Misinterpretation Of The Taliban On Women's Rights

The Taliban on Women’s Rights

Ronan O’Connell

Hastings Senior High School

AP World Literature

Mrs. Elizabeth Sorgenfrei

May 5, 2023

Introduction

To ensure the future success of Afghanistan, outside organizations must convince the Taliban to recall their bans on women put into place under their misguided interpretation of Islamic law. ← Thesis too confusing

Who are the Taliban? To understand the danger women in Afghanistan face, one must understand the extreme cruelty of the Taliban. The Taliban originally emerged in 1994, and took power in 1996. Initially, many thought this new government would provide stability to Afghanistan, but they promptly enforced an oppressive hold on the country through their misinterpretation of Islamic law.

They have gone from holding political positions to not being allowed out of the house by themselves. Women in Afghanistan made much progress before the Taliban’s first takeover in 1996. The progress for women in these earlier years was introduced slowly. Ahmed-Ghosh writes, “Women saw in the 1930s and 1940s a cautious introduction of rights” (p. 6). This was because the leaders who pushed for women’s rights too much would be taken out of power or assassinated. Many Afghans believed these rights given to women were against their Islamic religion. These conservative Afghans were not pleased with the rapid introduction of rights to women. They particularly disliked the abolition of polygamy and bride price, and education for women. The response to these rapid changes is what slowed the introduction of women’s rights because the leaders were frightened to meet the same fate as their predecessors. In the late 1950’s it became clear to Afghanistan that women were needed to be economically active if Afghanistan were to successfully advance their society. During this time women became more involved in the community by obtaining jobs such as teachers, doctors, and nurses. However, it was clear that Afghanistan was in need of more change. Ahmed-Ghosh

Improvements continued, and women saw an incline of education and representatives in the government. Madeline Fitzgerald from U.S. News & World Report emphasizes this by saying, “Prior to 1979, women in Afghanistan enjoyed a level of freedom comparable to women in other countries” (pg. 2). One must understand this to truly acknowledge how deeply women are later affected by their mistreatment. All of the progress slowed when the Soviets invaded in 1979 and began a decade long war. This war saw the rise of many religious groups including the Mujahideen which took power in 1992 after the Soviets left in 1989. The Mujahideen severely mistreated women from 1992 until 1996, when the Taliban took over. Afghanistan believed it would be saved from being under the authority of a cruel government like the Mujahideen, but they were again