Although the women of Afghanistan are currently allowed to go to school, the country’s new government is not doing enough to help them with their education. The Afghan women are faced with poverty and other difficulties because the previous governing group, the Taliban, viewed them as ignorant and unable to think for themselves. Unlike women in North America, Afghan women have very few opportunities with an education. Without an education, they have little to no chance of success. As some say, when you educate a woman, you educate her whole family.
This means that if a mother is educated, her children will be much more likely to earn to read and write. As a result of the previous Taliban rule, most women and their children are illiterate. Under the Taliban, the voices and rights of the Afghan women were oppressed. One main thing, which was ignored, was the right of women to be educated. The women were taken out of school almost immediately after the Taliban came into power in 1996. While under Taliban rule, if any women were caught in school, they were punished very harshly, even small girls.
Before the Taliban rule, the women who were high ranking teachers, doctors, and held many other occupations were removed from their positions immediately. However, the Taliban could not stop some determined women. These women defied the Taliban in many small ways, thus proving their independence. Some women chose to help other women by secretly teaching them in their own homes. Not only did these women choose to risk their lives, but the lives of their students were also in great danger. These students were often forced to hide their lessons in copies of the Koran (Logan, Harriet p 35).
When the Taliban suspected women of going to school, they would often follow them to and from their teacher’s home. When the Taliban confronted the students, the teachers were unable to do nything to prevent the harassment. If they did, both they and their students would be arrested and put in prison. These women proved their independence, sometimes in small ways, but to them, it was the only way that they could assert their independence. The current generation of the country now has a distorted view on the value of education. Even though the Taliban is no longer in power, the Afghan people are still unaware of the value of education.
In a country as poor as Afghanistan, education is a critical part of life. The future generations have been held back by the rule of the Taliban. The new eneration must realize the importance of education and how it can help to improve their lives for the better. Although the Taliban are no longer in power, the people of Afghanistan are trapped in a life filled with poverty and little chance for change. Only with the education of both men and women can Afghanistan reduce its poverty rate. As a result of their illiteracy, many women are unable to get a job and support their families.
This contributes largely to the country’s poverty problems. Many families rely on their mothers for their financial support. Many boys have had to work to support their families, starting at a very young age. One reason for this is that finding a job if you are a woman is very difficult. Imagine how hard it would be to find a job if you are uneducated. Many women’s husbands have died in previous wars such as the Afghan war. The financial responsibility of many Afghan families has recently fallen on the mothers and other women of the family.
This confronts many women with the difficulty of finding a job and finding a way to care for their children. However many women are unable to get a job and support their families. This contributes largely to the country’s poverty problems. Many families rely on their mothers for their financial support. Many boys have had to work to support their families, starting at a very young age. Even if the women were able to find a job, how would they be able to care for their children during the day when they work? This situation is often a reality for many Afghan women.
The question of how they will be able to pay for their family’s needs without a job often haunts the lives of women with families in Afghanistan. These women have no way to care for their children. Unlike the United States, there are no daycare centers or nursery schools where they can leave their children. The government needs to build childcare centers so that the women can have a hance to construct a better life for themselves and for their children. Although women are legally allowed to receive an education, there are still some who are against the idea and have decided on showing their views by bombing several schools.
One example of this is in a northern Afghan town called Sar-i-pui. In this town, school supplies used by the girl’s school were put in a courtyard and burned. This way of expressing their opinion has been fatal to some innocent people. The people who have been responsible for these bombings are often Taliban activists who feel that it s their duty to spread the message that women should not be in school and that they should return to their rightful place in the home to care for their children. Some fundamentalists think that these women deserve to be punished by Allah, as well as on Earth.
However, although many women’s schools have not been bombed, it is the threat of the bombings which has held many women back from going to school (Rhode, David Vandals). Many women feel that they will most certainly be killed if they go to school. Unlike western women, the women of Afghanistan feel that school is a place f danger rather than excitement. While the police and government are trying to prevent these acts of violence, the country still suffers from the influence of previous Taliban rule.
For example, there have recently been several attacks on girl’s schools. One attack was in a village just south of the country’s capital, Kabul. On a note found 50 feet from the attack, citizens were told to fight against American forces, or they would face further deadly attacks. Although the Taliban is no longer in power, their supporters still live on. The government feels that Taliban activists committed these attacks. This could be a time of many social changes and developing economic opportunities for Afghan women.
However, until there are changes in the Afghan hearts and minds, the whole nation, men and women alike, will be unable to reach it’s full potential. Due to the quick pullout of the Taliban, the government is quite unstable. After September 11th, the United States and other western forces began an attack on Afghanistan. This left the responsibility of rebuilding the government to the powerful countries of the world. While the government is helping, they should and could be doing more to support the women of heir country.
President Karzai has recently revoked the current laws of education, which the Taliban had inforced. These women have had their lives held back because of the ignorant behavior of the men of the Taliban. Young girls now believe that they are not worth anything more than what a man will think of them, when in fact, they are often smarter than most of the men in the country. In the 20th century, western women fought for and attained many political, economic, and educational opportunities. Let us hope that the 21st century provides the women of Afghanistan with the same changes.
