprit has been the unceasing conflict of the past three decades. Even as each group pitted against the other for political control it was the women who were caught in the crossfire, quite literally. While the Taliban became the face of the gender apartheid in Afghanistan, today, nine years later, how do the foreign governments explain to these very ‘rescued’ Afghan women the proposals of negotiating and involving the ‘reformed’ Taliban in governance?
Afghan women have faced the brunt of war