MCC Daily Tribune
Women's Rights Denied Under the Taliban Lecture Today at Noon
Please join us today!
WEDNESDAY, March 30 at 12 noon - 1 pm in the Brighton Room 3 - 217
Women’s Rights Denied Under the Taliban
Sharif Hozoori, PhD
Sharif Hozoori comes to Cornell as an Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) Fellow, having most recently been Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of Afghanistan. He previously held positions teaching International Relations at Gawharshad University and Rana University, both in Kabul. He received his PhD in Diplomacy and Disarmament from Jawaharlal Nehru University, with a dissertation entitled, The Role of Political Elites on Foreign Policy Transformation: A Case Study of Afghanistan, 1996-2014, and earned his MA in International Relations from South Asian University, New Delhi. His research is on regional foreign policy and political instability in Afghanistan.
Women comprise of approximately half of the population of each society yet struggle to attain equal rights on par with men in many societies. History is full of examples of atrocities and violence against women but the violation against women rights may be seen more in countries that face conflict and instability. Afghanistan, with its troubled history in the last four decades, has experienced a variety of regime changes followed by revolution, civil war, and instability. Such a volatile history has had great impact on the day-to-day life of the citizens of the country. In many instances, they have been suppressed, imprisoned, tortured, and killed by those who took the law in their hands. In such circumstances the sorrows and sufferings of women in particular have mounted but are yet to be fully discovered and discussed due to secrecy and local customs.
From 2001 onwards, women in Afghanistan began to see themselves in the public life and their social, political, judiciary and economic rights guaranteed by the new constitution. With it, came new opportunity that allowed women to dream for their future. Women were finally allowed to attend the school, go to university, choose their desired field of study, and occupy any post in the job market. For these reasons, the women of Afghanistan made enormous strides in last two decades. They became parliamentarians, ministers, governors, judges, professors, pilots, inspectors and administrators. However, on 15 August 2021 when the Taliban took over Kabul, women suddenly vanished from public life.
In this talk we shall discuss the current situation of women in Afghanistan under current regime. We will examine the reasons behind Taliban’s regressive policy against women to help us understand and perhaps even predict the future of women under the Taliban administration.
Christina Lee
Global Education & International Services
03/30/2022