Challenges They Go Through In Their Daily Lives
Women all over the world face challenges in their own capacities. These challenges vary from one place to another, one country from another , one culture from another as well as religion to religion. In the face of all this adversity, women have always taken up their stand to declare their position in society as humans of equal rights to their male counterparts and who should be treated with dignity and respect. In retrospect, some countries are still traditionalist in nature basing their laws on women upon medieval rules that are way mediocre. From the experiences of women in states of the world that remain traditionalist, this paper seeks to shed light on the challenges faced by such women, the hurdles they have to overcome as well as the burdens of society that has been squarely rested on their shoulders. The paper considers a case study of the traditionalist state of Afghanistan and the lives led by the women who live in that country. Afghanistan is a vast country that is fully controlled by Islamic influence and governed majorly by the ‘Sharia law’ the Islamic code of governance. The law, though based on Islamic tenets, is heavily biased against the women especially in its application. The paper is based on the study of articles from a revolutionary website RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan). Consider the heart wrenching cases where the Afghan women who enroll as police officers cannot go public as they are commonly known to be sexually molested. Consequently, this carries the social stigma of being a prostitute as long as one is enrolled in the police force ‘"It's a fact. Women in the police are being used for sex and as prostitutes," said Ann’ (Lawrence,1). Within the police force, it was also noted that the women were forced to give sexual favors to their superiors if they wanted to maintain their positions. This has left many women helpless and defenseless as they have no avenues of forwarding their complaints, if anything a woman who goes to report such harassment cases would get arrested herself. Moreover, the Afghan women are subjected to domestic violence as well as the infringement of their basic rights. For instance, the women are married off while still young. This has led to the girls taking drastic measures such as dousing themselves with gasoline and setting themselves ablaze in protest of the domestic violence encountered.
“Bound by early marriage into a life of domestic disharmony, dozens of girls like Aatifa in Afghanistan's sophisticated but conservative main western city of Herat are choosing a brutal form of escape by setting themselves on fire.”(Truscott ,1).
Such protests have claimed the lives of many a young Afghan girls. Additionally, the lack of a functioning justice system has predisposed the women to more evils within the society (Peter ,1). Such animosities directed towards the women have only fueled the plight of more women in Afghanistan to stand in protest in effort to try and defend their rights and freedoms.
Conclusively, from the discussed scenarios it is evident that the voice of the woman in Afghanistan is completely suppressed without any regard for her feelings or any platform to address her issues due to the lack of a justice system. Women will always be in a struggle as long as these situations still exist.
REFERENCES
Lawrence, Q. (2012, March 8). For Afghan Policewomen, Sex Abuse Is A Job Hazard. Rawa News. Retrieved from: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/03/08/for-afghan-policewomen-sex-abuse-is-a-job-hazard.html
Peter , T. (2012 ) One more hurdle in Afghanistan: Justice. RAWA NEWS.
Retrieved from:http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/03/07/one-more-hurdle-in-afghanistan-justice.html/
Truscott, C. (2012, March 7). Afghanistan’s teen brides who set themselves alight. RAWA News. Retrieved from: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/03/07/afghanistan-s-teen-brides-who-set-themselves-alight.html
