Women's+Life

=__How are women rights over time changed from the rule of the Tailban to after the fall of the Taliban? __= Even though women's rights in the Middle East doesn't seem to be improving compared to the time during the Taliban reign and the the fall, it is quite the opposite.

=Background Info:= ====The Taliban under the leadership of Burhanuddin Rabbani took over in Afghanistan during the Afghanistan Civil War. For more information about the history of the Taliban there is a link [|Who Are the Taliban?]====



=During the Taliban Regime=



During the Taliban rule there were specific rules that applied to women in which women were not equal to men, but more like pets to them According to the article "Who are the Taliban?",the reason for so many rules on women were to protect them, but were they really protecting the women? An example of a rule that applied only to women were that they couldn't go out onto the streets without a man escorting her. This major problem was shown in the movie __Osama__. The main Golbahari family faced the problem of not having a male relative in the household because the father and the sons of the household died during the war. Due this rule women cannot live without a man so they're supposedly have to starve. That is why the daughter Marina disguises her identity and became a boy named Osama. With this disguise she can work and earn money for her family. Is the possibility of women being starved to death because of the rules of the Taliban protecting women, not really and is it right for a woman to go in jail just because she is disguising herself to earn money and food like Marina in __Osama__? All these rules are to protecting women as said in the article [|"Taliban vs American "Liberation" in Afghanistan"]or are they really?

Of course not all women were as unfortunate as the Golbahari family but.had a male escort available. There of course were rules applied to women when they walked the outside world. One example was when women were escorted out, they cannot wear makeup and fashionable clothings as referenced in T__he Bookseller of Kabul__. The Taliban believed that women had their own dignity and must not attract "evil" men and destroy their dignity. If a women were to violate these rules then they will be "dahmed by the Islam Sharia" as also referenced in __The Bookseller of Kabul__. In addition they weren't allowed into heaven and the woman and the head of the family will be severely punished by the religious police. It seems the Taliban are trying to protect the women, but yet how is cutting off fingers, throwing women into jail, killing women, beating women, etc protecting them or abusing them?

Going further women during the Taliban did not have the right to be educated. This caused problems because according to an article called [|"Muslim girls struggle for education"] because the people who wrote the article believed that women would have a better future if they were educated. For example women could know the risks of marrying at an early age or they could know what the consequences of having sex at an early etc. Two more examples of "protection" rules for women were health care and marriage. According the article called [|"The Talliban's War Against Women"] women didn't really have a good health care. When women went to the hospital they were checked up by a male physician, and accord to the Taliban law, men could only check up full clothed women and so they were many illnesses that could not have been identified. Women were in the first place kept at home so they could be protected from men would rape them, but according the article "The Taliban's War Against Women", some punishments for women were rape by the Taliban men. Overall the Taliban may seem nice in the beginning that is why they the people allowed them to rule because they believed they could bring stability to the country according to "Taliban vs. America "Liberation" in Afghanistan". In the end, they were monsters. = = = = = = =After the Taliban Regime= After the Taliban fell in November 2001, women did not have full equality rights, but in someways they were more free then before the Taliban regime ended. The picture of the women on the right shows Middle East women wearing hijabs which are head scarfs and compared to the burkas (which are shown on top). The hajibs seem the give more identity to the women because one, there are different colors and designs on the head scarfs. Unlike the burkas, the head scarfs reveal the women's faces so people could know what women are feeling by their facial expressions. In an article called [|"After the Taliban, Women still Suffer"] the reporter talks about how women after the Taliban can finally come out of hiding. There are women that haven't been outside for three years. Now women can finally walk on the streets without a man escort.

Also women are now allowed to walk in the streets without a male escort. This is shown numerous times in the __Bookseller of Kabul__ during before the wedding of one of Sultan's cousins all the girls went to with the cousin to a salon to get themselves ready for the wedding. In another article "Education building" a man named Greg Mortenson goes out helping build schools in Pakistan. Before, the Taliban had forbid women education, but now since the fall of the Taliban, Mortenson has built 64 schools and is planning to build more. He hopes that women being educated can help create a better community. This is also shown in the book __The Bookseller of Kabul__. One of Sultan's daughters Leila has a teacher degree and is allowed to be educated unlike times before the Taliban. According to the article called [|"Afghanistan's Women after 'Liberation'"] women do have health benefits and can work they are still unequal. They are subjected to their master will which is their husband they still have arranged marriages, but overall women seem to have a better life then the reign of the Taliban. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =More Information:=



=Bibliography= By Ladyplayer
 * Faisal, Safa . "Muslim girls struggle for education." __BBC NEWS__. 24 Sept 2003. BBC NEWS. 22 Apr 2008 <[|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3130234.stm>.
 * Hayes, Laura . "Who Are the Taliban?." __infopease__. 22 Apr 2008. infoplease. 22 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html>.
 * Brown, Aaraon. "Beneath the Veil." __CNN__. CNN. 22 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.veil.html>.
 * __Osama__. Dir. Siddiq Barmak. Perf. Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar, Mohamad Nader Khadjeh, Mohamad Haref Harati. DVD. MGM, 2003.
 * "Taliban vs. American 'Liberation' in Afghanistan." MUSLIM NEWS AGENCY AZZAM PUBLICATIONS. 27 Apr 2008 <[|http://muslimconverts.com/women/Talibanvswest.htm>.]
 * "Report on the Taliban." 17 Nov 2001. U.S Department of State. 27 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm>.
 * Finley, Bruce. "Education Building." (2008)
 * Nanji, Meena. "Afghanistan's Women after 'Liberation' ." 29 Dec 2003. 27 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.rawa.org/nanji.htm>.]
 * Seierstad, Asne. __The Bookseller of Kabul__ . 2003. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2002.
 * Walsh, Declan. "After the Taliban, women still suffer." 07 Nov 2004. 27 Apr 2008 