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 Afghan women was caught by her husband fleeing to

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.