Women in Afghanistan

Today's post is about a CNN article featuring Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad (found here). The article discusses the challenges faced by all Afghan news agencies, many of which receive death threats or experience actual violence towards them. Nekzad has faced several death threats and one attempt on her life nearly succeeded. A bomb exploded in her driveway one day and she was consequently ostracized by her neighbors---forced to move elsewhere and keep a low-profile for her own safety.

Despite the odds, Nekzad (along with her husband and two-year-old daughter) have formed an online news agency called Wakht ("Time") dedicated to uncovering forbidden truths and controversial stories all over Afghanistan. Furthermore, the agency also has several women among their staff. Women in Afghanistan have very little rights, despite a new constitution adopted after the Taliban was overthrown in 2001. The article cites a mere 14% of Afghan women are literate.

Afghanistan itself has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world at 28.1%. According to Nekzad, women "are uneducated and away from education." There are some whispers of a movement for women's rights, but the truth is that there is no guarantee that women will be safe if such a movement should arrive. Under Taliban rule, strict Muslim behavior and dress codes were enforced, and women still have very low status today.

It's amazing that Farida Nekzad has accomplished all that she has. I'm sure she is an inspiration to other Afghan women and she is taking a necessary risk in training more female correspondents for the field. Small steps like these will hopefully lead to a liberated female population in Afghanistan.