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Women’s rights in Afghanistan have been deeply divided and conflicting for more than a century.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Afghan women have been mobilizing for more freedom and gender equality.
But over the years, efforts to improve their situation were interrupted by radical measures to roll back.
And when the Taliban first came to power in 1996, women’s rights to education and employment were abruptly suspended.
Afghans could only go out with a male relative and had to wear a burqa that covered them completely.
Those who disobeyed the strict rules were severely punished.
Today, as the country enters another era under the Taliban, many fear that this be the return to one of the darkest times for women in this country.
But what was life like for Afghans before the Taliban first arrived and before the Soviet invasion in 1979?
Progressive approach
Some historians claim that the movement for women’s rights in Afghanistan began at the turn of the 20th century, with the reign of Amanulá Khan, and his reforms to modernize the country, from 1919 to 1929.
It was around this time that Afghanistan was immersed in a progressive approach to shifting from traditional Islamism to modernity.
Khan introduced a new constitution that sought to guarantee women’s rights.
Meanwhile, new schools for boys and girls have been opened, the age of women at marriage has been raised, and forced marriages have been banned.
They were also banned strict dress rules for women.
Amanulá’s modernization reforms, however, sparked several uprisings by traditionalists and conservatives.
In 1929 Amanulá was overthrown and almost immediately Muhammad Nadir Shah proclaimed himself king and in a short time abolished many of the reforms that Amanulá had enacted.
Girls’ schools were closed, women had to be veiled again, and many other reforms were repealed.
This era, however, did not last long.
Nadir Shah was assassinated in 1933 and many Amanulá initiatives they have been re-implemented during the long reign of Nadir Shah’s son, Muhammad Zahir Shah, the last king of Afghanistan, from 1933 to 1973.
Girls’ schools were re-established, a new university was founded, and a new constitution was instituted.
And in 1964 the right to vote has been granted Afghan women.
Interpretations of Islam
This entire first half of the century reflects the deep divisions that existed in Afghanistan between reformists and traditionalists.
And it also shows the various interpretations of what Islamism says about women’s rights, as Mona Tajali, professor of international relations and women and gender studies at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, US, told BBC Mundo.
“As has happened in many other societies, in Afghanistan we have had these conflicting accounts of what rights a woman should have,” says Tajali.
“There are reformist interpretations of Islamism, which are totally in favor of gender equality.
“And there are the conservative interpretations of Islamism that say women shouldn’t be educated, that they don’t need to enter the workforce, and that they certainly don’t need to be educated. ‘be present in parliament, “she continues.
“I think the history of Afghanistan shows that there were groups that provided opportunities for women and women took advantage of these opportunities, but there were also groups that came later to close these opportunities, ”adds the expert.
He was a communist
In 1973, Zahir Shah was run over by his cousin, leftist Mohammed Daoud Khan, ending more than 200 years of monarchical rule in Afghanistan.
And during this proclaimed Republic of Afghanistan, they continued to improve women’s rights.
“Then you started to see the presence of women in parliament, it was a time when there was a lot of emphasis on university education for women, on the presence of women in the public sphere and jobs. public, ”explains Mona Tajali.
The status of the Afghan woman continued to improve during the regimes supported by the Soviet Union in the late 1970s, when the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took power in the revolution of April 1978.
And the improvement continued after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
“The Soviet invasion contributed significantly to gender equality“, Mariam Aman, journalist with the Persian service of the BBC, told BBC Mundo.
“Mainly in the education sector, 45% of teachers were women. It can be said that women’s rights reached their peak under the communist regime,” Aman adds.
Parliament strengthens girls’ education and harmful practices such as offering women to seal differences between two tribes or forcing widows to marry the brother of the deceased husband are prohibited.
“It was a time when huge changes were seen and during this time the women’s movement in Afghanistan really started to take shape,” Mona Tajali told BBC Mundo.
But as has happened in many other countries, this women’s movement it did not spread to the whole country.
And in a country as complex as Afghanistan, there were still marked differences between the status of women in rural and urban areas and deep divisions according to their ethnicity, tribe and, most importantly, religion.
“Advances for women were mainly centered in Kabul“explains Mariam Aman.
“The elite of the ruling class in Kabul had created an oasis of liberalism at Kabul University and in the palace, but this hardly extended to ordinary citizens,” he adds.
And further, says Mariam Aman, the divisions between reformists and traditionalists and opposing narratives about Islamism and the role of women have deepened even more under communist regimes.
“This conflict has become extremely important during the (regimes) of the left,” he explains.
“And to that was added entrenched poverty. Access to education it was limited to cities, child marriages were still the custom and there was a complete lack of free media. ”
In 1996, all the progress made by women reached a brutal end with the arrival of the Taliban in power.
And now, 25 years later, as the Taliban usher in a new era of power in Afghanistan, many fear the history of women’s rights will repeat itself.
“This is the great fear,” Mona Tajali told BBC Mundo.
“I have been in contact with women’s groups and women’s rights activists in Afghanistan and they told us that They don’t think the Taliban has changed Absolutely.
“They think the Taliban will try to revert to their conservative interpretations of Islamism and will try to bring women back into the domestic sphere.”
“And after what they have achieved, all of this is in danger now”, adds the expert.
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