Women in Afghanistan

Background

Afghanistan has been in a state of turmoil for 23 years. The Soviet invasion of 1979 set in motion a period of constant war, which has resulted in 1.5 million deaths and 2.5 million refugees. Eighty per cent of the refugees are women and children. Afghanistan is the size of Manitoba and originally had a population of 25 million people.

The Position of Women

When the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996, the regime effectively legalized extreme oppression and violence against women. Afghan women were:

Ø Forbidden access to basic health care.

Ø Forbidden to work outside their homes.

Ø Forbidden to go to school or university.

Ø Forbidden to go out in public without wearing the suffocating burqa.

Ø Forbidden to leave their homes without a close male relative.

Ø Forbidden freedom of association and movement.

The Result

Depression and Suicide:

Under the Taliban, a 23% suicide rate was reported among Afghan women and 97% of all Afghans were suffering from severe depression, according to Physicians for Human Rights.

Massive Female Illiteracy:

Over 90% of Afghan females are illiterate. An entire generation of girls is uneducated or behind in their education.

Poor Health:

Many women suffer from severe anemia and vitamin D deficiency, resulting in soft bones due to lack of sufficient sunlight. The life expectancy of an Afghan woman is 43 years.

Destitution:

Hundreds of thousands of widows and women with severely disabled husbands are the breadwinners for their families, in a culture where it is difficult and stigmatized for women to work outside the home.

Lack of Personal Safety:

Although the rules for women going out in public and wearing the burqa are being relaxed in some urban areas, intimidation occurs frequently in the streets and domestic abuse and sexual violence is rampant and commonly goes unpunished.

Conflict:

Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the USSR in 1979. The Soviet army was forced to withdraw a decade later in the face of the anti-communist mujahedin factions equipped and trained by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the UAE and others. Upon the Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan descended into civil war as the mujahedin turned on each other for control of the country. The Taliban, which received the lion’s share of US funding, emerged as the strongest faction and captured Kabul in 1996, maintaining control of approximately 91% of the country for the following five years. As a result of this 25 year long conflict, the country was, and is in a state of severe poverty, lacks basic infrastructure, is littered with landmines, and women’s human rights continue to be denied. Afghanistan has the world’s largest refugee population.

Geography:

South Asia, bordered by Pakistan, Iran, Russia, India, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Climate is arid to semi-arid. Winters are cold and summers are hot and dry.

Population:

The estimated population of Afghanistan is 31,056,997 (July 2006 est.) and the country is approximately the size of Saskatchewan. According to US government statistical fact sheets, over 70% of the population in Afghanistan is made up of women and children under 15 years of age, with the average age being 17 years old: