According to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, the legislation recently passed in Afghanistan “says that Afghan Shi’ite women will not have the right to leave their homes except for “legitimate” purposes, and forbids women from working or receiving education without their husbands’ express permission.
The legislation explicitly permits marital rape by saying that a wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband. It reportedly diminishes the right of mothers to be their children’s guardians in the event of a divorce. And it makes it impossible for wives to inherit houses and land from their husbands — even though husbands may inherit property from their wives.
The legislation only applies to Shi’a, whom the Afghan Constitution allows to be governed by separate law where family issues are concerned. Shi’ite Muslims make up over 10 percent of Afghanistan’s population.”
This can’t be a good thing. Once upon a time things looked a little better for Afghan women, not much but some, then we took off to destroy Iraq.
I’ve written about RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) as far back as 2005, at blogspot, when I posted an initial link to the RAWA site and to the story of their founder Meena, who was “assassinated by the KHAD (Afghanistan branch of KGB) and their fundamentalist accomplices in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 4, 1987″. I posted several other times links to RAWA posts, expressing some disgust at the fact that we here here spent so much time talking about things like the pathos dirty tee-shirt contests, when real horror was happening in the world. Dirty water — Dirty Death — Dirty tee — shirts. No contest.
I suggested, last summer, a movie to all to watch in Dear President Obama
MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN in which Afghan American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi follows her father (Dr. Qudrat Mojadidi) on his tragic trip to Afghanistan, a trip he was invited on by the U.S. government to help rehabilitate the largest women’s hospital in the country, Rabia Balkhi, a hospital which at the time was put under U.S. Sponsorship with a newly re-named Laura Bush maternity ward, and what a joke that whole thing was.
Well I’m doing it again.
A couple of the more recent RAWA posts, as you can imagine the site is posted to infrequently.
Neither the US nor Jehadies and Taliban
Transcript: Radio interview with Eman, Member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).
I really suggest you read. Then flick through the site.
We need to help these women do whatever it is they need to do to help themselves.
“What can we do to help RAWA?”
The Afghan Women’s Mission , a registered non profit through IHC, it works closely with RAWA to support health, educational, and other programs for Afghan women.
FEMAID also works with RAWA.
Women for Women International/Afghanistan
Campaign For Afghan Women and Girls, a public awareness campaign with the help of Mavis Leno, picking up now that Afghanistan is back in vogue. I am all for public awareness and the women is Afghanistan are happy to have someone publicizing their cause, they would like more people to do so, and making people aware of what is going on helps the fund raising. This cause is not ideologically distinct. Any women or man, or group of women or men can help. You do not have to have any specific ideology, you don’t have to call yourself a feminist, be a member of NOW, or the feminist majority. A concerted effort by all women and men, to help these women is needed. It’s not as glamorous as some causes and it probably won’t make Glenn Beck cry, but it is a cause too long ignored here.
Peace
