© Provided by AFP Masooma
Hasani's enthusiasm for skiing was helped by mullahs advocating women's rights
Skidding down the snow-blanketed slopes of Bamiyan, in central
Afghanistan, 18-year-old Hasani for years suffered hostility and abuse from
passing men unaccustomed to unveiled women dressed in figure-hugging ski suits.
"'Girls don't have the right to do sports. Girls are born to learn
household chores such as cooking and cleaning.' That's what people would
say," Hasani told a rapt audience during a Kabul University event on
Wednesday marking Human Rights Day.
"People would beat up my brothers and say our family was shameless
to allow girls to ski. It made me cry."
Hasani, diminutive but feisty, stood her ground. But what really helped
her were Friday sermons of Bamiyan's religious leaders who command respect and
influence in local communities.
© Provided by AFP The sixth
annual ski challenge in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province on February 5, 2016
As part of a project to promote gender equality, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) has trained more than 400 mullahs across
Afghanistan to preach about women's rights.
The sermons help bring awareness about the social and economic rights of
women, and often include eye-opening conversations with men on subjects such as
"how Islam encourages many sports".
"Mullahs are some of the most powerful voices in Afghan communities
-- particularly in the more isolated areas where women suffer the greatest
abuses," UNDP Afghanistan country director Douglas Keh told AFP.
"By working with these key figures across Afghanistan, we have been
able to promote the idea that men and women have equal rights."
- #WhereAreTheWomen -
One of those trained to tackle hardened male attitudes is Mullah Abdul
Rahman Redwani, director of Hajj and religious affairs in Bamiyan.
© Provided by AFP Skidding
down the snow-blanketed slopes of Bamiyan, Hasani for years suffered hostility
and abuse from passing men "Everybody can be literate or a teacher,
lecturer, engineer, architect or doctor," Redwani is seen in a UNDP video,
sermonising in a mosque full of men.
"No matter whether they are a girl or boy, everyone must have opportunities
both inside and outside the house."
Masooma said that intervention had brought a sea change in local
attitudes.
"Before I was mocked. Now I am welcomed by people who say they are
proud of me," she said.
"Now a lot of girls and women come out to watch us ski, which was
hard to imagine just a few years ago."
Afghan Women have made giant strides since the Taliban regime was ousted
in 2001, but they are still so absent from public life that the social media
hashtag #WhereAreTheWomen has gained traction in Afghanistan.
With many decades of conflict tearing the social fabric apart, women in
Afghanistan continue to suffer high levels of violence, oppression and abuse,
including forced marriages.
© Provided by AFP Masooma
Hasani speaks at Kabul University in Kabul on December 7, 2016
Bamiyan, however, in recent years has hosted several sporting
competitions, most recently an international marathon last month -– Afghanistan's
only mixed-gender sporting event.
The events have become a metaphor of freedom in an Islamic country where
any public sporting activity is widely seen as nothing short of a subversive
act for women.
"My message to girls like Masooma is stay strong; keep the fight
going; don't be discouraged," said UNDP's Keh. "You are a model for
women and girls not only in Afghanistan but throughout the world."
No comments:
Post a Comment