1

The Revolutionary Association

of the

Women of Afghanistan:

Lifting the Veil of Feminism in Afghanistan

Gianna C. Giorgi History Seminar

Professor David Thomas Spring 2009

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To the Fundamentalists:*

You can dim the lights of the candles whose glow warms my eyes

You can freeze the kisses on my lips

You can fill the air with curses

Or the terrible silence of my grief

You can steal my sister’s smile

You can put up a thousand walls

You can do all that

And I, I can fight.

* taken from a RAWA brochure

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In the introduction to their collection of Holocaust survivor testimonies, Lenore J.

Weitzman and Dalia Ofer ask “Why women?” The editors question why a book about

the Holocaust which focuses on the female perspective is worth writing since the

Holocaust undeniably affected millions of people regardless of gender. The questions

were answered by a declaration that women’s unique experiences are the missing element

to the whole story. 1 Weitzman and Ofer’s query could just as easily apply to the

transient nature of women’s lives in Afghanistan. Some historians inquire if separating

the victims of any volatile movement by gender only serves to further marginalize them.

It is irrefutable that both men and women have suffered as the Afghan government has

aggressively changed hands in the last 30 years. A woman who suffered at the hands of

the Taliban, Marianne Pearl (wife of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel) once

said “…we need to overcome cultural and religious differences…We are all going to

need courage and commitment. Let us inspire each other to goodness.” 2 Feminist

scholars find that it is necessary to specifically include the female experience when

telling this particular story; Marjorie Agosín wrote “human rights violations against

women must be recognized not only as features of the developing world but as a

continuum that cuts across cultures, races and ideologies.” 3 The most widely spread

image of Afghan women is that of subservient, docile, and obedient creatures dressed in

traditional head­to­toe garb with barely more than a small slit for their eyes. Gossman

wrote “while the Taliban’s reputation for repression against women is well­known, its

record of massacres, particularly in minority ethnic areas, has attracted surprisingly little

1 Lenore J. Weitzman and Dalia Ofer. Women and the Holocaust. Yale University Press, NJ, (1998), 1. 2 Melody Ermachild Chavis. Meena: Heroine of Afghanistan. St. Martin’s Press: NY, (2003),187. 3 Marjorie Agosín. Women, Gender, and Human Rights. Rutgers University Press, NJ, (2001), 2.

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attention” 4 . What has attracted even less attention in the West is the movement of

resistance among Afghan women; namely The Revolutionary Association of the Women

of Afghanistan, (RAWA). In its infancy, RAWA’s goal was to advance the position of

all women in their struggling nation through activism, essentially to their own peril,

defying Middle Eastern social mores and broadening educational opportunities. Later in

the late 1990’s when the Taliban regime took hold and intensified restrictions on women,

RAWA turned its efforts to fighting for what we in the Western world consider basic

human rights. What follows is an examination of RAWA, particularly the organization’s

methods and political views as well as an assessment of how members needed to alter

their tactics as the political climate of Afghanistan changed.

SECTION I – THE FOUNDING OF RAWA AND THE SOVIET OCCUPATION

In the late 1970’s, just before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a young law

student named Meena (in keeping with Afghan tradition, only her first name is used)

questioned why there were no organizations in Afghanistan that served women

exclusively. 5 Islamic feminists believe that “the Quran considers both the sexes as

having originated from one living being and hence, they enjoy the same status” 6 so

therefore, men and women should both be represented. She greatly admired Egyptian

feminist Nawal El Saadawi, who argued that personal status laws derived from Shari’a

laws are “based on patriarchal interpretations of Islam and contravene the spirit…of the

Quran and the intentions of the Prophet Muhammad,” 7 but saw no woman from her own

country demanding women’s rights. According to her biographer Melody Ermachild

4 Patricia Gossman. “Afghanistan in the Balance”. Middle East Report, No. 221 (Winter, 2001), 15. 5 Chavis, 55. 6 Asghar Ali Engineer. The Rights of Women in Islam. St. Martin’s Press, NY, (1992), 42. 7 Valentine M. Moghadam, ed., From Patriarchy to Empowerment. Syracuse University Press, NY, (2007).

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Chavis, with a group of like­minded women Meena founded “the first independent

feminist women’s organization in Afghanistan” 8 Jamiat Zan Inkalab Afghanistan, The

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in 1977. 9 RAWA’s

original mission was to unite Afghan women in a joint effort to liberate themselves so

they might later work towards building a better Afghanistan in conjunction with men’s

organizations.

In 1973, the popular King Zahir was overthrown by his former Prime Minister,

Prince Sardar Daoud. 10 In a bloodless coup and without an election, Daoud declared the

country would hence be a republic and named himself the President. 11 Once Daoud

assumed power, his pro­Soviet attitudes were made evident when the communist­oriented

group the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan backed him. 12 Afghan society

was split into two diametrically opposed groups. The Leftist Marxists/Maoists praised

women’s rights and equality, but Brodsky said, “it was primarily lip service…women’s

equality was supposed to follow other societal changes…” 13 When it came to women’s

rights, the Islamic fundamentalists only wanted to “protect [women’s] honor and dignity

by reversing the entrance women had made into education and employment and returning

them to the home.” 14 The conservatives on the Right took significant exception to

Communist ideology; Marsden said “the socialist system was seen as potentially

8 Anne E. Brodsky. With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Routledge, NY, (2003),43. 9 Ibid, 60. 10 Chavis, 33. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid, 37. 13 Brodsky, 43. 14 Ibid.

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undermining Islam through its secular nature…it was feared that women

would…abandon their Muslim values and…slide into immoral behavior.” 15

The conflicts between the two groups often turned violent; most notably, women

who wore Western dress were attacked with acid and as a result, college students held

protests to end such deplorable violence against women. 16 Brodsky credits these protests

and acts of violence as the catalysts that directly lead to the founding of RAWA.

Feminist historian Cheryl Bernard wrote “for many Afghan women, RAWA is the first

hint that the things they have thus far been told about women and their limits and frailties

and incapacities are, plainly and simply, not true”. 17 Lisa McLaughlin wrote that in the

beginning, RAWA served a dual purpose; to oppose both the Soviet occupation and the

fundamentalists on the Right “who attempted to curb women’s rights and deny them the

opportunity for social and economic advancement.” 18 Chavis wrote about the emotional

bonds the first RAWA members formed with each other that strengthened their resolve to

work together for a common goal, and that no topic of discussion was taboo. For this

reason, RAWA was stronger than many men’s organizations. 19 RAWA members are

nearly universally in support of the return of King Zahir, who has been living in exile.

Behjat, who was educated as a child in a RAWA school and later joined the organization

said his reign "though unremarkable, was one in which at least the people did not

15 Marsden, Peter. The Taliban: War, religion and the new order in Afghanistan. London, New York: Oxford University Press, (1999) quoted by Mary Anne Franks. “Obscene Undersides: Women and Evil between the Taliban and the United States” Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 1, Feminist Philosophy and the Problem of Evil (Winter, 2003), 139. 16 Brodsky, 43. 17 Cheryl Bernard. Veiled Courage. Broadway Books, NY, (2002), 43. 18 Lisa McLaughlin, “Transnational feminism and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan” in Media on the Move, ed., Daya Kishan Thussu. Routledge, NY, (2007), 223. 19 Brodsky, 62­63.

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suffer." 20 However, according to Khanna, unless the reinstallation of the former monarch

was “a stage in a permanent revolution, it is difficult to see how any lives could be

improved by [his return.]” 21

The first members of RAWA were educated women with husbands progressive

enough to allow them to meet. It is important to understand that while women’s rights

were protected under the Constitution, young girls and women were in effect at the whim

of their fathers and husbands. It is also worth noting that most of the educated women

came from upper class wealthy families. Education was essential; the Islamic feminists

of RAWA subscribed to a quote from the Quran which taught that “women are the

primary educators of their children; hence to educate one woman is to educate an entire

family”. 22 The educated members of the group decided they could first make a difference

by teaching their illiterate countrywomen how to read. Despite the fact that the

Constitution allowed for female education, only 8% of girls were enrolled in elementary

schools 23 . Location was another big factor in whether or not girls could attend school, so

Meena and her associates travelled to relative’s homes in rural villages to give free

reading classes. 24 Rawi, herself a RAWA member said “the women of RAWA believe

that education is power and Afghan women cannot fight for their rights as long as they

are not equipped with this, the sharpest weapon against ignorance and

fundamentalism”. 25

20 Fiona Symon, “Afghanistan’s Clandestine Army.” September 25, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk. 21 Ranjana Khanna. . “Taking a Stand for Afghanistan: Women and the Left” Signs, Vol. 28, No. 1, Gender and Cultural Memory (Autumn, 2002), 465. 22 Herbert L. Bodman and Nayereh Tohidi. Women in Muslim Societies. Lynne Rienner Publishers, CO, (1998), 241. 23 Brodsky, 63. 24 Ibid.. 25 Rawi, 119.

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It was not just literacy that the women of RAWA sought to spread, but also a

political awareness, evidenced by the fact that members “work with…family

members…to alter existing perceptions of women.” 26 The Soviet invasion of 1979

brought multiple changes that directly affected women; but Meena and her colleagues

“saw…brainwashing of young people by…Soviet youth groups.” 27 A RAWA member

Brodsky identified as Zarlasht (group members routinely used multiple pseudonyms to

protect their identities 28 ) said “[Soviet Youth Groups] encouraged youth to join…and

basically drained from them all their feelings toward their country and families…so

Meena was also trying to prevent that…especially women…not become unfeeling toward

their country and their people.” 29 One such group was the KhAD, (the Afghan version of

the KGB). RAWA member Nadia recalled to Brodsky that there were “spies in every

class [at school] and student’s outside activities were reported upon.” 30 Members and

supporters were imprisoned and tortured if they were caught with RAWA literature.

Meena, worried about being sent to prison or worse, fled to Quetta, Pakistan 31 and also

asked her relatives to burn or bury photographs of her in an effort to protect her identity

and therefore her family. 32 Many women fled to refugee camps in Pakistan where

RAWA had established education programs. 33 Since the borders of Afghanistan closed,

RAWA’s headquarters have moved to Peshawar, Pakistan. 34

26 Jennifer l. Fluri. “feminist nation building in Afghanistan: an examination of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).” feminist review 89, (2008), 46. 27 Brodsky, 52. 28 Ibid, 46. 29 Ibid, 52. 30 Ibid, 76. 31 Fluri, 39. 32 Brodsky, 79. 33 Ibid,148. 34 “Afghan Feminists Go Online.” March 23, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk.

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1981 was a banner year for RAWA. The French Socialist government offered

them what became their first piece of recognition by the Western world. Brodsky

reported that “Meena was invited to represent the resistance movement at their

congressional party meeting…” 35 At this time, Meena obtained a forged passport from

the Pakistani government and chose ‘Keshwar Kamel’ as her last name because it

sounded Indian and according to Chavis, an Indian­sounding last name would ensure a

safer passage through India to Europe. 36 The trip and the recognition were greatly

thrilling for Meena, particularly when “the Soviet delegation was so angered by her

statements that they walked out of the session.” 37 For a more than half a year after this,

Meena toured Europe raising awareness of the conditions in Afghanistan under the

Soviets. She prophetically warned the West against supporting fundamentalist groups

“rather than democratically minded ones.” 38

Also in 1981, whist ignoring threats to her life and warnings from her

contemporaries and despite the constant threat of capture, Meena saw the opportunity to

escalate RAWA’s measures to make their viewpoints known. Their political magazine,

Payam­e Zan (Women’s Message) vehemently opposed the Soviet occupation;

it…”documented the abuses and violence of the regime, placing a special focus on the

threats to and resistance of women.” 39 The first issue of Payam­e Zan featured a

poignant poem credited to Meena herself, (it was left unsigned to maintain the author’s

anonymity). The poem, entitled “I Shall Never Turn Back” read “no longer think of me

as weak and incapable…I’m the woman who has awakened, I’ve found my path and will

35 Brodsky, 82. 36 Chavis, 102. 37 Brodsky, 82. 38 Ibid, 83. 39 Ibid, 81.

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never turn back...” it includes dramatic imagery of Soviet violence against Afghani

citizens and the impassioned plea “O brother, no longer regard me as weak and incapable,

with all my strength I’m with you on the path of my land’s liberation…” 40 Similar to the

efforts of The White Rose, an underground anti­ Nazi youth resistance movement in the

1930’s, each issue of Payam­e­Zan was “hand typed and pasted onto the page along with

photos and hand drawings…the pages were then mimeographed in batches of about 300­

400 per issue and hand delivered…to members and supporters.” 41 Meena and a close

associate called Roya worked as co­conspirators, often breaking the Soviet­imposed

curfew in Kabul to distribute Payam­e Zan at great personal risk. 42 Bernard praises

Payam­e Zan’s status as a trailblazing publication:

If you go into Border’s or Barnes & Noble, you will find an entire wall covered with any imaginable sort of magazine…it’s not like that in Afghanistan…Payam­ e Zan was striking, noteworthy and unique…it was the only magazine that provided independent, intellectual discussions of current events, and as such it was read by men and women alike…women were its creators…[and that was] especially remarkable. 43

The publishing and distribution of Payam­e Zan would be the last major advance in

RAWA’s tactical arsenal Meena would live to see.

There is a great deal of confusion about Meena’s death. Essentially, only one

thing is clear: the feminist patriot was murdered. Chavis wrote that in February of 1987,

Meena was summoned away from her home where she had been organizing a mass

sewing project for Malalai hospital, which is described as RAWA’s most important

project; the hospital would treat women victims of land mines, and bombs but also had a

40 Chavis, 96­97. 41 Brodsky, 81. 42 Chavis, 97. 43 Bernard, 45.

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pediatrics unit where babies were born. 44 Chavis reported some women present that day

remember Meena receiving a letter, others a phone message that called her away in a

hurry. Neither Meena nor her two male companions were ever seen again. 45 RAWA

members knew immediately that something was wrong because Meena would not have

willingly left her children for and extended period of time. Brodsky said that Meena’s

disappearance caused many problems because she kept so much vital information about

the group’s activities and member’s identities to herself that it proved very difficult to

continue without her. 46 Six months passed when, as Chavis described it, the distraught

women of RAWA learned from a Pakistani newspaper that Meena and the two men had

been killed while attempting to cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with

what was described as “a large amount of explosives.” 47 Brodsky and Bernard’s reports

differ with Chavis. According to Brodsky and Bernard, two men with both KhAD and

RAWA ties were arrested while making an attempt to smuggle explosives into Pakistan

and during their interrogation, they confessed to killing Meena and the two men with

whom she was last seen. 48 Both accounts agree that a delegation of RAWA members

went to the Pakistani police to claim Meena’s remains, if they could be identified as the

slain leader. A police officer told them that the three bodies had been uncovered in a

mass grave and their hands had been tied behind their backs, the bodies were badly

decomposed by the time they were found. 49 Bernard said that from the conditions of the

bodies, it was clear they had been tortured before they died. 50 One member, hopeful to

44 Chavis, 142. 45 Ibid, 147. 46 Brodsky, 92. 47 Chavis, 151. 48 Brodsky, 92. 49 Chavis, 153. 50 Bernard, 35.

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the end that Meena had not been the woman found in the grave, identified her silver

wedding band and it was therefore officially known that Meena was dead. 51 Asifa, a

RAWA member since her early teen years declared, “from the very beginning, RAWA’s

main goals were freedom, democracy and social justice for everyone…Meena gave us the

confidence in ourselves to speak up, and we should still do that.” 52 RAWA was able to

survive its martyred leader’s death and continued to fight in the spirit of Afghani

nationalism to eject the Soviets from power. Meena is a shining example of the kind of

activist which Professor Madhavi Sunder talked about in her 2003 article for the Yale

Law Journal. Sunder wrote “women…working in Muslim communities on the front

lines of the war against fundamentalism are laying the groundwork for a new vision of

human rights that would pierce the veil of religious sovereignty.” 53 To this day, RAWA

reports it has at least 2,000 members inside and outside Afghanistan 54 and at rallies and

demonstrations, members can be seen holding posters showing the image of their

martyred leader. It is not uncommon in Afghanistan for political leaders to be

assassinated, but “in Meena’s case it has gone beyond that­she has been transmuted into a

legend, into the kind of heroine rare in the political history of women.” 55

SECTION II­ ENTER THE TALIBAN

To abbreviate, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 and by 1992

the US­backed Mujahideen had assumed power. According to Professor Jennifer Fluri, at

first RAWA supported the Mujahideen because of the group’s resistance towards the

Soviet occupation. However, Fluri also said that the Mujahideen “insurgency began to

51 Chavis, 154. 52 Ibid, 157. 53 Madhavi Sunder. “Piercing the Veil”, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 112, No. 6 (Apr., 2003), 1410. 54 “Afghan Feminists Go Online.” 55 Bernard, 36.

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take the shape of Islamic extremism…[RAWA] became increasingly concerned with the

amount of financial support the extremists were receiving from the United States over

more politically moderate groups.” 56 It is important to note that RAWA did not support

the Mujahideen specifically because they identified it as an extremist group. As a matter

of basic ideology, RAWA members felt that “extremist/fundamentalist

groups…marginalize [women] from contemporary mainstream politics” 57 even if said

group claims to have a “political commitment to women’s rights, secularism and

democracy.” 58 In 1994, an Islamic fundamentalist group known as the Taliban captured

the city of Kandahar which lead to a steam roll effect as they took other major cities

including the capital city of Kabul in 1996. 59

Starting in 1923, women were given rights equal to men in Afghanistan’s

Constitution. 60 Valentine Moghadam contended that gender plays an especially strong

political role and in fact becomes politicized when patriarchal societies undergo a

restructuring process because different factions within the culture clash and made it a

point to say that the events in Afghanistan exemplify this idea. 61 Even the pro­

Communist government of the 1970’s made provisions for women’s rights; the 1977

Constitution according to Saba Gul Khattak, said “the entire people of Afghanistan,

women and men without discrimination have equal rights and obligations before the

law” 62 . Khattak also reported that the Communists wanted to “remove the unjust

56 Fluri, 39. 57 Ibid 40. 58 Ibid. 59 RosemarieSkaine. The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co.:NC (2002), 4. 60 Saba Gul Khattak. “Afghan Women: Bombed to Be Liberated?” Middle East Report 222, (Spring, 2002), 19. 61 Jacqueline Siapno, “Gender Relations and Islamic Resurgence in Mindanao, Southern Philippines” in Camillia Fawzi El­Solh and Judy Mabro, eds., Muslim Women’s Choices. Berg, RI, (1994), 197. 62 Khattak, 19.

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patriarchal feudalistic relations between husband and wife.” 63 In the early 1990’s before

the Taliban, women accounted for 70% of the countries teachers, 50% of government

employees, and held 40% of medical jobs. 64 All of this forward­thinking legislation

ended when the Taliban assumed absolute control of the government. One of the very

first orders the Taliban enacted when the regime assumed control of Kabul was regarding

women; girls were removed from schools, women were not allowed to be employed

outside of their homes and mandated they wear the full­length veil whenever they were

outside of their homes and also needed to be escorted by a male relative. 65 Skaine made

the point that some women were unable to afford a burqa and many did not have any

male relatives left, these women remained helpless, indoors. 66 Agosín further criticized

these laws, saying they were directly robbing women of “economic, physical and

intellectual independence” and she added that such laws were unambiguously

contradictory to principles implemented by the groundbreaking Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 67

The UN Convention was adopted in 1979 by the General Assembly and is in

essence a bill of rights for women; “it defines what constitutes discrimination against

women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.” 68 It is the

first piece of UN legislation that applies specifically to ensuring international rights for

women and was “framed by people from diverse cultures, religions, and nationalities and

intended to take into account such factors as religion and cultural traditions of

63 Khattak, 19. 64 Vincent Iacopino and Zohra Rasekh. “Education, a Health Imperative: The Case of Afghanistan” Health and Human Rights, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1998), 101. 65 Agosín, 15. 66 Skaine, 63­64. 67 Agosin, 15. 68 http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

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countries.” 69 The Convention was groundbreaking because instead of making allowances

for religio­cultural differences, Article 2 says”

States Parties [must]…take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women…[the Convention is therefore] culturally neutral and universal in…applicability. 70

It is important to note that while the UN has a long track record of working towards

gender equality worldwide, RAWA as a women’s organization has not received any

funding from the UN for any of its many programs. 71 At this point, members “fear that

its education, health care and financial assistance programmes are in jeopardy.” 72

Perhaps something even more worrisome than the laws making veiling

mandatory, under the Taliban, women were not to be treated my male medical

professionals which “severely curtailed health care access for women.” 73 Accordingly,

since female physicians (along with all other women) were not allowed to work, (or were

“severely scarce” 74 ) women and girls were not getting the medical care they needed. 75 In

fact, in a 2006 examination of the public health records during the Taliban regime found

the “estimated maternal mortality ratios in Afghanistan range from 400/100,000 live

births in…Kabul to 6,500/100,00 live births in…remote…Badakshan, which is the

highest ever recorded in the world.” 76 Emadi reported that in lieu of taking them to

69 Moghadam, 8. 70 Ibid. 71 Krista Hunt. The Strategic Co­optation of Women’s Rights. International Feminist Journal of Politics. April 2002, 117. 72 Ibid. 73 Stephen Klasen and Claudia Wink. “A Turning Point in Gender Bias in Mortality? An Update on the Number of Missing Women” Population and Development Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun., 2002), 296. 74 Skaine, 64. 75 Moghadam, 266. 76 Margaret M. Kitt, Gulmakai Khalid, Shakira Rahimi, Brian J. McCarthy “An Occupational Health Services Initiative at a Women's Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan” Public Health Reports (1974­), Vol. 121, No. 6 (Nov. ­ Dec., 2006), 651.

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medical clinics, it was common for men to take their wives and daughter to shrines for

spiritual healing or to a local practitioner of holistic medicine, called hakim. 77 Emadi

went on further to say that in emergencies, a woman’s husband or father would have to

act as an “intermediary” between the patient and the doctor; “the doctor must thus

diagnose the patient’s condition and recommend treatment, often without meeting the

woman face to face.” 78 Agosín said “even when women have access to health care, their

diagnosis and treatment may be compromised because they have not bee able to benefit

from the scientific information derived from research…data from men cannot be

extrapolated to women if women have been excluded from clinical trials.” 79 Western

women and indeed women all over the globe face this problem of the male­centricity of

the medical community and clinical trials, but it is a more significant problem for women

who cannot or are not allowed to ask questions or for the opinion of another doctor. The

burqa itself, it is believed, causes a series of health problems and exacerbates pre­existing

problems, it “is unhealthy for women with asthma or hypertension…[it] may cause eye

problems, poor…hearing, skin rash, headaches, increased cardiac problems…hair loss,

and depression.” 80 In spite of all of these health issues that are not only treatable, but

curable, women feared being beaten for any public misstep, they rarely sought medical

attention.

Skaine gives an extensively detailed list (see Appendix III) of the restrictions the

Taliban placed on Afghanis and the number of restrictions that pertain specifically to

women is unambiguous. She agreed with many other scholars in saying the interpretation

77 Hafizullah Emadi. Repression, Resistance, and Women in Afghanistan. (Connecticut: Praegar Publishers, 2002), 47. 78 Ibid. 79 Agosín, 143. 80 Skaine, 71.

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of Islam the Taliban follow is not only and incorrect interpretation, but in fact a

bastardization of and an insult to “true Islam.” 81 One highly respected Quranic scholar,

Dr. Jamal Badawi said that despite what the Taliban have done in Afghanistan, according

to the Quran, “education is not only a right, but a responsibility for all males and

females.” 82 Badawi also said both men and women may collaborate in politics and other

public affairs. Additionally, while the Quran stressed modest dress (for males and

females alike), it “does not mention seclusion of women or covering the face in a

burqa.” 83 Shortly after taking power, the Taliban (despite edicts against addiction)

“turned Afghanistan into the largest opium factory in the world, producing 70% of the

world’s heroin supply.” 84

The edicts that banned women from classrooms effected boys as well. Skaine

said that since the majority of teachers were female, there were fewer people qualified to

teach boys. 85 To this end, a 2000 survey taken by UNICEF found that “90 percent of

girls and 75 percent of boys were not attending school in Taliban­controlled areas,” 86

according to another study, taken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization, Afghanistan was ranked the nation with the third­highest female

illiteracy rate (79.2% in 2000) behind Niger (91.7% in 2000) and Burkina Faso (86. 9%

in 2000). 87

SECTION III – SINCE 2001

81 Skaine, 42. 82 Sally Armstrong. Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. Four Walls Eight Windows, NY, (2002), 65. 83 Ibid, 67. 84 Ibid, 58. 85 Skaine, 65. 86 Ibid. 87 Ibid, 67.

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After the Taliban were removed from power, conditions for women and girls were

supposed to improve but have not; it is suggested that ‘the removal of the Taliban has not

achieved the liberation of Afghan women...women could be more insecure at present than

before September 11.” 88 In a recent article for The National, it was said, “despite doing

extensive social work, RAWA describes itself as a political organization, not a non­

governmental organization.” 89 It is important to understand that RAWA often disagrees

with both the Islamic fundamentalists as well as the Western­supported officials; Sands

said “[RAWA] members now believe US­backed warlords and officials are among those

who want them dead.” 90 Even though Hamid Karzai (the then Prime Minister) signed the

2002 Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, which was drafted by both

Afghan women as well as eminent Western feminists such as Gloris Steinem, Betty

Friedan and Catherine Deneuve the status quo has remained unchanged. 91 Suspiciously,

the declaration was signed by Karzai at a reception honoring the then Senator Joseph

Biden. The document, if enforced, would grant full equality between men and women,

including equal protection under the law, open education, freedoms of movement,

speech, political participation and would reject the model of mandatory veiling. It is

impossible to discount the effect of the Taliban upon the female population of

Afghanistan when it is considered that among the regime’s first actions after taking

power of Kabul in 1996 was to institute a strict Islamic code which banned women from

employment outside of their homes and mandated women adhere a stringent dress code;

they now had to wear the traditional, full­length chaudri whenever they were out in

88 Khattak, 23. 89 Chris Sands. “Secret Society Campaigns for Female Rights.” The National, September 22, 2008. 90 Ibid. 91 Armstrong, 187.

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public. 92 Emadi said that “the perception of women’s roles in society is largely

determined by a combination of tribal cultural mores and religious precepts as understood

by men”. 93 These tribal cultural mores Emadi mentions play a major part in keeping

women acquiescent. Additionally, “women [were] brought up to believe in their own

natural inferiority”. 94 The oppression of women in the area was used as a justification by

the Bush administration to invade Afghanistan in 2001. 95 However, two years after the

invasion, an Amnesty International report held that the “Afghan Transitional

Administration, led by President Hamid Karzai, have proved unable to protect women” 96 .

The report expounds upon the dangers women faced every day despite First Lady Laura

Bush’s jubilant declaration that “women are no longer imprisoned in their homes” 97 . In

an interview for ZMagazine, RAWA member known as Mariam told reporter Jason

Podur:

When the US invaded…many Afghans appreciated their presence and were happy to get rid of the Taliban's oppressive rule. They thought ­ the Taliban had been eliminated, the international community worked, they were promised a better life, democracy and freedom and an end to the fundamentalist groups. Within months, it was clear that the US government still continues its wrong policy of supporting the fundamentalists in Afghanistan. We saw that the US rely on the fundamentalists of the Northern Alliance to fight another fundamentalist band ­ the Taliban. 98

92 Ralph J. Magnus. “Afghanistan in 1996: the Year of the Taliban” Asian Survey 37, No. 2, A Survey of Asia in 1996: Part II ( Feb., 1997), 113. 93 Emadi, 29. 94 Ibid, 32. 95 Mariam Rawi. “Betrayal”. Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 12, No. 23, Sexuality, Rights and Social Justice (May, 2004), 116. 96 Ibid. 97 Ibid, 116. 98 Jason Podur, “The NATO Occupation and Fundamentalism: and Interview with Mariam of RAWA.” ZMagazine, August 14, 2008. http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18429

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Valentine Moghadam asserts that Afghanistan cannot become a fully modernized

nation without including women in the rebuilding process. 99 Historically, Professor

Moghadam says, women have been prevented from receiving rights by three forces

which she identifies as “the patriarchal nature of gender and social relations, [which are]

deeply embedded in the tribal community, and…the existence of a weak central

state…[and] opportunistic intervention on the part of neighboring countries and great

powers;” the latter, Moghadam said, intensified tribal conflicts, and reinforced Afghani

patriarchy and also stalls development. 100

SECTION IV – WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED?

In 1997, RAWA reached out for help to a world audience by launching its

website 101 (www.RAWA.org) in keeping with their plan to further publicize their views

and to raise awareness and funds. Since only about 25,000 people (which represents

about 0.1 percent of the total population) in Afghanistan have internet access, the

information on RAWA’s website is directed towards outsiders. 102 The website outlines

RAWA’s goals and has an archive link that leads to some news reports from Payam­e

Zan which have been translated into English, 103 (the publication has yet to be wholly

translated into English, but it is available in Pashto, Urdu and Dari 104 ) It also includes

graphic images of atrocities that were taken by members and smuggled into Pakistan. 105

These images are not for the squeamish but by the same token are not overly

inflammatory. Fluri said, “the use of the internet…facilitated the development of a

99 Moghadam, 269. 100 Ibid, 270. 101 McLaughlin, 225. 102 Ibid, 223. 103 www.RAWA.org 104 McLaughlin, 223. 105 “Afghan Feminists Go Online.”

21

transnational network of supporters…the financial support received from this network

helped RAWA to expand many of its programmes…” 106 The website was a powerful

window into the world of women in Afghanistan for women in the West. It was briefly

featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and that same evening, over three hundred

thousand women visited the site, causing it to break down. American web advisors

assisted in fixing the overloaded browser. 107 Bernard praised RAWA for its savvy:

RAWA was smart enough to recognize what a powerful tool the Taliban handed them when it made Western women angry; the group was creative enough to realize that cosmopolitan Western feminists could be the natural allies of women who were forcibly being kept at the opposite end of history’s spectrum. 108

While many view RAWA’s anti­Taliban efforts as unsuccessful, feminist Nikki

Keddie disagrees. Keddie argued that RAWA, in conjunction with other feminist groups

including the international movement Women Living under Muslim Law and the

American group known as the Feminist Majority, “campaigned effectively against the

Taliban, which helped prevent most countries from recognizing the government.” 109

Bernard agrees with Keddie and adds that RAWA played a substantial role in giving the

world media a glimpse inside Taliban governed Afghanistan; “using the anonymity of the

veil, RAWA took secret photographs.” Bernard pointed out that a BBC/CNN

documentary called Behind the Veil used a substantial amount of footage shot by RAWA

operatives. 110 McLaughlin’s praise of RAWA’s reconnaissance missions echoed Bernard

and Keddie; “the burqa is used by RAWA…to hide materials, such as books, that are

necessary items for the clandestine schools which they operate…they have used it as a

106 Fluri, 40. 107 Bernard, 186. 108 Ibid. 109 Nikki R. Keddie. Women in the Middle East: Past and Present. Princeton University Press, NJ, (2007) 118. 110 Bernard, 238.

22

vehicle for smuggling still and video cameras in order to survey conditions in

Afghanistan…” 111 Saira Shah, a BBC reporter took part in this clandestine documentary,

donning a burqa to go undercover. In a 2001 article for BBC online, Shah commented on

how restrictive she found a burqa to be, “it was difficult to breath, and the little crocheted

grill for her eyes made it difficult to cross roads.” 112 The article also gives the ghastly

details of the public execution of a woman in a Kabul football stadium witnessed by the

camera crew. 113 Another article from BBC online called this piece of footage RAWA’s

“greatest media coup.” 114 Without the aid of RAWA, this documentary would not have

been made and the average Westerner world would not be aware of the horrific

conditions for women in Afghanistan; “RAWA turned a simple roll of film into a

powerful weapon…the laughing face of a teenage Talib, dangling the chopped­off hands

of his victims by a string­these…images were the equivalent of a massive military strike

against the Taliban.” 115

This alone is direct evidence of the effectiveness of the organization. They may

not have succeeded in ousting an unpopular government, but they most certainly

succeeded in letting the West know about the conditions women faced. Scholars such as

Bernard believe all women’s organizations can learn something from RAWA because the

group is efficient at deciphering people’s unique abilities and what each has to offer to

the organization; “acknowledge the unique contributions of others without

rivalry…accept help, define your principles inclusively: these elements of RAWA’s very

successful formula are worth studying…by other women’s movements, including those

111 McLaughlin, 230. 112 “Inside Afghanistan: Behind the Veil.” June 27, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk. 113 Ibid. 114 Symon. “Afghanistan’s Clandestine Army.” . 115 Bernard, 238., see Appendix V.

23

who work in modern democratic settings in the West.” 116 Gloria Steinem famously

equated the Butterfly Effect to Afghani women when she said, “We each have a lot of

power…together we make one hell of a butterfly.” 117 In the CNN interview she went on

to say that “gender apartheid is as serious as racial apartheid…the shared characteristics

of violent societies is a polarization of gender roles…we need to speak up as much for

women as we would for a racial or religious group…” 118

RAWA has received criticism from foreigners particularly because of their name.

There are organizations around the globe that have refused to give RAWA their support

specifically because of the word Revolutionary. Bernard suggested that the word sounds

dated as well as radical. 119 Still, the group has remained loyal to the decision made long

ago and have resolved to keep RAWA as their title, citing it keeps them in touch with

their ideals; “so many sleazy people have changed sides so often, so many groups have

shamelessly reinvented themselves…and they don’t want to be like that.” 120 Moreover,

as they are a democratic organization, a change of name would take debate, referendum,

and would consume the time of members that could be more profitably spent

elsewhere. 121

SECTION V – IN CONCLUSION

RAWA maintains it’s identity as a women­organized group by disallowing men

from becoming members. 122 Fluri named three ways I which men are otherwise tied to

the organization; “a kinship bond; as children growing up in RAWA­run orphanages or

116 Bernard, 68. 117 Armstrong, 188. 118 Ibid. 119 Bernard, 187. 120 Ibid, 188. 121 Ibid. 122 Fluri, 40.

24

schools; or in political solidarity with RAWA’s nationalist goals.” 123 The professor went

on to say that men linked with RAWA are not patriarchs or their wives’ overseers; they

“do not obtain any decision­making or powerful position within the organization.” 124

Furthermore, there are several examples in history of nationalist movements that gave

women an active role in resistance but without fail, “once political independence was

achieved, women’s participation in the nation was relegated to the margins…as bio­social

reproducers of the nation through their roles as wives and mothers.” 125 Male supporters

serve many purposes within the organization including recruiting new members. 126 Men

also help the organization by acting as male escorts (mahram); “RAWA reworks gender

relations…and uses these men as an auxiliary functioning unit to the organizational

whole. 127 Their reluctance to have male members is not to be confused with an overall

anti­male attitude, though. Bernard made the exciting observation that many feminist

groups treat men with derision, which is quite the opposite of RAWA’s attitudes towards

them. 128 Additionally, there are strict regulations for membership that prevent foreign­

born women as well as men from joining; “only Afghan women who currently live in

Afghanistan or as refugees in Pakistan can become members of RAWA.” 129 Fluri

explains that these regulations are in place to ensure and maintain an Afghan nationalist

mindset between members. There are not regulations preventing membership of women

123 Fluri, 40. 124 Ibid, 41. 125 Ibid. 126 Ibid. 127 Ibid. 128 Bernard, 68. 129 Fluri, 42.

25

from different tribes, or sects of Islam or any other ethnic or social group. 130 Since

RAWA does not allow foreign­born women to join, there is a school of thought that”

the depiction of American women as free and liberated compared to depictions of Afghan women as restricted and oppressed serves to divide women and limit the possibility of uncovering the ways in which women in both countries are silenced and objectified in definitions of this conflict. 131

Because of the safety risks, since Meena’s death, no one has publicly proclaimed

to be the new “leader” of the organization. Nevertheless, there are women who are

willing to be seen and heard as a voice of opposition. In December of 2008, The

Guardian focused an article on politician Malalai Joya who has according to her,

survived four assassination attempts and has also received international awards for

bravery. 132 Joya told The Guardian, “I live in hiding and move from one safe house to

another, never spending more than one night in the same location.” 133 In 2003, Joya was

barred from the Loya Jirga (the constitutional assembly), “I was asked to speak for the

‘young generation’…after one minute [she was allotted three minutes] my microphone

was cut because I publicly denounced the presence of…warlords, criminals and drug

traffickers in the assembly.” 134 Joya was protected from a lynch mob by a group of

women who surrounded her. Joya fights for women’s rights for several reasons;

“political activism is in my blood…when the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979 I

was four years old…we lived in poverty­stricken refugee camps until I was 18…” 135

Joya also noted the numbers of women who have committed suicide and acts of self­

immolation have risen to a never before seen level; between January and June 2008, 47

130 Fluri, 42. 131 Hunt, 119. 132 “A Brave Woman in Afghanistan.” The Guardian Weekly. December 1, 2008. 133 Ibid. 134 Ibid. 135 Ibid.

26

women committed self­immolation. Moreover, the number of gang­rapes has risen and

they are reported nearly every day. 136

While the future is very uncertain for the women of RAWA, they maintain an

attitude of tempered optimism. Chavis wrote, “when I first read RAWA’s website, it

said, ‘Welcome to the Website of the most oppressed women in the world’, they are the

bravest women in the world.” 137 RAWA has been a positive influence for social change

in Afghanistan since its origin. Its methods and tactics have evolved as needed

throughout the years but the message has been constant: women have the unadulterated

right to equality and there are those who will not stop until that equality is universal and

guaranteed to every citizen of the world. Using their history as evidentiary proof, it is

certain that as long as the women of RAWA are breathing, the movement will continue

and they will settle for nothing less than “equal rights for women in Afghanistan, political

self­determination, secular democracy and freedom from fundamentalism.” 138 Her death

may have been over two decades ago, but Meena’s spirit continues to inspire. Chavis

compared her to Rosa Parks: “her brave and unprecedented action went far beyond her

own life and will always be honored”; Harriet Tubman: “journeying back into danger

over and over again to lead others to safety”; and Susan B. Anthony: “she had a vision of

what women could accomplish that they will never stop striving to acheieve’” 139

136 Ibid. 137 Chavis, 188. 138 “Secret Service.” The New Internationalist Magazine, 400. (May 2007). http://www.newint.org. 139 Chavis, 189.

27

Works Cited (in order of appearance)

Lenore J. Weitzman and Dalia Ofer. Women and the Holocaust. Yale University Press, NJ, (1998).

Melody Ermachild Chavis. Meena: Heroine of Afghanistan. St. Martin’s Press, NY, (2003).

Marjorie Agosín. Women, Gender, and Human Rights. Rutgers University Press, NJ, (2001).

Patricia Gossman. “Afghanistan in the Balance”. Middle East Report, No. 221 (Winter, 2001).

Asghar Ali Engineer. The Rights of Women in Islam. St. Martin’s Press, NY, (1992), 42. Valentine M. Moghadam, ed., From Patriarchy to Empowerment. Syracuse University Press, NY, (2007).

Moghadam, Valentine M., ed., From Patriarchy to Empowerment. Syracuse University Press, NY, (2007).

Anne E. Brodsky. With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Routledge, NY, (2003).

Marsden, Peter. The Taliban: War, religion and the new order in Afghanistan. London, New York: Oxford University Press, (1999) quoted by Mary Anne Franks. “Obscene Undersides: Women and Evil between the Taliban and the United States” Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 1, Feminist Philosophy and the Problem of Evil (Winter, 2003).

Cheryl Bernard. Veiled Courage. Broadway Books, NY, (2002).

Lisa McLaughlin, “Transnational feminism and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan” inMedia on the Move, ed., Daya Kishan Thussu. Routledge, NY, (2007).

Fiona Symon, “Afghanistan’s Clandestine Army.” September 25, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk.

Ranjana Khanna. . “Taking a Stand for Afghanistan: Women and the Left” Signs, Vol. 28, No. 1, Gender and Cultural Memory (Autumn, 2002).

Herbert L. Bodman and Nayereh Tohidi. Women in Muslim Societies. Lynne Rienner Publishers, CO, (1998).

28

Jennifer L. Fluri, “feminist nation building in Afghanistan: an examination of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).” feminist review 89, (2008).

“Afghan Feminists Go Online.” March 23, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk.

Madhavi Sunder. “Piercing the Veil”, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 112, No. 6 (Apr., 2003).

RosemarieSkaine. The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co.:NC (2002).

Saba Gul Khattak. “Afghan Women: Bombed to Be Liberated?” Middle East Report 222, (Spring, 2002).

Jacqueline Siapno, “Gender Relations and Islamic Resurgence in Mindanao, Southern Philippines” in Camillia Fawzi El­Solh and Judy Mabro, eds., Muslim Women’s Choices. Berg, RI, (1994).

Vincent Iacopino and Zohra Rasekh. “Education, a Health Imperative: The Case of Afghanistan” Health and Human Rights, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1998).

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

Krista Hunt. The Strategic Co­optation of Women’s Rights. International Feminist Journal of Politics. April 2002.

Stephen Klasen and Claudia Wink. “A Turning Point in Gender Bias in Mortality? An Update on the Number of Missing Women” Population and Development Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun., 2002).

Margaret M. Kitt, Gulmakai Khalid, Shakira Rahimi, Brian J. McCarthy “An Occupational Health Services Initiative at a Women's Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan” Public Health Reports (1974­), Vol. 121, No. 6 (Nov. ­ Dec., 2006).

Hafizullah Emadi. Repression, Resistance, and Women in Afghanistan. Praegar Publishers: CT, (2002).

Sally Armstrong. Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. Four Walls Eight Windows, NY, (2002).

Chris Sands. “Secret Society Campaigns for Female Rights.” The National, September 22, 2008.

Ralph J. Magnus. “Afghanistan in 1996: the Year of the Taliban” Asian Survey 37, No. 2, A Survey of Asia in 1996: Part II ( Feb., 1997).

29

Mariam Rawi. “Betrayal”. Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 12, No. 23, Sexuality, Rights and Social Justice (May, 2004).

Jason Podur, “The NATO Occupation and Fundamentalism: and Interview with Mariam of RAWA.” ZMagazine, August 14, 2008. http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18429

Nikki R. Keddie. Women in the Middle East: Past and Present. Princeton University Press, NJ, (2007).

“Inside Afghanistan: Behind the Veil.” June 27, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk.

Fiona Symon. “Afghanistan’s Clandestine Army.” September 25, 2001. http://www.BBC.co.uk.

“A Brave Woman in Afghanistan.” The Guardian Weekly. December 1, 2008.

“Secret Service.” The New Internationalist Magazine, 400. (May 2007). http://www.newint.org.

30

APPENDIX I*

A Look at Afghanistan (as of 2001 unless otherwise noted)

Number Percent of Population

Population 24,813,057 0­14 years 11,314,757 42.2

male 5,775,921 21.5 female 5,538,836 20.7

15­64 years 14,750,810 55.01 male 7,644,242 28.51

female 7,106,568 26.5 65 years and over 747,490 2.79

male 394,444 1.47 female 353,046 1.32

Life Expectancy in Years population 46.2 male 46.97 female 45.47

Birth rate/1,000 41.42 Death rate/1,000 17.72

Infant Mortality rate/1,000 live births 147.02

Literacy Rate (1999, persons over 15) Population 31.5 male 47.2 female 15

*reprinted in Rosemarie Skaine, The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co., NC (2002), 6. (original source: CIA, “The World Factbook 1999 and 2001­Afghanistan,” Jan. 1, 1999 and Jan. 1, 2001. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html)

31

APPENDIX II*

Taliban Policy Effect on Women at a Glance

Effect Response (%)

Employed before Taliban 62

Decline in Physical Health Status 71

Decline in Mental Health Status 81

Decline in Access to Health Care, (1996­1998) 62

Symptoms of PTSD 42

Symptoms of Anxiety 86

One or More Family Members Killed 84

They or Family Member detained of Abused 68

Extremely Restricted Social Activities 68

Support for Women’s Human Rights 96

* reprinted in Rosemarie Skaine, The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co., NC (2002), 70. (original source: Zohra Rasekh, Heidei M. Bauer, Michele M. Manos, Vincent Iacopino, “Women’s Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan,” JAMA, 280:5, Aug. 5, 1998, 449­455.)

32

APPENDIX III*

Restrictions and Decrees Imposed by the Taliban

• Complete ban on women’s work outside the home.

• Complete ban on women’s activities outside the home without a male escort

(must be a close male relative, mahram)

• Ban on women dealing with male shopkeepers

• Ban on women being treated by male doctors

• Ban on women studying at schools

• Requirement that women always be covered from head to toe by a burqa

• Ban on the use of cosmetics

• Ban on women talking or shaking hands with non­mahram males

• Ban on women laughing loudly

• Ban on high­heeled shoes (heels make noise with each step and men must not

hear women’s footsteps)

• Ban on women’s presence in radio, television or public gathering of any kind

• Ban on women wearing brightly colored clothes.

• Compulsory painting of all windows, so women cannot be seen from the outside

• Ban on photographing or filming women

• Ban on listening to music (for men and women)

• Ban of watching movies, television and videos (for men and women)

• Ban on clapping at sports events (only the chant Allah­o­Akbar is allowed)

*Source: Rosemarie Skaine, The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co., NC (2002), 156, original source: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, “Some of the Restrictions Imposed by Taliban on Women in Afghanistan.” Available: http://rawa.org/rules.htm, Apr. 3, 2000.

33

APPENDIX IV*

The Main Goals and Objectives of RAWA (as of 2001)

• To struggle against the Taliban and Jehadi types of the fundamentalists and their

foreign masters.

• To establish freedom, democracy, peace, and women’s rights in Afghanistan.

• To establish an elected secularist government based on democratic values.

• To unite all freedom­loving and democratic forces and to struggle against all

those who collaborate with the fundamentalists.

• To struggle against those traitors who want to disintegrate Afghanistan by causing

tribal and religious wars.

• To launch educational, health care and income generation projects in and outside

the country.

• To support the freedom­loving movements all over the world.

*Source: Rosemarie Skaine, The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland & Co., NC (2002), 139, original source: RAWA, “Our Main Goals and Objectives,” available: http://rawa.fancy­marketing.net/goals.html, Oct. 8, 2001.

34

APPENDIX V

This grizzly photo is one of hundreds on RAWA’s website that shows the cruelty of the Taliban, and their blatant disregard for human life.

35

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