Since we have continued our gender studies unit throughout the last month as well as completed the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, I decided that for this blog post I would research the struggles that women in Afghanistan are still facing in the year of 2016.
I learned that women in Afghanistan are still fighting for a place in peace talks being held by their country. These women are demanding a say in shaping the future of their nation, and are possibly quite close to getting it. In October of 2015, the national Afghanistan security council reported that they did in fact notice the continued absence of female roles in the government, and they pledged to change that situation. This is a promising situation. After reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, I really do feel for the women of Afghanistan and the hard struggles they are facing. I could never imagine living in such a restricted place myself.
Some women fear that their government will give up on this pledge for more woman's rights in an attempt to compromise with the Taliban. I hope that the Afghan government is able to hold it’s ground and successfully complete these “peace talks” while still holding woman’s rights in a high regard. Again, A Thousand Splendid Suns also opened my eyes to this issue.
This leads me to discuss one of the Socratic seminar questions that asked about how our view of the middle east changed following our reading of this book. My personal views towards the middle east always came from a generally uneducated point of view. My only view of Afghanistan and other middle eastern countries was from major news stories whenever they were broadcast on CNN. After reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, I feel a little more educated, and a lot more intrigued. This book has made me want to look into the middle eastern culture more, as it is an interesting, culture filled, and beautiful place.
