Gender Apartheid In Afghanistan example essay topic

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 Taliban 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 bar qas 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.

Bibliography

Online. 8 October 2000: Available: web Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan.
Online. 8 October 2000: Available: web Woman-Burning Under Taliban Rule.
Online. 8 October 2000: Available: web Afghan Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery.
Liberia Edit rice Vatican a. Catechism of the Catholic Church pp. 431-433. Latin text copyright 1994.