Women in Afghanistan are barely under the protection of laws, making them vulnerable to rape and assault by strangers and their relatives. Laws to protect women from forced marriages and rape are still not being enforced and while this issue has gained attention from the media, nothing is being done to stop it. While many women in jail are victims of rape and assault, a lot of them are imprisoned for refusing to marry, running away from their husbands, and for “adultery” when they are raped. Many Afghanistan women are blamed for committing a crime when it wasn’t their fault, often times taken advantage of by their perpetrator. Their rights have been violated and yet they are still being punished as criminals.
These women are running out of time to get their voices to be heard as the “international presence in Afghanistan draws down in the coming years”. The United Nations is pushing to make Afghanistan’s government enforce laws on violence against women, but the future for this looks bleak. Afghan laws are often prevented by traditional Afghan justice, which doesn't protect women and often lets perpetrators walk free. While movies are trying to be made to get more attention about the issue, countries don’t want to endanger the lives of the women who would be interviewed. This is an ongoing problem that unfortunately doesn’t look promising for Afghanistan women.
Question: Would an international women’s organization (i.e Women for Women) make effective change for women’s rights in Afghanistan? Would change be better served from a political body, like the United Nations? Or should a religious organization (i. e Islamic Relief) try to effect change for women’s rights?
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I think this is a difficult issue to solve. The power of the government belongs to the people, and can usually be influenced by fear. As you said "...countries don't want to endanger the lives of the women who would be interviewed." I would think that the best way to solve this problem would from another political body, or the Afghanistan Citizen's themselves.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the women's organization may not be as effective at raising awareness as the UN. I feel like this government is in a dangerous state towards women today and a women's rights group may face a lot of danger in trying to encourage women's rights. For instance, the fact that women are charged for adultery after being raped is corrupt and unfair. The government in this country is lacking the understanding of the situation. The UN is most likely the best enforcement in educating Afghanistan about women's rights and equality. Furthermore, I think using religion as a tactic in this could be a good idea because a majority of Afghanistan people are very religious and religion is usually effective at shaping peoples beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Randa; I don't think that a small organization that not many people know about would help to fight this issue. I also agree that it takes the people to make change. Without help with the people, or if the people don't agree with the change, the issue won't be helped. I agree that an organization, such as United Nations, would be the best bet in fighting the issue. So, I think that the UN should try and get the Afghan people convinced to make the change. Before this issue goes on for too long, the UN should help make change. So, YES, the UN could help, NO, the other organizations might not be as effective.
ReplyDeleteIn Afghanistan the government holds all the power over the people and they don't have a people run government. For the women issue it is part of the religion for women to be treated the way that they are. If a international organization stepped in it would cause a mess to the countries way of thinking. It would take years for the problem to be fixed due to the corrupt government. There is just no easy way to solve this womens rights issue in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteI think that some sort of group that works with the Afghanistan d government would be most effective. I think in a country that is stricter, having the government control women’s rights would be the best idea. I think that if a government group made laws against violence against women there the laws might actually be followed. I also think that religious groups hold some power. Due to what I’ve heard in the past about how influential religious groups are in Afghanistan and that area, I think the religious groups making “rules” or standards about this issue, people may listen as well.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that a smaller organization within Afghanistan would make a large scale change for this issue. This is a complex issue so creating a group that nobody really knows about wouldn't do too much.Like others have said, if they don't agree with the change nothing will happen to fight the issue, so it would be pointless in the end. I agree with the fact that if governmental group such as the United Nations were to help with the change, it might help the problem. The UN can teach people about women's rights and how to fix the problem they currently face. They would be the right choice if they want to make a change in this issue, not some other organization.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of my classmates by saying that a women's rights group or a small group would not be able to tackle such a big problem in Afghanistan. I believe the UN would be the best bet. Like Randa mentioned, having a women's rights group bring the issue to a stand could be dangerous, and ineffective as well. I feel if the UN went in and educated the citizens of Afghanistan on gender equality, they would either listen or they would become angry and things could end up really bad. In my opinion, I just believe that there is never a right answer to solving all of these big issues, such as immigration, abortion, women's rights, etc. I think that they are always going to be a struggle for the world and there is never going to be one set option.
ReplyDeleteAs many of my classmates have mentioned, i to believe that such a small group wont make as big of an impact as suggested. I think also a political way would be needed because religion values is the reason why Afghanistan is in this women's rights predicament. I believe changing its views would also change and better the way for women in Afghanistan. Also some suggestions to handle this is like many of my piers have mentioned are the U.N. They have more power, more resources and more communications that can resolve this problem.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that a women's organization would have much an effect on women right's in Afghanistan simply because of the sexism and the religious dogma in that country. The Afghan culture have very strict rules on woman freedom, and don't permit that they take any leadership role whether it be social, political, or economical. An international organization would also have little effect in change in the country, simply because the country is partially isolated and doesn't like to be interfered by foreign powers. I think that he best hope for women's rights in Afghanistan is a change in the religious culture of the country. Since the country is mostly ruled by religious doctrine, a change in this doctrine advocating women equality would greatly change the mass and help stimulate women equality
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that such a small group will accomplish much. Mostly because of all the religious strictness and the fact that this has been happening for a long time. I think that either the united nations should step in or a religious group. Both would help a lot. The united nations have a lot of power when it comes to things happening around the world but it might not find such a small problem time worthy. Were if a religious group were to stand up it would hit close to home in the fact that people there are very religious and follow what there religious leaders say.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler, I think that it will be difficult to accomplish much with such a small group of people. The government will be overpowering to such a small group.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very hard thing to stop. This has been going on for a long time, and it is how women are seen, and have always been seen. It will take a lot of work to accomplish change. But i think it can be done, but it will take a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of my classmates on this issue, that this is a very hard thing to stop in Afghanistan. I do not think that such a small group like a women's international organization would work, so I believe that the UN is the best bet for the women in Afghanistan to be heard. What is going on over there is not right especially how women are being sent to jail when raped; even though it was not their fault. I also think religion is a very good idea in helping this issue because religion in many cultures is a huge influence and can really make a change.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the UN is probably the best option to these issues in Afghanistan. I think that the extent of the problems are too widespread to be adressed by just an organization. I think a political body like the UN would offer more authority and would be taken more serious by Afghanistan. I think ideally, the UN could work together with a religious organization, as religion can have a big effect on societies. These two groups working together could offer the authority, law enforcement and social influence needed to cause positive change for women in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it will never happen, the best way to get more support and power for these women would be to get the religion behind the problems to change. The reason these women are so put down is because in their religion (the strictest views upon it) that is "what the Quran says". Ideally just changing the government would have an effect on these societies but, they really couldn't do much, because many Middle Eastern governments are theocracies where a lot of power is placed in the government. A religious organization may start the movement, making it more and more acceptable for these women to gain power, but it is going to take a long time. The women of Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries are just beginning to get their rights, and like many other women's struggles it is going to take a long time.
ReplyDeleteI feel that a simple organization will not change the views and beliefs of a place like Afghanistan. I agree with Paige that although it is unlikely to happen, the only way to fix this problem would be to change the views on religion. This is a very tough and controversial thing to do, and this is why the UN would need to help solve this. On the other hand, I also believe that we should respect the culture and religious views of other people. Although it is wrong that they are treating women this way, It may not be our place to try and make these people conform to us because our culture and religions have different views.
ReplyDeleteI think this will not be able to be fixed very easily. Especially but such a small group. To effectively help, the group will need to be much larger because people aren't going to change their views or beliefs because they were told to, or because someone else thinks that. I think this issue needs to be resolved, but I'm sure ther are more realistic and effective ways in doing so.
ReplyDeleteI think that an international women’s organization would be a good idea in order to obtain rights in Afghanistan but since they are being treated unequally compared to men, I believe that a political body like the UN would make a better change. I think that since women’s rights have been violated and are still being treated like criminals, a political body would be able to persuade the Afghanistan government to enforce laws on violence against women. I do not think it’s necessary to have a religious organization try to effect change for women’s right s because I believe that that will cause great controversy on changing a religion. I also think that the religion doesn’t necessarily need to be changed but rather followed in a different way that gives women rights as well. I think that when women are raped and are charged with “adultery” that’s ridiculous and there should be exceptions towards these laws.
ReplyDeletei think that it would be a great idea to work with the law and try and make it happen, because what they are doing is not right. but it is going to be hard because Afghanistan has been like that for a really long time and women have not been treated well at all. so i think that it is going to be hard to put the law in place because of the culture in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteI think that the creation of an international women's organization would be a postive step towards obtaining rights for women in Afganistan. I also agree with Cassandra about a political body also being another postive step towards women's rights, probably more effective than an international organization. However, i still believe an international organization would be a positive step. Because everybody deserves to be treated equally.
ReplyDeleteI do think that an international women's organization would make a change. It should be looked into but a religious group in that part of the world might have more power and respect by locals making it more effective. Either way one should start protecting these women from being put in jail for being raped because it makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteHaving an international women's organization would not make a change at all. The government would have way more power than the small group and would end up over powering them. The people have a slim to no chance of stopping this even with a women's group.
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