When I lived in Kabul, women simply did not rise up, take to the streets, and mount brave demonstrations. Hell no. Wealthy women wore decorous long headscarves, long coats, and gloves, and were driven around by chauffeurs in expensive European cars. Poor women wore the full burq’a and were forced to sit separately from men on public buses; they were also kicked to the back of the line in the bazaar when the male servants of wealthy families came to make their purchases. Occasionally, if a country girl or woman was out working or walking and a male non-relative chanced by, she would swiftly, shyly turn her face away and simultaneously cover it with her headscarf. This was a practiced, perhaps terrified motion.
Imagine my joy today, nearly fifty years later, when I read that Afghan women just took to the streets to protest a new law which legalizes rape within marriage, requires a husband’s permission in order for his wife to be able to work, and requires wives to “dress” as their husbands desire.
The heroic women faced down an angry, dangerous mob of men who called them “whores.” “Death to the enemies of Islam” chanted the men. “We want our rights,” the women responded. This is not the first time Afghan women have demonstrated such extraordinary bravery. In January, 2008, when the American teacher, Cyd Mizell, was kidnapped (she has never been found), within weeks, six hundred of her Afghan female students took to the streets of Kandahar to protest this. At the time, I wrote:
“Today, (January 27th-28th), between 500-600 women, many wearing burqas, demonstrated on behalf of the still kidnapped and missing Cyd Mizell in Kandahar. Their husbands gave them permission to do so; still, for women to publicly express their views and feelings constituted an unusual event in this Taliban-infested region. The women gathered in a Kandahar wedding hall. One woman was quoted as saying that the fate of “all Afghan women is at stake” because this kidnapping shows “how dangerous it still is for those who take an active role in rebuilding Afghanistan.”
So much for those who say that Afghan, Muslim girls and women do not appreciate American help. And yet, what hope is there, really, for Muslim women who live in the perilous and deadly shadow of the Taliban and al-Qaeda?
In 2009, in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of al-Qaeda, a seventy-five-year-old woman was punished with 40 lashes because she had been seen in the company of two men who were viewed as not close-enough relatives.
Also, in 2009, the Pakistani Taliban publicly lashed a 17 year-old girl essentially because she had refused to marry a Taliban soldier. These charming monsters, (look at videotaped interviews with them, they retain a dignity and a charm that is unnerving), have also been beheading girls, women, and Christians in the Swat Valley which, together with its rich lode of sapphires and other precious minerals, has just come into their possession.
Great post…
Afghan and Pakistani women are forced to live abject lives by an insane, cruel and essentially insecure culture which uses them as scapegoats.
My heroine is Pakistan’s Mukhtar Mai. I hope she survives the turmoil, and that the schools she built continue to flourish.
I ponder her often, wondering how she managed to find within herself the fortitude to continue. Ironically, I think it was the support of her father and her imam that made it possible for her to survive.
The fact that the demonstrations are taking place is wonderful. The fact that a young couple was executed by the Taliban for eloping is horrifying. The women are not only couragous, they are organized enough to be able to get together at the same time. Organization is as important as courage. The police protected them, which is really a sign of progress.
As for the young couple, their story should be better known. The whole world should be expressing horror and disgust that such a thing has happened. Alas, hardly anybody knows about it.
Just when I get my head in the clouds and forget what so many brave women, men, and children are confronting every day in their lives, suffering under grave brutality, I read your words and with a bump come right back down to earth. It is inexcusable that the media does not carry these stories to the world, and I believe you are perfectly correct that it is not a worthy cause unless they can blame the West.
What is happening now in Afghanistan and Pakistan is truly heartbreaking, and I fear that in order to gain a false peace the United States will appease the leaders of these countries by remaining silent about the Taliban and Sharia Law gaining a stronger and stronger foothold until the suffering is silenced under a smothering blanket of repression.
I read the story of Ayaan Hirisi Ali, among others, and am fully aware of the atrocities committed by advocates of the so called “religion of peace”. If the Afghan women want to continue to protest there must be a determined effort by the fledgling Afghan government to oust the Taliban and other terrorist groups and form a nation. Otherwise the country of Afghanistan will slide back into the 7th century and women will again be oppressed, murdered and raped. What I don’t understand is why the left, all up in arms over the war in Iraq led by President Bush, is giving Obambi such as pass on Afghanistan. Don’t get me wrong I want Obambi to pursue the terrorists and kill them no matter where they try to hide. You would think that the world would be angered by the treatment of women in Afghanistan but its more of…ho hum, Afghanistan is far away and really who cares. Well the U.S. cares and we should provide the people of Afghanistan the opportunity to have a better life. Screw the opinion of the rest of the world they can all kiss my ass.
So all the liberal women here in the US who think they don’t need a man in their lives at all think we need to be “understanding” about the ways of Islam? That it’s ok to let other women suffer like this? Asshats, one and all. I say if you think islam needs understanding, you should move to where you live under it. Put your money where your mouth is!
GENDER APARTHEID – this is the perfect description for this oppressive practice. I will begin saying it often in the hope that this “catchy” term is adopted by the media and concerned people everywhere. Let’s call it what it really is.
I’m very happy to learn of the brave womens’ demonstration. Shortly after the White House announced they were backing off on installing democracy in Afghanistan, I read of this new law. It is disgusting to me, but not surprising, that Obama, who is perhaps really a Muslim, would adopt this liberal mantra of moral relativism.
As usual, I feel that polygamy should be the target of our scorn, not necessarily Islam. Demography is destiny. Within 3 or 4 generations, American polygamists were beating their women and children, forcing them to cover from the neck down (to hide bruises) and dumping extra young boys in other locations.
Over there, jihad is the way the extra men are dumped. Violence toward all members of society is intrinsic to polygamy. It is not a consensual arrangement like Hefner’s harem. It is a 1300 year atrocity. The people are inbred due to the practice and are having unusually frequent birth defects.
Godspeed to these brave women! I am beyond disbelief that ANYONE could defend such heinous acts against females under the guise of Islamic culture and religion. Human rights should come first and any culture that acts otherwise surely sinks to the level of animals.
What is the most frustrating thing is wondering how in the world can we possibly help these woman/girls in their fight for true freedom? WHAT CAN WE DO??
Momof3, you took the words right outta my mouth!
God bless these brave women. Hopefully there will not be a backlash for their courage in the face of such horrible oppression.
Another great article, Phyllis. Thank you for keeping us informed!
Thank you. Enjoyed the report and appreciate your bravery. You are a poised writer without pretense who speaks up for the good of others.
Feminists are totally selfless. They will give up everything they are interested in for the sake of opposing Israel. The Taliban, to be sure, is basically concerned with persecuting its own women rather than fighting Israel, but it is part of the world of Islamic extremism, and so feminists have to support it.
As a soldier who helped make possible the first local elections in Afghanistan since the Soviet’s occupation of Afghanistan, I will happily take some of the credit.
I wonder if all those feminists from NOW would humble themselves so much to thank a soldier. Like it or not, *every* freedom we enjoy is because of some soldiers, past and present who were willing to put themselves on the line in support of democracy. I won’t be holding my breath!
“If a guy can’t rape his wife, who’s he gonna rape?”
We all know who said that, right? Wayne Ross, Palin’s pick for Attorney General. At least the Alaska State Legislature had the good sense to reject him (and her). Is it just me or would those two make pretty good Taliban?
13. Ed Drain,
God bless you, Ed and thank you from the bottom of my lil’ pea pickin’ heart. YOU ROCK, Sir! I salute you!
Great article. What cowards these men must be, despite their macho pretensions, to attack women. Real men don’t.
Phyllis Chesler has seen real misogyny up close and personal, which gives her a perspective that so many so-called feminists in the West lack.
Phyllis…Shalom!
Just a comment…
Besides all the sacrifices of the American military and its soldiers in Afghanistan, the best and bravest, please allow me, under present contrast, to highlight the decency and good wishes for that forsaken part of the world of a certain, and often vituperated Texan, the former and Honorable President of the United States: George W. Bush, and First Lady Laura Bush, polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies, and an advocate of woman’s rights in Afghanistan (not a feminist).
Whether he was “undermisunderstood”, I could read W’a loud and clear, as for now, between a bow to Frankenstein and the purposeful destruction of Homeland Security under “feminist” Janet Napolitano, don’t know what to read.
Why is the Muslim male such a mousedick, I can’t help but wonder. What makes him so terrified of women that he can’t he lower his guard and enjoy honest uncoerced female companionship for its own sake? Why such abysmal and unmanly lack of confidence?
Dr Bukk is correct that polygamy is the the core problem. But polygamy and Islam are inseparable. The subjugation and enslavement of women is an essential of the cowardly religion of hate.
I have to agree this was a well written article.
18. David Levavi
You wonder? Experts say Muslim males have the highest level of impotence. Boy molestation is endemic in that culture too. Apparently they can’t have a healthy relationship with the female organ as it comes either, for it must be mutilated first.
One thing no expert told me is that every time NBC does this program where this guy sets up a trap with the local police, forgot the name, with a supposedly underage girl, always a bunch of Pakis show up, I wonder why?