The Effect of the Taliban upon Women in Society

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Allysa 10v

Word Count: 704

April 27th, 2011

The Effect of the Taliban upon Women in Society

        Society’s individuals – particularly women – are greatly affected by the social structure due to the ideologies of the Taliban. Because of the laws set by this Islamist militia group, the unequal treatment between men and women based on the limitations to just the female gender cause corruption among society. Just a few of the policies set by the Taliban include the restriction of women appearing on the streets without a blood relative and without a Burqa, women live based on the decisions of men, and the importance of educating men rather than women. These policies have been shown both in the book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, and in real life.

        Primarily, the first law aimed only at women was “You will stay inside your homes at all times. It is not proper for women to wander aimlessly about the streets. If you go outside, you must be accompanied by a mahram, a male relative” (Hosseini 270). The second law aimed only at women was “You will not, under any circumstance, show your face. You will cover with Burqa when outside” (Hosseini 270). These are two laws that clearly demonstrate the inequality between men and women. An example of this can be found in the book on page 313, when Laila leaves her home unaccompanied by a male relative to visit Aziza in the orphanage. Several times, Laila is brutally beaten and questioned by many Taliban members. Not only do situations such as this occur in the book, but they also have occurred in real life. In the December of 1996, Radio Shari’a had announced that nearly 230 women of Kabul were seized and then severely punished for their violation of Sharia dress code. The women were beaten for their crime after the sentence was handed down by a tribunal.

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        A second ideology of the Taliban that greatly impacted the social structure of society was that women lived entirely based on the decisions of men. Just because of the great inequality between the genders, men were much more valued in society – to the point where they had complete control over women. An example of this in the book is when Nana was accused of forcing herself onto Jalil – despite the fact that it was a mutual relationship. But just as Nana says, “Like a compass needle points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” (Hosseini 24). ...

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