Paying College Athletes Essay, Research Paper
Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan
What is freedom? By definition, freedom is not being under person s
control and having the power to do or say as one pleases. Many women presently
in Afghanistan, are living a meaningless life. No one has the right to take there
freedom away from them. Many government officials in Afghanistan find the
women s lives there worthless. In this paper I will tell you about how the women
are getting treated in Afghanistan.
On September 27,1996, a extremist militia, the Taliban, took control of
Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. There goal was to segregate the country so the
women had no rights also know as gender apartheid. On this date the women
there lost all of their freedom. This militia consists of young men and boys who
have been taught in refugee camps, their whole lives that this is the way of life.
These young men are not even aware they are morally wrong. They demanded
gender apartheid which took away all of the rights of women. Under Taliban rule,
women could not be seen, be heard, or be given the chance to go anywhere.
Very strict rules are pressed upon the women and if they are disobeyed, very
strict consequences will have to be served (RAWA).
Here in America people take for granted the little things, like being able to
go to school and become educated. The women in Afghanistan are not allowed
to be educated and are banished from the work place. In America if our officials
stated us that the women could not work, many families would be devastated.
The Talibans in Afghanistan have stripped the women of their own identity by
forcing them to wear burqas, clothing which covers the whole body except eyes.
When the women get sick, they cannot be examined by a male physicians; but at
the same time the women cannot practice medicine (The Feminist Majority).
Right now, women and children are starving, being abused, and dying
under the Taliban decrees. Widows are forced to beg for food because they are
not allowed to work. If a women were by chance seen without the barqas
covering her whole body, she would be beaten. For example, an elderly women s
ankle was showing and she was brutally beaten until her leg was broken. The
suicide rate is tremendous because in Afghanistan the women would rather die
then have to live under Taliban rule. Depression among woman is a horrible
mental sickness that the shadow of Taliban rule will not let them escape (RAWA).
An Afghanistan women who tried to Taliban orders by operating a home
school for girls; was shot and killed in front of her husband, daughter, and
students. Wrong messages are being sent out to the future people in
Afghanistan. The girls being born and growing up here have no hope, yet no one
is fighting for justice.
Recently, laws have been made restricting men. Women and men cannot
ride together on the bus and the women must be covered by a black curtain so
the drivers will not speak or see them. Little boys are hired to take the women s
money, thus preventing the driver to see them (The Feminist Majority).
The future for the women in Afghanistan does not look bright. The number
of unnecessary deaths of women and children are increasing everyday. The rule
against the men in the country is getting stronger and people are starting to turn
on their loved ones.
In 1998, a pregnant mother of three intervened when her husband began
to beat up one of his children. The following morning she was beaten severely,
he poured gasoline on her and set her on fire; she died in a hospital two days
later. That same year, an Afg
another district with another man. She was stoned to death , the man was
sentenced to 12 years in prison (RAWA).
We must help these people. So far, the United States and United Nations
campaign to stop gender apartheid in Afghanistan has helped to stop the Taliban
from being internationally recognized. The will not get the recognition they want
until the rights of women are restored.
The Catholic church teaches that: By deviating from the moral law a man
violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly
fellowship, and rebels against the truth. The catechism also teach that we
should help others that are less fortunate then ourselves. The most important
rule that the church teaches is to treat others the way want to be treated. The
Taliban people are breaking everyone of these rules in every aspect. The
greatest gift God gave to us was freewill and these men are taking it away from
the women. Having the gift of freewill also gives you many other gifts like, the
ability to choose who you want to marry, how many kids you want, and if you
want to work or not (Catechism of the Catholic Church).
One of the ways we can help these people is by e-mailing our government
officials and U.N. leaders. Also, just increasing other people s knowledge of the
situation can help dramatically; because, then others will spread the information.
A swatch can be also worn as is a symbol to remind us of the women in
Afghanistan. It is made out of the same material the burqa is made out of. They
are two dollars and the profit from the sales go to the campaign to end this
tragedy, and also the women in Afghan refugee camps (The Feminist Majority).
I feel that there has to be a way to stop this segregation. It seems like
when it comes to things that do not effect us we just close our eyes and pretend
that it is not happening. Even little things like praying for these people would help
because it would show others that this is really happening and something needs
to be done or else it is not going to go away. When I heard about this it made me
think if it happened this easily in Afghanistan it could probably happen her.
Although the likeliness of that happening is not good I am sure gender apartheid
happens in some other form here in America. I think if all people would just set
down and relies the things going on in other countries we could learn from it and
our country would become a better place.
It is obvious these desperate women do not have any rights or freedom.
An injustice has taken place in this part of the world. What would Jesus do? Are
we supposed to sit back and think this will pass by? We know this is morally
wrong, so we must take a stand and help a fellow human being. It is
incomprehensible to many what is going on in Afghanistan compared to the
sheltered life lived here. If the segregation never ends and the hate doe not stop
in the end the Afghan people will see that there is another world where gender,
race, height, and weight does not matter and everyone is free. The next time
freedom is fought, it should fought for the people who cannot see the glimmer of
hope.
Works Cited
Online. 8 October 2000: Available: www.feminist.org. Stop Gender Apartheid in
Afghanistan.
Online. 8 October 2000: Available: www.rawa.org. Woman-Burning Under
Taliban Rule.
Online. 8 October 2000: Available: www.rawa.org. Afghan Woman Stoned to
Death for Adultery.
Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church pp.431-433. Latin
text copyright 1994.