Human history is replete with thousands of examples wherein there have been some sorts of discrimination against women. From the very first tribal society to today’s modern world, the position of women has not been heightened as that of men.

The incidents violating women rights in Afghanistan have not been stopped though there have been comparative developments made in the last 12 years and billion of dollars spent. In fact the changes are prevalent only on the exterior while from within the Afghan society still lacks the modernity and development it needs in order to reach to a respectable position. The support and assistance of the international community has only been able to provide clean and beautiful attire not a praiseworthy soul to Afghan society and this attire is going to get dirty very soon. The Afghan social structure has been vehemently dominated by religious extremism and tribal nepotism. Most of the self-designed religious doctrines and tribal norms are against the women and discriminate their basic rights. Unfortunately, these norms and doctrines have even gone to the extent of violence and have tortured women physically – mostly in the public. They, in the name of dignity of women, have in fact degraded them. The concept of Chadar and Chardiwari has not been able to provide safety and respect to Afghan women.

In the ordinary course of action, women are discriminated but the situation gets worse when a society goes through instability and disorder. The instability and disorder, though influence all the strata of society, are bound to effect the weaker strata the most and unfortunately women form one of the same strata. They bear the brunt of the conflicts and war and have to give sacrifices in different ways. The same can be observed in our country Afghanistan. Decades of conflicts and wars have influenced them to a large extent and today, when there has been some sort of development in different fields of life, there is still margin of considerable development regarding the emancipation of women.

Torturing, beating and discrimination unfortunately is quite a reality in Afghan society. It is not unusual in Afghan society to arrange the marriages of the girl before they are mature and in most of the cases before they are ten years of age and they really do not understand the dynamics of marriage and are sandwiched in the complexities of life. Another aspect of traditional marriage system in Afghanistan is that the girls after marriage are basically considered as a commodity that has been bought by the men so as to utilize it the way they please – in most of the cases they are no better in their parents’ houses as well.

There is no doubt that the social and economic conditions in Afghanistan, to a large extent, are responsible for the deteriorating standard of living for all the people but the negligence of women’s rights and dignity are also a dominant reason. On most of the occasions the rights of women are not only violated by the mere compulsions; rather they are choices made by the people – though a very hideous choice to make.      

Among many other issues that remain unsettled in Afghanistan, women rights is a dominant one. There were expectations that women rights would be emphasized much in the Bonn II Conference; however the emphasis was not very much considerable. Among the civil society members, Selay Ghaffar, a woman rights activist and the member of the executive board of Afghan Women’s Network (AWN), was given a chance to speak about the issues of women rights. Unfortunately, she was officially given only three minutes to discuss the issue. Considering the plight of women in Afghanistan, the time was not sufficient. Moreover, the emphasis on women rights that has been included in the Bonn Conference outcome documents is not very much definitive. It says that the international community expects the peace and reconciliation process to respect the Afghan constitution and its provisions for the rights of women. However, the voice was raised regarding the women rights by many male and female members of civil society forum preceding the conference.

Though there have been certain improvements made regarding the condition of women in Afghanistan, the concerns mentioned above still stand on strong footings. Furthermore, the series of different sorts of incidents in different parts of country also seem to be pointing towards the threat the Afghan women are going to face if the earlier extremist religious and obsolete traditional practices are not dealt with appropriately.

Women form an integral part of society and have an important role to play. Their representation and involvement in different walks of life can help society develop appropriately. They can not be kept on being discriminated and violated indefinitely, because it is not only non-religious but at the same time inhumane because above all women are human beings; unfortunately, this very fact has not been realized by many in Afghan society.

With such a situation prevailing around, it is really difficult to see improvement in condition of women who have been suffering discriminations since ages. Afghan authorities and all the Afghan people, especially women themselves, must strive to change the scenario as it would benefit the society as a whole as women are an integral part of it.