Visiting the Afghan Women's Network

Visiting the Afghan Women’s Network
by Le Anne Clausen

The Afghan Women’s Network is a busy organization, running a library and net café for women; Women to Women International assists them with capacity building such as developing leadership and committees, parliamentary procedure, and training advocates for women and children in prison. We met with a young woman leader of the organization, who stressed the problems which women continue to face in Afghanistan today, as well as the value of understanding Islam as a solution to these issues rather than the problem.

Our speaker painted a grim picture of continuing problems for women in Afghanistan. Women face prostitution, rape, forced marriages. Economic and educational deficiencies drive the marriages between older men and young girls. Families don’t often want to take their problems outside the home to seek assistance. Sometimes families will bring troubled women to ‘holy gurus,’ leaving them for several weeks, where they have been sexually abused according to complainant’s reports. Suicides are rising.

Prostitution is hidden, not visible out on the streets. Street children are also vulnerable to prostitution. “The Afghan women’s NGOs are not currently able to address this situation, but the UN might,” she said.

The Network provides legal support for women who lack the finances. The situation for women in prisons, often for family law matters such as adultery or domestic disputes, is dire. There is no health care or education for women or their children with them in the prisons. There is violence between women prisoners, as well as self-inflicted violence.

Commanders or warlords and their families enforce tribal law throughout the country. “Since the beginning of Afghanistan’s history, women have faced problems. The laws of the Qur’an are not followed.

“Much un-Islamic behavior is carried out in the name of Islam. We respect what our religion says, not more. Arranged marriage is only semi-Qur’anic; independent women and men can choose their own spouses. Arranged marriage is different from forced marriage, where the girl is not happy.

“We want to keep our own culture, not to Westernize or modernize, but to eliminate the negative aspects of our culture. We need to be truly Afghan. The negatives are in the cultural traditions, not in our religion. We need to improve families, respect our elders, develop the hospitals and schools. She sees it as imperative to get women’s outreach workers beyond Kabul, though it is risky to do so. Many women staff have been killed and threatened.

Still, it is important to show the positives along with the negatives. AWN is comprised of 72 women’s NGOs, including 20,000 members. “Three or four years ago, women couldn’t go to the hospital or to school, now they also vote. It’s not 100% successful, there’s a lot more work to do, but we have several women candidates for the upcoming Parliamentary elections.”