Afghanistan, now paints a picture of a war struck country, destroyed
and defeated in
every aspect. Presently, it is one of the most
challenging places in the world to be a woman.
85 percent of the
country’s women have no formal education, life expectancy is a low 51,
and violence against women in the country is on the rise, having peaked
in 2013 according to the Independent Human Rights Commission of
Afghanistan (AIHRC), reports the Indian online daily, The Citizen
Although
in recent years, there have been significant developments improving the
condition of women in the war-torn country -- such as the 2009
Elimination of Violence against Women Act (EVAW), the country continues
to face several challenges in terms
of women’s rights and safety,
including challenges pertaining to the implementation of EVAW. The UN in
2012 made 71 recommendations to improve the implementation of
the law,
but in a subsequent report found that only four of its proposals were
had been implemented.
In fact, UN Women chief Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, has described violence against women in Afghanistan as
“pandemic” with 87.2 percent of women experiencing some form of
physical, psychological, sexual, economic or social violence.
However,
Afghanistan was not always such a repressive country. Photographs from
the 1950s and 60s depict a very different Afghanistan; one where female
students sat next
to their male peers, where girls scouts worked along
with boy scouts, where, in parks
and playgrounds, buses and record
stores, hospitals and schools, women were seen in equal numbers as men.
The Citizen compiles a collection of images which offer a rare insight into
Afghanistan’s past.
