In preparation for our upcoming unit of Women in the Middle East, I've been doing a great deal of research on this topic. I've found the types of information and sources out there to be quite interesting, as there are so many different perspectives to be offered, from the straight facts, to the emotional string-pulling (could be a blog topic of its own), to the extreme activism and more.
One source I found interesting was published by the National Organization of Women (NOW), and was focused on women of Afghanistan, called "The Day the Music Died: Women and Girls in Afghanistan." This article discussed the rash removing of women's rights in the country, and how the Taliban's edict issued on September 27th, 1996 affected both women and the country in general. I found it amazing that on September 26th of that year, women made up 70% of school teachers, 40% of doctors, 50% of government workers, and 50% of university students, and yet the very next day when the edict was issued, any women that tried to show up for work or school was beaten and sent home. How can women be leading such lives and contributing to a society in such important ways one day, and have quite literally everything cut off and taken away from them the next?!
This article also linked to a fact sheet about women's rights (or lack there-of!) in Afghanistan, that I highly recommend checking out for a simple overview of women's rights in Afghanistan and how the Taliban has affected and played a role in this situation. The fact sheet can be found here: "Stop the Abuse of Women and Girls in Afghanistan!"
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Very intriguing. I look forward to hearing what else you have to say on this issue as we prepare for class next week.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to learn what was going on with women in Afghanistan before and during the soviet "invasion."
ReplyDeleteI am really interested to learn about the women in the Middle East and how they are viewed/treated, as compared to the US! I look forward to hearing more about this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the links. Sometimes it's difficult to sift through everything on the Internet. What looks legitimate turns out to be some crack pot's opinion or rant or propaganda. It's nice to have reliable resources in such a convenient place! I'm excited for class!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I recently read a book that consisted of "profiles" of some women in Afghanistan that were fighting for Afghani women's rights, so this post was especially interesting to me!
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