Wahida Amiri

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Wahida Amiri is an Afghan librarian and women's rights activist. She was featured in the BBC 100 Women 2021 for her continued efforts protesting against the Taliban and their ban on women's education and right to work. [1]

Contents

Early life

Amiri was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and started school in 1996, just before the Taliban entered government. [2] One of their orders was to shut schools to girls, and Amiri found her education halted. [3] Many of her relatives fled to Panjshir, in the north of Afghanistan, but her father chose to stay. Amiri's father remarried after her mother passed away, and the family relocated to Pakistan. [2] She was expected to cook and clean for the family.

When Amiri was 15, the Taliban lost power following the September 11 attacks. [4] The family then returned to Kabul, where education was opened to girls again, and women could work. [5] However, life remained the same for Amiri, cooking and cleaning for her family as opposed to accessing the education now open to her. Five years after returning to Kabul, Amiri was eventually encouraged to enroll in school by her cousin. [2]

After school, Amiri was accepted into Dunya University to study law, where she discovered her love of Virginia Woolf, reading "A Room of One's Own". [2] Amiri opened a small library after graduating, where she hosted discussions about feminism over chai sabzi, traditional Afghan green tea with cardamom. [2]

Activism

The Taliban returned to power on 15 August 2021, and immediately began to re-impose restrictions on women's freedom. [6] Amiri turned up to work and found the door locked, and her library closed. She subsequently joined the "Spontaneous Movement of Fighting Women of Afghanistan", where she marched on the streets with fellow women to advocate for women's right to work. [7] They were met with tear gas, shots in the air, and even beatings. Amiri continued despite this. [2]

Following the arrest of many fellow protesters, Amiri moved to a safe house to escape the Taliban. [2] [8] However, she and a number of other women were arrested in February 2022 and taken to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, where they were kept for 18 days. [8]

Whilst there, she was required to speak on video, saying her name and who was helping her. She was also told to say that Afghan protesters abroad had told her to protest. This statement gave the impression the female protesters marched to become famous, and to be evacuated from Afghanistan. Amiri stated this was harmful to the cause, particularly when the video was broadcast on Tolo News, a major Afghan news channel. [2]

Amiri and the other female protesters were eventually released, and told not to protest again. [2] [8] The Taliban retained her family's house documents to ensure she would not defy their authority in the future. [8] She left Afghanistan on her family's persuasion and then lived in Pakistan.

In September 2023 she joined a group of women who started a hunger strike that lasted for ten days to protest the treatment of women in Afghanistan. Her fellow protesters included Tamana Zaryab Paryani and Nayera Kohistani. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treatment of women by the Taliban</span> Gender policies, punishments of the Taliban

The treatment of women by the Taliban refers to actions and policies by two distinct Taliban regimes in Afghanistan which are either specific or highly commented upon, mostly due to discrimination, since they first took control in 1996. During their first rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. In 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, nor were they allowed to be educated after the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Afghanistan</span>

Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education. In 2021, there were nearly 10 million students and 220,000 teachers in Afghanistan. The nation still requires more schools and teachers. Soon after the Taliban take took the country in August 2021, they banned girls from secondary education. Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls despite the ban. In December 2022, the Taliban government also prohibited university education for females in Afghanistan, sparking protests and international condemnation. In December 2023, investigations were being held by the United Nations into the claim that Afghan girls of all ages were allowed to study at religious schools.

Sex segregation refers to the physical and spatial separation of humans by sex in public or private places. In public places, women are forced to wear the burqa at all times, because, according to one Taliban spokesman, "the face of a woman is a source of corruption" for men not related to them (Non-Mahram).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Afghanistan</span> Rights of females in the country Afghanistan

Women's rights in Afghanistan are severely restricted by the Taliban. In 2023, the United Nations termed Afghanistan as the world's most repressive country for women. Since the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban gradually imposed restrictions on women's freedom of movement, education, and employment. Women are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities, making Afghanistan the only country to prohibit females from studying beyond the sixth grade. Women are not allowed in parks, gyms, or beauty salons. They are forbidden from going outside for a walk or exercise, from speaking or showing any part of their face or body outside the home, or even from singing or reading from within their own homes if they could be heard by strangers outside. In extreme cases, women have reportedly been subjected to gang-rape and torture in Taliban prisons.

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References

  1. ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The librarian who defied the Taliban". BBC News. 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  3. ↑ "One Year On, the Taliban Still Attacking Girls' Right to Education". Human Rights Watch. 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  4. ↑ "How the Taliban has changed Afghanistan, a year after taking power". PBS NewsHour. 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  5. ↑ Unterhalter, Elaine (2022-08-23). "The history of secret education for girls in Afghanistan – and its use as a political symbol". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  6. ↑ "Reaffirming our commitment to the brave women of Afghanistan". Amnesty International. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  7. ↑ "Os diários secretos de mulheres afegãs após chegada do Talebã ao poder". Época Negócios (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Women, Protest and Power- Confronting the Taliban". Amnesty International. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  9. ↑ "Femena Stands in Solidarity with Brave Women of Afghanistan Demanding Justice and Accountability - Femena, Rights Peace Inclusion". 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
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